...himself for committing adultery. He displays each characteristic of a tragic hero at one point in the play. Arthur Miller's play The Crucible contains a number of characters that all progress in the own unique ways. There is one man in particular that stands out among all others as being the most dynamic and that man is John Proctor. Over the course of the play John evolves from an uncaring individual, to a self-conscious, caring, and just man.
He knows what he should do, but he continues to deny, until his wife is put into jail. John cares about his reputation, but he must confess his sin, in order to stop the frenzy in Salem and save his wife. After he confesses, he encourages his wife to do the same, “Elizabeth, tell the truth, I have confessed it!” John says. John needs to muster up all his courage to confess the adultery, and it is not easy for Qu- Page2 him. John is a vainglorious man, but love makes him brave to face his sin.
Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” is a story of two young adults from opposing families who fall into a forbidden love and attempt to elope; due to a series of mischances and fated errors, they instead end up dead, despite having the help and guidance of a friar. This leads one to believe that Friar Lawrence is the prime example of a tragic hero, as he is a man who is essentially good, holy, and trusted by Venegas 2 everyone. However, his inclination towards his heart instead of his intellect, as Fate strolls in control of his actions, leads to his fall and the deaths of the very people he only tried to help. Friar Lawrence holds a high place in society. Associated with the Holy Catholic Church and presented as a wise man, he is automatically trusted and respected by everyone in Verona, specifically Romeo.
After the audience becomes aware of this, and Edmund’s duplicitous plotting, the audience loses all sympathy for the main antagonist of the subplot in King Lear. The loyal, earnest Edmund presented to Gloucester and Kent in Act 1 Scene 1 is a stark contrast to the scheming, bitter Edmund seen alone for the first time in the beginning of Act 1 Scene 2. His first soliloquy begins with Edmund asking why he should not take it upon himself to better his societal standing. The only things standing in his way are societal conventions and complicated laws. He has faith that, with masterful planning, he can overcome the barriers society has set up for him, and take what he believes to be rightfully his: land, money, and power.
Along with his horrible fate was an equally tragic prophecy. The prophecy revealed he would be the murderer of his own father, and married to his mother. The fatal flaw of Oedipus being his ignorance and ego blind him from seeing the true consequences of his actions, but he acts as if he knows what he is doing. All through the play this is proven and paired with a cocky pride that becomes more visible for the reader. Robert Kane
This play sends a strong message of fate and free will to the audience. Oedipus’ free will to pursue knowledge of his identity is significant; fate is responsible for Oedipus’s incest and many of the other devastating events that accrued to him thou out the play. By the importance of fate, Sophocles sends a message across that his characters cannot be fully responsible for their actions. A perfect example of this is blaming Oedipus for marrying his mother, his ignorance was his flaw leading to his downfall, fulfilling the prophecy he tried so hard to avoid. Sophocles’ use of irony helps the audience develop the characters of the play.
Who’s to blame? Starting out as a man of heroism, lead to a man who smothered his own wife for being misled by the villainous Iago in the book Othello by William Shakespeare. Iago having a mental leash on Othello watched him suffer as he kept advising that his beautiful wife Desdemona was not honest, sleeping with his good man Cassio. Othello was a man whose heart was stolen, blinded by love therefore it was not his intention to kill his wife over such a thing. With that assumption, Othello wouldn’t necessarily be considered a tragic hero, for it was not his fault.
He is intrinsically good, but makes a poor decisions based on a lack of knowledge coupled with a basic human trait, taken to an extreme degree. His hamartia, or error in judgment, falls in his rigidity which surfaces itself many times in the tragedy. From his initial departure from his birth parents, Oedipus is put into a whirlwind of secrets, mysteries, and betrayal. In addition to satisfying these critical traits the focus of the play lies on a moral question with the main character as a person of significant importance. The audience and Teiresias alone know of Oedipus’ past, and such a fact puts the audience seemingly in a position of power.
Joe Keller is one of the main characters in the play “All my Sons”. He has a main role as a husband, father, neighbour, and as a successful business man. We see Joe Keller as a modern Tragic Hero as even though it seems he has a good life with a successful business, good family and a roof over his head, we see that Joe has a past full of secrets that got him to where he is today. All these secrets are gradually revealed during the play and we get to see that Joe’s actions are understandable but not acceptable. Arthur Miller encourages us as an audience to see Joe Keller’s actions as justifiable.
People may argue that Hamlet only acted like he loved Ophelia, but I feel that he truly did have feelings for her and his vengeance got in the way of their love. Although Hamlet was cruel to Ophelia at times Hamlet truly did love her, yet he hid his feelings from her very well because he was afraid of being betrayed by the women he loved. Unfortunately for them, this led to Ophelia’s suicide. By the time that Hamlet could act on his love, it was already too late. I do not feel that Hamlet ever stopped loving Ophelia, but Hamlet caused a break in their relationship that could never be fixed.