Othello

Amongst life’s decisions, the most common example of poor judgment is acting on the possible rather than the probable, which was what mainly caused Othello’s tragedy in William Shakespeare’s Othello The Moor of Venice. Othello’s feelings of jealousy, Iago’s manipulation and his inferiority complex are all contributors of the plays tragedy. His decision to trust the wrong people instead of the people that were most loyal to him results into his dreadful demise.
Many people believe that jealousy was Othello’s tragic flaw, which played a main role, but in reality he was not a man of jealousy until Iago instigated those feelings of doubt. Interestingly Iago uses jealousy against Othello yet jealousy is mainly the source of Iago’s hatred towards Othello. Iago definitely exploits Othello’s weaknesses by leaving trails of “evidence” for Othello to misinterpret but that just made Iago the catalyst in Othello’s ruin. Iago and his plot to undermine Othello are seen as the cause of his downfall but Othello’s fall is the result of poor judgment. Othello blindly puts his trust in a man that he just passed over for a lieutenant position and chooses to believe that his wife is fornicating with his loyal lieutenant, Cassio. He lets Iago into his head making him act out irrationally which is the mistake that is ultimately responsible for everything going awry.
Othello’s poor judgment stems from his inferiority complex, being that he is a black man married to a white woman in a white European society. In the beginning Othello is a well-respected war general but eventually succumbs to racism that surrounds him. His lack of confidence in his racial identity allows Iago to easily persuade him that Desdemona is cheating on him. Iago preys upon Othello’s fears of his wife’s and lieutenant’s unfaithfulness, Cassio’s willingness to win back Othello’s trust and Rodrigo’s desire for Desdemona. Othello buys into the concept of Africans being brute beasts which becomes a self fulfilling prophecy as his enraged jealousy causes him to smother his own wife based on what little proof he had gathered regarding her alleged affair.
In the end, Shakespeare focuses on the dangers of jealousy manipulation and poor judgment. Iago’s jealousy conformed into professional competition and Othello’s lack of wisdom allowed jealousy to take over resulting in sexual suspicion; both types being very destructive. Othello is mainly at fault for his own downfall by misplacing his trust in a man that he did not see fit as a lieutenant over his loyal wife. He placed emphasis on Iago’s opinion and thoughts rather than his wife’s suggestions and protests. In the end the tragic hero unfortunately tarnishes his fine reputation when Lodovico accuses him of behaving like a “common slave” thus completing Othello’s undoing.