The tragic heroes in William Shakespeare's plays often share the same personality traits. Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear all show similar attributes which suggest that the playwright used a basic mold to form some of his most notable characters. Beyond the hamartia of pride, which is a common characteristic of Shakespeare's tragic heroes, a number of other personality flaws are repeated. This often-repeated mold of a tragic hero has lasted well beyond Shakespeare's tragedies and has evolved to become the standard form for the tragic heroes of today's tragedies, both in literature and film (Burton 251).
             One theme used often by Shakespeare was insanity, whether faked, natural or incited by wild emotions. Insanity moves between a number of his tragedies and is used to help set and advance the mood and theme often. In Hamlet insanity plays a major part in both the character development and the storyline when Hamlet takes upon an antic disposition, or feigned insanity, as a disguise so that he can learn many secrets. This insanity evolves into temporary insanity incited by extreme emotion when Hamlet kills Polonius and ignores this act and also in the scenes where he jumps in a grave or the end where he kills his stepfather and uncle Laertes. This insanity of emotion then connects Hamlet to Othello-who is the tragic hero from Othello, a play that came a few years after Hamlet-as Othello commits acts of emotion and temporary insanity from his extreme emotions when he kills Desdemona or commits suicide. In King Lear, insanity becomes a more permanent state for King Lear after he is banished from his own kingdom by his daughters. This insanity leads King Lear to rediscover himself and through his insanity, he actually gains wisdom and knowledge through a better understanding of the world. Shakespeare used insanity often in his plays and showed it in his tragic heroes a way to advance and further their development and over-all chara...