To sum up: Aristotle defined a tragic hero rather strictly as a man of noble birth with heroic qualities whose fortunes change due to a tragic flaw or mistake (often emerging from the character’s own heroic qualities) that ultimately brings about the tragic hero’s terrible, excessive downfall.

Generally, tragic heroes are significant in literatures given that they serve the purpose of bringing out feelings of sadness, pity and fear, emotions which makes a reader or an audience experience what is known as catharsis or the act of relieving all the bottled up emotions.

Tragic magnificence. The tragic magnificence of the play is emphasised through Othello’s fall from grace. He falls from his elevated status of a military officer to a “devil”, showing the capability of manipulation and deception.

Othello is a tragic hero because he is noble, he suffers from a fatal tragic flaw and he goes through a tragic downfall. All these traits that Othello exhibits lead him to be known as one of the most well-known tragic heroes in all of literature.

What Are the 6 Characteristics of a Tragic Hero?

• Hubris : excessive pride.
• Hamartia: a tragic error of judgment that results in the hero’s downfall.
• Peripeteia: the hero’s experience of a reversal of fate due to his error in judgment.
• Anagnorisis: the moment in the story when the hero realizes the cause of his downfall.

His downfall becomes his own doing, and he is no longer, as in classical tragedy, the helpless victim of fate. Some say that Othello’s tragic flaw was jealousy which flared at suspicion and rushed into action unchecked by calm common sense.

iii. 449-450, 454-457). Iago’s motivation for his evil acts is never specifically revealed in the play. He is upset and jealous that Cassio was chosen as lieu- tenant over him even though he, Iago, had more experience in the service.

No, Iago does not die in Othello, making him one of the few Shakespearean villains to escape the play with his life.

At the end of Act I, scene iii, Iago says he thinks Othello may have slept with his wife, Emilia: “It is thought abroad that ‘twixt my sheets / He has done my office” (I. iii. 369–370). Iago is often funny, especially in his scenes with the foolish Roderigo, which serve as a showcase of Iago’s manipulative -abilities.

One of the main themes of Othello is that of jealousy and what it can do to a person, and the eponymous main character Othello is Shakespeare’s example of what can happen to a good but insecure man when he becomes jealous. One could easily argue that Othello is a more jealous character than Iago.

Iago felt that Othello was not suitable to be in charge and wanted it for himself. Iago was so jealous that he didn’t care who died as long as he got what he wanted. He wanted Othello to suffer so bad, he murdered his own wife after she told everybody that Iago was behind everything.

What Iago says about Cassio and Desdemona, Othello believes without any queries. Othello knows from Iago that Desdemona’s handkerchief is found with Cassio. Othello becomes completely obsessed by jealousy.