Is John Proctor a tragic hero and is this play an example of a tragedy? John Proctor portrays the tragic hero in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible.” Proctor, the protagonist of the piece, is revealed to the audience in his time of anguish and struggle, making his untimely death all the more unfortunate. In this tragedy, Proctor fights to save the town from insanity and chooses his death, rather than shame, in his struggle. The elements of a tragic hero are applied to Proctor in order for the audience to a feel sympathetic connection to a character who committed an unholy sin of adultery. John Proctor though not of high noble stature is, nonetheless, a good man and is highly regarded in Salem.
Matt Spencer English10 Honors Mrs.DeMartino May 22 2012 Antigone: a tragic hero? A hero is a brave person who is greatly admired. A tragic hero is a protagonist in a tragedy who exhibits two certain qualities. These qualities include someone who is doomed from the beginning (despite noble intentions) and, most of all, someone who has a tragic flaw. A tragic flaw is a flaw in a character that is the cause of a downfall of the tragic hero in a tragedy.
This play goes to show the flaws and attributes of Macbeth’s character. In the play Macbeths says “My thought, whose murder is yet fantastical, shakes so my single state of man that function is smothered in surmise, and nothing is, but what Is not” (1.3 . 139- 142) . His thoughts are tending towards the murderer, he is hinting that things may not always as they seem. This quote shows the reader that Macbeth is thinking of others but he is
Romeo AND Juliet In one of the most celebrated and retold plays in history “Romeo and Juliet” written by William Shakespeare depicts many tragedies and unforeseeable events, that all contribute to the eventual demise of the main characters. Shakespeare manages to stress that the deaths endured at the hands of the Romeo and Juliet were mainly not preventable as misguided and poor decisions made at hands of the elders involved meant that disaster was inevitable. Fate also hints at the fact that tragedy was going to be around the corner as Romeo and Juliet were willing to test the boundaries as to how far their relationships would go, although such a catastrophe could have been prevented through the mending of ties between the feuding families. A contributing factor as to why the deaths of the main characters were predominately not preventable was the profound fact that both Romeo and Juliet were clearly misguided by those around them. Shakespeare employs Friar Lawrence as one of these characters that abets the death of Romeo and Juliet as he fails to deny the two “star crossed lovers” any part in marriage instead aiding their eventual demise through the careful yet greatly flawed plan where Friar Lawrence “gave thee remedy” that formed the basis of the two characters deaths.
Romeo had also regretted responding with revenge when he had killed Tybalt. Romeo had acted in the moment and killed Tybalt for killing Mercutio. He regretted it because his murder had him banished. Romeo says, “O, I am fortunes fool” (Act3.Scene1.line142). He is stating that he is very unfortunate and wishes that he was not banished.
According to Aristotle’s hypothesis of a tragic hero the character must be of some form of nobility, suffer from some form of error in judgment, go through a period of reversed fortune, and finally recognize that the error was actually caused by his own actions. The concept of tragedy is deeply embedded into both plays however
In Shakespeare’s famous tragedy play Macbeth; a tragic character flaw exists within Macbeth’s character. Throughout the play, we are able to see the development of Macbeth’s tragic character flaw and how Macbeth makes his decisions because of it. Because of the decisions Macbeth makes throughout the play, it leads to his downfall and ultimately, death. There are a numerous of reasons why his flaw leads to his death. Macbeth’s’ tragic character flaw is his ambition.
For example, he is responsible for the death of Mercutio, which causes a vengeful spark to rise in Romeo. After Tybalt stabs Mercutio he turns to Romeo and says, “I am hurt. A plague on both your houses” (121). Tybalt killing Mercutio is one of the actions that lead up to the death of Romeo and Juliet. Tybalt had no reason for fighting with him.
Romeo and Juliet is a play made up of unwise decisions. Fate or unpredictable events did cause some complications, but character choices actually determined the outcome. The characters are responsible for the tragic ending and death of many people. Different decisions made by the Montagues and Capulets, Romeo and Juliet would have changed the end of this tragedy. The first people who could have changed the tragic story would be the Capulets and the Montagues.
In all Greek tragedies, and other tragedies the main character ends up dying. There are three characters that could qualify as the tragic hero in Antigone, but I believe that one of the three characters is more worthy of the title. The three characters that I believe could be the tragic hero in the play Antigone are Antigone, Polynices, or Creon. Creon could be the tragic hero in Antigone because just like Antigone he also has a tragic flaw. Creon’s tragic flaw is that he is arrogant, and does not like to listen to other people’s opinion.