In all the tragedies, the hero has to suffer the tragic flaw. He is the only responsible of his downfall. In Shakespeare's play Othello, Othello brings all his misfortune on himself. His actions are led by his jealousy, his stubbornness and his gullibility.
One of the main factor which push Othello to his death is his gullibility. Iago is an evil character who is not afraid of hurting other people to obtain what he wants. He is a really good manipulator and is clever at what he does. But Othello still had the choice to trust him or not. Iago is using old methods to make Othello believe he had, by himself, the first thought that Desdemona and Cassio were having an affair, Act III Scene 3 Othello “Was not that Cassio parted from my wife?” Iago “Cassio, my lord?... no, sure, I cannot think it”. Othello is fool by this trick because he is too gullible and can not believe that his friend Iago could betray him that way. He could have suspect that Iago would try to harm him because Othello chose Cassio for the job he wanted.
An other traits of character of Othello that bring him to his downfall is his jealousy. Iago is playing with Othello about an affair between Desdemona and Cassio. Iago is just telling him that they are together and uses small details to prove Othello it really happened. Even with this lack of evidence, Othello choose to believe Iago because he is only thinking about what Desdemona possibly did to him. He is looking for a way to obtain revenge more than he is to find out the truth. The only proof Othello thinks he has is the handkerchief he believes Desdemona gave to Cassio. He is ready to kill his wife by pure jealousy. As he says in Act III, Scene 3, he could have forgive anything to Desdemona but not an affair. And assumptions are enough for him to kill her.
The stubbornness of Othello pushes him to kill his wife he loved. Iago had good arguments and used good methods to convince Othello. Once he was persuaded that what Iago told him was the...