Bill Cosby Tragedy Essay

Although the tragedy is a literary device, many people can follow the path of the tragic hero; Bill Cosby, a comedian, is a perfect example. To begin, Bill Cosby was born to William Senior and Anna on July 12, 1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Subsequently, the Cosby family also introduced three younger brothers (Beer). Before reaching elevated status as an entertainer, Cosby struggled with school but was a gifted athlete (Denenberg). Cosby also wanted to be a gym teacher when he grew up. Winning an athletic scholarship to Temple University, Cosby ultimately decided to pursue his career as a stand up comedian (Beer). Determined to be successful, Cosby did stand up comedy at a bar where he was a bartender in Philadelphia. While performing

His hamartia is that he was too confident and he thought he could get away with whatever he wanted. Cosby’s tragic flaw first started when Cosby dropped out of college to pursue his dream of being a comedian then won three consecutive Emmy Awards that made him famous (Denenberg). After he was famous he went on to have his show. While Cosby was on the show Cosby says that he would have a modeling agency send him 5 or 6 financially struggling young models a week for dinner between show tapings (Egan). Later Cosby was led into court for assaulting Andrea Constand three times while thinking he could get away with it when prosecutor Bruce L. Castor Jr. cited a lack of evidence as a reason for not charging Cosby with all three charges. Suddenly Kevin Steele, the current Montgomery County District Attorney, opened the case back up when Cosby admitted to using a drug called quaaludes to have sex with women, like 19-year-old Therese Serignese where she says the drug made her unable to consent or move. Steele then made it public by saying “When you do that to a person, they are not able to consent and that is a crime” (Egan). Therefore, Bill Cosby’s error of assaulting Constand and thinking he could get away with it plunged his life into

After Cosby was found guilty of drugging and assaulting Constand he lost respect from all the people that used to look up to him as a mentor, friend, even as a father, Cosby also lost his movie career, and his dream of being a successful comedian. To continue, Cosby knew what he was doing because he was the one that put the drugs into the drink and gave it to Constand (Egan). Cosby also kept using the drugs and gave it to other girls too like Chole Goins when she was 18 in 2008 (White). Lastly, Cosby’s suffering was the death of his career and the death to his relationship with his family members. Also with the exile of Cosby to prison for up to 10 years so that he wouldn't be a danger to society (Egen). Furthermore, Cosby suffered alone because few mourned the downfall and exile of a sexual predator. Just as outliers are compensated for, Bill Cosby’s actions proved that assaulting and drugging is counterproductive in that it destroys one’s credibility and