Don John, the villainous half-brother of Don Pedro, provides the perfect example of this when he hatches a plot to “misuse the Prince, to vex Claudio, to undo Hero, and to kill Leonato” (2.2.27-28). He does so, driven by jealous discontent and the vow to “make all use of it,” (1.3.36). At first it appears that his slander of Hero has ruined everyone’s plans and left the girl so “death is the fairest cover for her shame” (4.1.114). Yet the pattern of the play suggests that this kind of deception is ultimately fruitless; all of the characters who engage in it are found out, quickly caught, or foiled in their attempts to escape the consequences. Thus, it could even be argued that this sort of deception only hurts those who perpetrate it, in the
Clearly, obsession can really make one think so irrationally that they forget the basic principles of humanity and they end up doing ridiculous things without usually realizing until after they have taken the wrong action. The lead character in “The Tell-Tale Heart”, had gone so crazy because of his obsession over his eyes, that he decided to take the old man’s life in a very cruel way. The old man had never harmed, insulted, or wronged him in any way, and rather they both cared about each other but “it wasn’t the man who vexed me [him], but the evil eye” [175]. Gradually, he made up his mind to take the life of the old
From ruining lives to creating new ones, it inarguably takes away what little innocence still remains in men. Betrayal, like many things, may only be seen for the negative impacts it has on life. However, in defiance of the agony, it can show the true nature of men and what they do when they let covetousness and their weak human nature rule them. However, as demonstrated in The Count of Monte Cristo, it is possible to rebound from this defeat, using the knowledge learned from the experience as a way to regain what was
The two characters are meant to balance each other out, but Iago gets too deep in Othello’s head, leaving him susceptible to lash out. Shakespeare wants to bring attention to the fact that no matter how hard one tries, the darkness creeps on eventually and wins. By this point in the play, all the character’s true colors have been shown. “Othello is forced to recognize that he lives in a tragic world, and he pays the price” which causes him to have his tragic downfall(Harbage). Othello saw the good in people, until his peers lied to him and betrayed him.
The audible fear that the Sentry fails to hid in his voice while speaking to Creon distinguishes the king of Thebes as a very respected and deeply feared person. His demanding nature and impassive tone display Creon as a character that is superior to the rest of the cast. Likewise, Creon’s tragic flaw lies in his greed for power as well as his inability to follow the advice of others. The greed in Creon is put on display when he discovers that Antigone is the criminal and immediately accuses Antigone and Ismene, Antigone’s sister, of trying to dethrone him: CREON.
The cruelty Iago is able to incite in Othello and Roderigo reveals their deep passions and overwhelmingly trusting natures. The fact that Othello is so vulnerable and susceptible to Iago’s poisoning sheds light on his lurking insecurities about age, race and appearance, which Othello is ultimately unable to ignore. Likewise, Roderigo’s willingness to sacrifice all money and morals by Iago’s bidding reflects his naive passions and an overall lack of personal strength. In stark contrast with Othello and Roderigo, Desdemona, the primary victim of Iago’s cruelty and yet the only one who dies completely unaware of it, turns out, somewhat ironically, to be the only one whose inner self is completely unaffected by Iago. On the eve of her death, even after being horribly mistreated by Othello, she firmly upholds her values of loyalty and obedience, and her belief that no woman would ever wrong her husband.
Macbeth is at a serious loss of integrity in these moments as he does the horrific deed by following an apparition, “Is this a dagger I see before me?”. It can be questioned whether the apparition was something more than his own desire to kill and him needing a reason or excuse to get blood on his hands without feeling guilt and with this he doesn’t take responsibility for the actions he carried out. Although Macbeths actions against the king were moments of extreme lack in nobility and integrity, he follows through with great guilt “To I know my deed twere best not know myself. Wake Duncan. I would thou couldst” “all Neptune’s ocean cannot clean his hands”, this metaphor/hyperbole brings back his original character of honor where he is saying that no amount of Neptune’s water can clear his guilt or wash away the blood on his hands or the mistake he has made.
When the play first began Hamlet did not seem crazy but more depressed and suicidal after his father’s death, he did not begin to act crazy until learning about his father’s murder. ”How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself, to put an antic disposition on...”, here Hamlet tells Horatio that he will start to act crazy but for them to just ignore it. After this when Hamlet only acts mad around thoses who he does not trust but when
Jealousy is a common flaw in both men and women and it can cause them to do things that they normally would not. In literature, stories often have a protagonist with tragic flaw which lead to a tragic downfall. Othello’s is a tragic hero and this means he has a tragic flaw which is jealousy. Because Othello is a jealous man it is easy for him to believe that his wife Desdemona would cheat on him with his second in command Cassio without solid or visual evidence, but he believes Iago’s words and lies. Othello’s jealousy causes him to do things that in the beginning of the play he could never imagine.
But we can see after he finds out about the truth, he is forced to act because of his morality beliefs. The battle in Hamlet’s tragedy occurs in a dynamic society that is created by opposing forces that contradict with each other and Hamlet is a philosophical prince who blames the court for impunity, injustice, and murder; and all of these problems prevents him from being a part of court’s social life and he becomes depressed. Hamlet’s deep depression effects on his behaviors until he even doesn’t act like prince and becomes mad. His madness effect on his judgment and makes him to become obsessed with the death; even he sees death as the only way to take revenge. We can see that Hamlet explores death in every facet of the play from many different angles and how he develops his definition of death from the materially to morality perspective.