Most people agree that the best stories are those where the hero gets the girl and saves the day. This is probably because as we read, the obstacles the hero overcomes transfer to us and we get to be the hero! So if this is true, why would anyone want to write a story where the hero fails? Why write a tragedy?

Let's consider Shakespeare's Othello. This hero is an incredible man of great status; a general of a foreign army! Othello is respected by rich Venetian politicians, obeyed by his soldiers and loved by the most beautiful maiden in all of Venice. After capturing the fair Desdemona's heart and marrying her, he is sent back to war to defeat the Turks, which he does! But like all tragic heroes, Othello has an Achilles’ heel. Through Iago's evil cunning, Othello allows jealousy to cloud his reason. His jealousy causes him to lose a job, respect, his sanity, his love and finally, his life. So, other than imparting a valuable lesson, what exactly did Shakespeare gain from laboring over a five-act play that sees his hero fall from grace?

Perhaps we can assume that Shakespeare has lost a love or two to the green-eyed monster, just like Othello did? We can imagine that Shakespeare wrote Othello's tragic ending to feel better about his own hardships. And maybe he felt more of a sense of control after writing this play.

Sometimes an author might write a tragedy so the reader can experience catharsis. Catharsis allows the reader to work through irrational fears. Sounds very psychological doesn't it? Well, there's a great amount of truth to the process. When was the last time you sat in traffic for hours only to discover an accident was the cause and you didn't look to see how bad it was? That's what I thought! You looked because you wanted to experience it from a safe distance.