A tragic hero is virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy that is destined for a downfall. The hero learns from his mistakes and is the protagonist in the story. To be a tragic hero the character must display the elements of a Greek tragedy. In the play ‘Antigone' by Sophocles, Creon forbids Polynices to be buried because he fought with his brother for the throne and wanted the throne to destroy Thebes. Antigone; Polynices sister tries to bury him and Creon has her captured for a punishment.
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor's fatal flaw was his overwhelming hubris that made him eventually succumb to his death. Pride plays an interesting role in the life of John Proctor in The Crucible. As spoken by John Proctor near the end of the play, "Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies!
Eddie’s tragic downfall is triggered by his inability to understand his ‘improper’ feelings for Catherine, his some what foster daughter, his hubris and his ignorance of the warnings given to him by both Alfieri and his wife, Beatrice. Eddie Carbone’s illicit love for Catherine is ‘ a sin against nature’ , these feeling are what drives him to his Peripeteia, which was calling the Immigration Bureau. Eddie pays for his mistake with his life, his death is an event that must occur to restore order in the community and to perhaps be a warning to the rest of the community as they learn from his mistake. Our understanding of domestic tragedy shows us that tragedy is inevitable; however in A View from the Bridge the tragic death of Eddie Carbone seems evitable. Characters such as Beatrice and Alfieri try to prevent Eddie from making his Peripeteia by giving him warnings and trying to make him understand his feelings for Catherine but Eddie, due to his ignorance and hubris, rejects these.
When Jim woke up, Huck Finn tricked Jim into believing that everything had been a lie; the accident, the fog everything. Jim was very upset when he found out about this because he thought Huck, whom he considered his only true friend, had died. After seeing Jim’s reaction Huck felt guilty about what he had done. He knew that he had done wrong and apologized to Jim. This was the last time Huck ever liked to Jim like
The Coward Oedipus Is “A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit”. This quote by Thomas Jefferson portrays Oedipus because throughout ‘Oedipus Rex’ he quarrels with everybody about he truth and becomes blind to it. By blinding himself Oedipus becomes a coward because he doesn’t want to face his crimes. It all started when Oedipus hears a dreadful prophecy that he will murder his father and sleep with his mother. He leaves Corinth and travels to Thebes, and on the way he unknowingly kills his father during a quarrel.
Antigone was very heroic and brave at first, Creon now punishes her, and she does not fight back, but she simply badmouths her father. “O Oedipus, father and brother your marriage strikes from the grave to murder mine (7.40-41) says a coward Antigone. Creon, on the other hand who is supposed to be the strong king of the land, does not manage to control his anger, and fights his own son in an argument. This can be considered a sense of pride, since Creon did not want to change his opinion. Part of being a tragic hero is having a destruction.
Thus realizing how his creator’s abandonment caused a large impact on his life as he had to learn to survive without the aid of a teacher and had no protection from the cruelties that were associated with humanity and loneliness. After meeting a relative of Victor, the creature strangles him while going through a fit of rage because he was associated with the man who caused his suffering. In his eyes, what the creature did to the boy and Victor’s family was fair and justified after all the torture that Victor caused him. The creature’s quest for justice fully begins after Victor breaks the promise that the two of them made for the construction of a mate in exchange for the monster’s isolation from society. The creature then ignites a killing spree against the Frankenstein name by murdering Victor’s family and friends until he is just as alone as he is.
In this instance, fate is looked upon as being cruel towards mankind. It seems as though fate took the liberty to destroy life where ever it saw fit. “Fate swept him away because of his proud need to provoke a feud with the Frisians.”(85) Fate also causes death to keep people out of misery. For example, “Fate swept [them] far way sent [his] whole brave high-born clan to their final doom.” Fate made it so that neither Beowulf nor his army would be able to fight in battle ever again. Many were saddened by this event, but they understood that fate is the reason why things happened in this
A character will fail to come across as heroic without self-sacrifice. It is the altruistic act, the putting of others before oneself, that separates the bloodthirsty Achilles from the heroic Ajax. From the outset, Achilles is depicted as rash, selfish and a megalomaniac. Feeling robbed of glory after Agamemnon stole Breseis away, Achilles states that one day “… a yearning for Achilles will strike Achaea’s sons… nothing you do can save you - not when your hordes of fighters drop and die… Then you will tear your heart out, desperate, raging that you disgraced the best of the Achaeans” (1. 281-286).
Hubris destroys people, it can blind people to the reality of their situation and leads them to their downfalls as shown by the characters in Sophocles’ plays Antigone and Oedipus Rex. By looking at Oedipus and Creon, the careful reader can see how the excessive pride of each character leads them to their doom. In the play Oedipus Rex an example of Oedipus’ excessive pride is when he is asked to move aside by the former King of Thebes, Laios and Oedipus refuses. Oedipus’ pride overwhelms him and drives him into a murderous rage, as Sophocles illustrates, “the groom leading the horses forced me off the road at his lords’ command; but as the chariot lurched over towards me I struck him in my rage …He was paid, back and more!” (Oedipus Rex 43). In his rage, Oedipus kills the old man and his fellow travelers.