Ahmad Rathore 3/25/11 Creon: An Aristotelian Tragic Hero Aristotle, an ancient Literary Critic believed that in order for a character to be a tragic hero, the character must fulfill certain qualities. In Sophocles’ Tragedy Antigone, Creon who was once the cities most favored King, fell to ruin after causing the death of his own son. Not only did he kill his own son, his wife committed suicide because of such unbearable news. According to Aristotle Creon executes such criterion to the highest extent. Aristotle believed that a tragic hero must have been a man of greatness and nobility, while still being flawed in essence to his personality.
For example, when Antigone asks Ismene to break the law Ismene replies in fear saying "Think of how terrible than these deaths, our own death would be if we were to go against Creon." (Line 42). The power that Creon has over his people plays an important part in the play. When Creon makes a decree saying that Polyneices will not have a proper burial, his life starts to spiral out of control. This action leads to him being considered a tragic hero.
Tragic Hero Essay A heroic figure that possesses a character flaw which eventually leads up to his or her defeat is know as a tragic hero. This character is known to be both good and noble, but suffers many flaws that do not bring out the best traits that he or she has. In the play “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare, Marcus Brutus qualifies to a high extent as the tragic hero. One of Brutus’ flaws has was that he had a lust for power. Others easily manipulated him into any situation, which resulted in him joining the conspiracy.
Although Brutus was one of his best friends he was also the one who delivered the final blow to Caesar in his assassination, he is the tragic hero of this story from William Shakespeare. The definition of a tragic hero states that the hero has learned from his mistake. Also the tragic hero is a leader of men so that his people experience his fall with him just like Brutus. “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings. Brutus, and Caesar: what should be in that Caesar?
He was of high standing, came from a noble background, and possessed a flaw in his character that brought him to his own downfall. Macbeth represents a tragic hero for many reasons: early in the play he was established as being of great social stature, he suffered from a tragic flaw, vaulting ambition, he experienced suffering, and due to his own actions, this suffering lead him to his degeneration as a character, resulting in his downfall. Firstly, Macbeth is considered a tragic hero because early in the play he was established as being of great social stature and came from a noble background. At the beginning of Act 1, Macbeth was described as a hero: “And fortune, on his demand quarrel smiling,/ Show’d like a rebels whore: but all’s too weak;/ For brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name-/ Disdaining fortune, with his brandish’d steel” (I,ii,16-19). In these lines, a soldier is praising the bravery of Macbeth and is describing his victory to King Duncan.
He was associated with the Thracians who were extremely warlike people. The home to the Thracians, Thrace is deemed as Ares birthplace. It is also believed that it was Ares place of refuge after his affair with Aphrodite because he was mocked by many of the other gods. This was mentioned in the Lliad and the Odyssey and it was basically said by Zeus that Ares showed cowardness during the Trojan war because of the wounds and the complaining Ares showed after fighting. Unlike the other civilizations at the time, Sparta viewed Ares as an almighty powerful god that
With that Polythemus called upon his father, Poseidon, to seek revenge on the man who had harmed him. That incident hurt Odysseus more than losing a few men, because Poseidon made his travel home longer and harder. Yet another weakness of our hero is his "sensualness." In other words, Odysseus loves women. An example of his love for women was his
Both characters show signs of guilty conscience later in the play and eventually die for their tragic flaws. Brutus and Macbeth have similar situations; however, there is much difference in the characteristics and personality of the characters. Brutus’s intention is reasonable and straightforward while Macbeth commits the crime because of his ambitious and corrupt characteristics. Brutus murders Caesar for his country and well being of the people whereas Macbeth does it for his own self gain. Brutus is a Roman nobleman who loves his country greatly.
In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Marcus Brutus displays the traits of a tragic hero through out this play. His tragic flaw is his being too naive. He makes an error in judgment, and when this error occurred it causes his own downfall. But Brutus causes his own downfall when after killing Caesar all of Rome turns against the conspirators. And all these events lead to his death.
According to Brown, “The dramatist depicts incidents which arouse pity and fear for the protagonist [Antigone], then during the course of the action, he resolves the major conflicts, bringing the plot to a logic and foreseeable conclusion (Brown, para 5). The tragic hero in Antigone is Creon. Tragic heroes are not all good and not all bad. Creon suffers a great deal due to his tragic flaw and destructive pride. Creon believes the gods make him suffer the loss of his wife and son as punishment for his pride.