"King Lear" by Shakespeare

When does a positive personality trait become a tragic flaw? This extreme turning point in a person's life can be applied to two dynamic female characters in this tragic tale: Regan and Goneril.

While throughout most of the play, Regan and Goneril are seen as a terrible duo who appear to only care for their own well-beings. However, most forget the reasoning for their horrible actions. Regan and Goneril's passion to overthrow their father and be the leaders of the kingdom stem from their desire for female power and independence.

In a time period when women were worth only to the extent that they were rich in land, status, and beauty, the two sisters were making progress extensive progress to be taken seriously as "the weaker gender." The desire to further your stature in society and prove that women don't need men to function in power is a positive personality trait. They wanted to better themselves and pave the way for other women of that time.

However, that desire turned sour quickly. They both turned manipulative and sadistic immediately when they started to get what they wanted. The moment that their father gave them a taste of power with his land, a sinister plan formed in their minds. Their desire to be independent and prove themselves drove them to the decision to completely overthrow King Lear and kick him out of the castle into the stormy night. From there, their cruel deeds only continued and became worse and worse as the play progressed.

So when and why did this turning point occur? This shift occurred when Regan and Goneril got a taste of what their power could potentially be. Once they saw how easily they could gain power, they saw how much power they could get, and therefore wanted it. The sisters realized that they wanted as much power as they could possible get so they decided to go to any length necessary to get it. That's when their desire for power and female independence shifted from a positive personality trait to a tragic flaw; Regan and Goneril faced an inner conflict between their desire for power and doing the right thing within their family. Shakespeare's "King Lear" supports the idea that a traumatic inner conflict causes a positive personality trait to become a tragic flaw.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

When does a positive personality trait become a tragic flaw? This fatal turning point in a person's life can be applied to several characters in Wuthering Heights: Heathcliff, Catherine, and young Cathy.

Throughout the novel, I found it quite hard to discern any redeeming quality in Heathcliff, however, a different perspective brought me to the word Determined. Since Heathcliff's beginning at Wuthering Heights, he knew what he wanted. He wanted to be the favorite son of Mr. Earnshaw and the apple of Catherine's eye. Even when Catherine left for Thrushcross Grange, he knew that he truly wanted her. When she married Edgar, Heathcliff saw now that what he wanted was revenge on Edgar. And when Heathcliff left as only a teenager to obtain wealth, he came back with what seemed to be the sole purpose of getting Wuthering Heights under his control. This rock solid determination began as a positive personality trait; Heathcliff wanted to gain certain things and started to do so by bettering himself through gaining wealth and putting meaning into his name. However, Heathcliff's determination turned into a tragic flaw when he started using alternative methods to get what he wanted: marrying for status then treating his wife like dirt, physically and verbally abusing most everyone around him, treating his own son like he doesn't exist, trying to play puppet master by forcing love, and imprisoning two women in his home. His determination to achieve his desires spiraled from the idea of wanting to better himself to the idea of bringing others down to give the illusion that he his lifting himself up.


Catherine Linton (Formerly known as Catherine Earnshaw) possesses the ability to love, and to love most everything. As a child, Catherine obviously loves her family and her home, but when a strange new member of the family (Heathcliff) suddenly enters her life, she doesn't shun him, she loves him. Catherine simply has a personality that could love anything: from her own two feet to the rolling moors of the land of Wuthering Heights. But her love soon sends her down a dark path. When, Catherine encounters her neighbors, Edgar and Isabella, she, of course, loves them both. But her love for Edgar turns into something more than her usual love of life, it turns into real, let's-get-married love. This causes conflict. Catherine also loves Heathcliff in that same way and both Heathcliff and Edgar love her. So when Catherine is forced to choose between her love for Heathcliff and her love for Edgar, she just cannot handle it anymore. Catherine ultimately forces her head and heart to love Edgar more and more, and so they wed. However, in pushing herself toward Edgar, she didn't realize that she was also being pushed to Heathcliff as well. As she fell further and further in love with Edgar, she fell the same way for Heathcliff because her love is a one way drop. This inner conflict of love pushed Catherine towards mental instability and eventually true insanity. So Catherine's love of everything turned into too deep a love to handle, turning it into a tragic flaw.


Catherine's daughter, Cathy Linton, has also faced the trauma of a positive personality trait becoming a tragic flaw. Cathy desires to be independent. This bodes well for her in the beginning; she wants to read and learn and explore for herself simply so she can be independent and thrive on her own. This passion for independence also allows her to come to peace with her Father's death because she knows that she is strong and can stand on her own. However, this independence eventually drives her from her home; Cathy wants to explore further into the moors away from her dear home at Thrushcross Grange toward Wuthering Heights. There, she meets Heathcliff who is ready to pounce on Cathy due to his determination to destroy her life since she destroyed the life of his true love. However, Cathy thinks she can handle these controlling signs and pursues a relationship within that household. Eventually, her believed independence brought her too close to Heathcliff and Wuthering Heights and caused her imprisonment there. Cathy's positive personality trait of independence turned into a tragic flaw when she pushed herself past her limits and frame of knowledge.

All of these characters clearly experienced some event or strong emotion that caused a shift from a positive personality trait to a tragic flaw. So what caused these shifts? What do they have in common? Heathcliff's determination shifts when it changes from being about bettering himself to tearing down others; this shift occurs when his heart is broken and he is challenged by his "superiors." Catherine's love shifts when she is forced to choose between her love for Edgar and her love for Heathcliff. And Cathy's independence shifts when she bites off more than she can chew out of ignorance. All of these shifts occur when the character faces an inner conflict: whether it be self doubt, inner arguments, or overestimation of your capabilities. Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights supports the idea that a traumatic inner conflict causes a positive personality trait to become a tragic flaw.

"Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles

Oedipus has copious positive personality traits that serve him well throughout his life: intelligence, bravery, curiosity, and a desire for knowledge. However, Oedipus's desire for knowledge turned into a tragic flaw when it pushed him past his limits.

Oedipus was always very intelligent and constantly thirsted for more and more knowledge. This lead Oedipus through the domination of the Sphinx and onto leading a town as a King. However, his desire for knowledge eventually became too much for him to handle as he acquired too much knowledge on some difficult topics. Oedipus soon learned the horrors of his life as he had murdered his father and married his mother. This crushing blow of terrible news sent Oedipus into a state of absolute horror, leading to the event of blinding himself.

 

But when did this positive personality trait of a desire for knowledge become a tragic flaw? Oedipus's desire for knowledge usually came from a place inside of him that truly thirsted for knowledge for the sake of knowledge. However, his desire for knowledge suffered a shift from "for the good of intelligence," to his own personal gain. He suddenly wanted to know everything about himself and his past. That was the point when his positive personality trait became a tragic flaw. It changed from the good of knowledge to the good of himself, and that selfish aspect became the driving force behind the flaw in it. It encompassed every aspect of his being and pushed his desire for knowledge away from its previous positive notion, to a negative flaw in his personality.

When does a positive personality trait become a tragic flaw?

This Big Question interests me because it allows for so much self exploration and opens up the ability to further analyze the extremes and breaking points of one’s personality. It also sheds light on a phenomenon that occurs everyday that many people don’t notice because they desire to see something else. This question interests me personally because I've been through the struggles that come with someone close to you changing for the worse. You wake up one day and suddenly the person you could count on has become the person that you can't be around anymore. Their personality has hit a breaking point and now their best quality is what's driving them into the ground. I like this big question because I would like to explore what's happening behind this shift in personality.

Wuthering Heights (2009)

There are countless books that relate to this big question. Some of the most prominent books that stand out in my mind in correspondence with this question are: Gone With The Wind, Wuthering Heights, and The Great Gatsby. Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind portrays this question with the character Scarlett O’Hara. Scarlett’s outgoing personality and excessive need to be the one and only life of the party initially gives her the ability to catch the eye of many beaux, however, these same qualities are what ultimately lead her to social ostracization. Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights embraces this big question with the character Heathcliff. Heathcliff has an independent nature about him which is a positive aspect for him as a child, but when he grows up, this aspect of him causes himself and the people around him turmoil in more ways than one. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby shows this question through almost every character in the novel. With Nick, it’s his curiosity that drives him to Gatsby’s home and his lifestyle in the first place. That same curious nature is what gets him involved in a scandal of money, family, morals, and love.

Books aren’t the only examples of this phenomenon. Movies also shed light on this big question of life. The amazing 2008 movie The Dark Knight is an excellent example of this question. At the start of the movie the seemingly heroic character, Harvey Dent, says, “You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” This is incredible because is so accurately restates this big question. You either die a hero, leaving your legacy of a positive personality, or you live long enough to see that positivity become a tragic flaw. And ironically, Harvey Dent ends up living his own warning and living long enough (in his political career) to see his driving personality become a tragic flaw of his and push him towards the fate of a Batman villain.

Tyler Farr's latest hit country song "Redneck Crazy" also displays this big question. The song tells the story of a man who was cheated on by his girlfriend and is now out for revenge as said in his lyrics, "I'm gonna aim my headlights into your bedroom windows. Throw empty beer cans at both of your shadows. I didn't come here to start a fight, but I'm up for anything tonight. You know you broke the wrong heart baby, and drove me redneck crazy." Clearly he lives his whole life with this same intense attitude and this became his tragic flaw when he went through the trauma of being cheated on and broken up with.

Every character in a novel or movie (and everyone in real life) that has a positive personality trait that ultimately becomes a tragic flaw has their own reasoning, whether conscious or subconscious, for doing so. Often this shift comes from a traumatic experience or a sudden change of heart when a prominent aspect of their life changes. Whatever the reason for the change of personality, it can happen to anyone, even the people you thought would never change and never become that villain.