How are flaws presented in Othello and a variety of other poems that you have studied.

In this essay, I will be studying and analysing how flaws are portrayed in Othello and a variety of Robert Browning’s poems. I believe that flaws are presented in Othello and the Browning poems through the actions of the characters. The use of sins represent human flaws in the characters. To find these, I will be looking into “Porphyria’s lover”, “Soliloquy of the Spanish cloister”, “The Labritory Ancien-Régime” and Othello.

Flaws are presented in Porphyria’s Lover through the use of the sin ‘envy’, which is shown through the actions of the protagonist. In the poem, the speaker finally obtains his desire (Porphyria) and then acts upon these feelings. The character flaws of ‘The lover’ are fuelled by his desire and envy which eventually lead to the murder of Porphyria. “Happy and proud; at last I knew Porphyria worshipped me”. From this quotation, I can see how the phrase ‘at last’ shows the lover had strong feelings and a long lasting desire for Porphyria. I believe it was not the envy in itself that was the flaw of this character, but the character’s twisted logic that developed as a result of the sin. Building on my previous point, I believe that the protagonist questions religion towards the end of the poem due to the lack of consequence from his decisions. As it was common for religious people to attempt discarding their sins, when the protagonist acted upon a sin, he challenged religion as no clear consequence arose. This can be seen in the end of the poem when the protagonist states “And yet God has not said a word!”.

In The Tragedy of Othello, pride is a major factor in the downfall of Othello, causing the tragedy. The pride which Othello seems to hold from the beginning of the play is constantly manipulated by Iago’s ideals and speech. Although it was not pride that explicitly caused Othello’s downfall, it was Othello’s actions and paranoia which caused the tragedy. Shakespeare presents Iago’s manipulative nature to the audience through the use of dramatic irony. We can see this through the use of soliloquies in which Iago shares his plans to create tension in the audience due to the anticipation of what is to come. This is further shown through the constant repetition of the phrase “honest Iago” which is used to contrast Iago’s true manipulative nature with his fake ‘truthful’ and ‘honest’ nature. Throughout the play, we can see Iago using Othello’s pride to manipulate and fuel his paranoia. This eventually causes the murder of Desdemona resulting in the tragedy of Othello.

In the Soliloquy Of The Spanish Cloister, flaws are presented through the use of the sin ‘wrath’. In this poem, Brother Lawrence is being accused by the protagonist of falling from grace and into sin. This is quite hypocritical as the protagonist also sins by being wrathful towards Brother Lawrence, shown in the last line of the first stanza “Hell dry you up with its flames!”. The protagonist’s wrath causes him to be blinded by fury and make some rash decisions, this can be seen in stanza IX. “Or, there’s Satan!”–one might venture Pledge one’s soul to him” this talks about pledging his soul to Satan, which is taboo in the most severe form. The monk’s nature develops throughout the poem, climaxing in the last stanza through his final decision. I believe this decision was the monk’s true flaw.

A similar scenario is presented in Othello, through the use of his pride. Othello’s pride is shown through his high status and love for Desdemona, which can be seen in the quotation “She chose me”, which shows pride in their love. Although Othello takes pride in his achievements and possessions, this flaw is taken advantage of and is exploited by Iago. Othello’s pride causes him to make rash judgements when his pride is at stake, causing him to turn on his friends and even himself at times. Iago takes advantage of Othello’s hubris to manipulate his judgement and trigger these rash decisions in order to torment Othello as much as possible. Shakespeare presents these flaws by emphasising Othello’s short temper and rash decisions.

Flaws are also presented in The Laboratory-Ancien Regime, through the use of the sin ‘wrath’. In the Laboratory-Ancien Regime, the protagonist is cheated on by her husband and in response to this, takes revenge and causes suffering to the husband. This can be seen through this quotation “He is sure to remember her dying face!” as it implies her feeling of victory. From this, I can see how wrath motivates the protagonist and causes her to commit murder, in a similar way that envy caused the murder in ‘Porphyria’s lover’. This shows similarity to Othello and the other poems, in how the sin ultimately causes the climax of the poem, resulting in the death of the husband’s lover.

As a conclusion, I can see how sins are used to present flaws in these poems and how these sins are the human flaws which each human possess. These flaws cause the characters to make judgements that are fuelled by sins. The author uses these sins to progress the story and help reach the climax in each story/poem.

By Daniel Alvarado