Deceit and immorality originated in identifiable characters, whose tragic weaknesses changed history.
Former Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara personifies the Shakespearean tragic protagonist whose character weakness causes his own downfall.
But still, but still, in the face of their tragic acceptance of the weakness of human will, Italians still remain generally affable, pleasant, helpful, and polite, and those of us who have learned to live with the paradox between what they get and what they give could not - go figure - live anywhere else.
Shakespeare loved to map a hero's upward and downward journey and show how a tragic flaw or moral weakness makes them come unstuck.
Thus, much of Roa Bastos' important writing is an attempt to "capture the tragic essence, the 'inner weakness' as well as the inner strength of his country's people".
Much Ado About Nothing can be seen as about men's fears of being cuckolded; Othello treats the same male weakness with deeply tragic consequences.
Raging Bull (1980) -- The actor hits a summit with his dead-on portrayal of boxer Jake La Motta, capturing the brutality and weakness of that tragic character.
When I asked Jackson what his equivalent tragic flaw might be, he replied, "My weakness is also competitiveness to excess".
The classical combination of strengths, weakness and circumstance that define tragic heroes has seldom been parsed with such flash, vigor and lacerating insight.
A character who is too perfect, too powerful, without weaknesses or overburdened by a tragic past may be seen as a Mary Sue if these elements are not very well thought through or considered.
