Iago notices this flaw at once and plots to exploit it almost immediately. This is evident when he tells Roderigo:
The Moor is of a free and open nature,
That thinks men honest that but seem to be so,
And will as tenderly be led by th' nose
As asses are. (Shakespeare I.iii.393-6)
Here we see that Iago intends on using Othello's open nature against him by allowing him to believe that Desdemona is cheating. Othello has a tendency to be slightly gullible - especially when he believes he is interacting with a confidant. R. B Heilman notes that it is the villain in Othello that defines the tragic hero. When Iago describes Othello as one "loving his own pride and purposes" (I.i.12), he is describing Othello's "tragic role" (Heilman 21) a.C. Bradley observes, "Othello's mind, for all its poetry, is very simple. He is not observant. His nature tends outward. He is quite free from introspection, and is not given to reflection. Emotion excites his imagination, but it confuses and dulls his intellect" (Bradley 179). Othello's tragic flaw is his jealousy but his nature allows him to fall for the deception Iago lays before him. Aristotle believed that for the tragedy to be effective, the hero's "misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty" (Aristotle). Othello's flaw is twofold in that he does not stop to question what others tell him and he does not stop to keep his jealousy in check.
Finally, Othello meets Aristotle's definition of a tragedy because Othello lives to see the horror of what he has done. Othello has changed from being a loving and loved husband to a jealous freak. Aristotle notes that a "change of fortune should be not from bad to good, but, reversely, from good to bad. It should come about as the result not of vice, but of some great error or frailty, in a character either such as we have described, or better rather than worse" (Aristotle). In Aristotle's estimation, a primary component in a tragedy involves suffering. It is through suffering that the...
The tragedy lies in the fact that Othello lives to see his grave mistake. Stoll maintains that Othello "suffered from an overpowering delusion, and has just now he thinks performed an act of justice" (Stoll 325). The meaning of the tragedy is not realized until the hero is completely aware of what he has done and realizes his mistake. This catharsis is just as necessary for the hero as it is for the audience in that some sort of remorse is established and recognized.
Shakespeare's Othello is one of the best examples of what can be classified as a tragedy by Aristotle. The action of this play moves swiftly and captures the audience's attention right away. Shakespeare establishes early in the play our hero and our villain's motives for his destruction. Iago's task of bringing Othello down becomes easy once he discovers the man's fatal flaw and exploits it to his own gain. Othello moves from being a man of high renown to a man that garners everyone's sympathy because he cannot keep his emotions in check. This play imitates life and that was one of Aristotle's guidelines. Swift action, accompanied by a hero that is just a little too human is all this play needs to succeed. In addition, we see a man of great stature fall from greatness and live to regret it. These components make the play one that would have entertained Aristotle and his friends as it grips the heart and mind of all that come into contact with it.
Works Cited
Aristotle. "Poetics." S.H. Butcher, Trans. MIT Internet Classics Archive. Information Retrieved March 01, 2009. http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/poetics.html
Bradley, a.C. Shakespearean Tragedy. Victoria: Penguin Books. 1991.
Shakespeare, William. Othello. Kenneth Muir, ed. New York: Penguin Books. 1968.
Heilman, R.B. "Modes of Irony in Othello." Shakespeare's Tragedies. Baltimore: Penguin Books. 1966.
Stoll, Elmer. "Source and Motive in Macbeth and Othello." Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism. London: Oxford University Pres. 1977.
