Unique Tragic Hero A hero does not need to be good, he just need to be the winner. In ancient time, Greek tragedy was not only a form of entertainment but also a tool to make people embrace The Gods. It endues emotions such as pity and fear in the audience that the protagonist’s affliction may happen to them. Thus, a tragic hero is extremely crucial to promote such emotion. Medea, an ancient Greek tragedy written by Euripides has Medea, a female character as the tragic hero.
To what Extent is King Lear a Tragic Hero? Aristotle said that tragedy is characterised by seriousness and dignity and involving a great person who experiences a reversal of fortune. Aristotle’s definition can include a change of fortune from bad to good, but he says that the change from good to bad is preferable because this affects pity and fear within the audience. Tragedy results in catharsis (emotional cleansing) or healing for the audience through their experience of these emotions in response to the suffering of the characters in the drama/play. According to Aristotle a tragic hero must be a noble person and also hold a “high” status in society.
Macbeth started the play as a brave and honourable warrior , which led King Duncan to promote Macbeth from Thane of Glamis to Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth downfall would begin
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.
Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles is one of the most famous tragedies ever written. The play centers on Oedipus the King of Thebes, who is cursed with an unfortunate prophecy. Though Oedipus is doomed by fate, his own qualities lead to his eventual ruin. Oedipus is in fact a tragic hero, because he embodies every aspect of the definition itself, the first part of the definition states the character/protagonist must be of noble birth and possess noble and moralistic character, the second portion of the definition explains the character is not perfect; he or she contains a harmartia or tragic flaw, and the third component of the definition states the character must recognize their role in their own demise and in turn experience great self realization. The character Oedipus accommodates the first aspect of the definition of a tragic hero.
At the end of every tragic play, the audience must feel pity or remorse for the deceased hero. This is also known as catharsis, which means purging of emotions. However these negative emotions are washed away because the tragic hero's death is an example of the axiom of true Puritan values. John Proctor, a character in Arthur Miller's The Crucible, is a classic tragic hero because he contains all the elements of a tragic hero such as hamartia, peripeteia, catharsis, and despite not being born into nobility, he possesses many noble characteristics. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor's fatal flaw was his overwhelming hubris that made him eventually succumb to his death.
To begin, with Shakespeare shows Macbeth as a valiant individual when the Sergeant says “brave Macbeth… with his brandished steel, which smoked with bloody execution, like valour’s minion” (Shakespeare-1.2.17-20). Because of his bravery and courageousness, Macbeth is able to take down Macdownwald by “unseamed him from the nave to the chops, and fixed his head upon our battlements” (1.2.24.25), as well as taking on the Norwegians. The victories ensures that Macbeth is respected by others including King Duncan, who calls him “O valiant cousin” and “Worthy gentlemen!” (1.2.26) Moreover, Macbeth’s valiant and braveness causes him being crowned the Thane of Cawdor by Kind Duncan. Consequently, Shakespeare portrays Macbeth’s exceptional characteristic of being rational and is seen when Macbeth questions the prophecies the three witches, he asks “But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives.
In Poetics, Aristotle says the tragic hero is a character of noble stature and has greatness. This should be readily evident in the play; the tragic hero must occupy a high status position but must also embody nobility and virtue as part of his/her innate character (vccslitonline.cc.va.us). Aristotle contests that the tragic hero has to be a man “who is not eminently good and just, yet whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty” (Reeves 180). He is not making the hero entirely good in which he can do no wrong, and this helps us, the common people, relate to the tragic hero. With the tragic hero’s imperfections, this helps create a relation between the common people and the tragic hero.
Duncan tries to praise the people around him and honor them for the good that they instill. The two characters are symbols of lightness and darkness. Scotland is like Heaven (lightness), when Duncan is ruling and Hell (darkness), when Macbeth is trying to be the ruler. As the play opens Duncan, the former king of Scotland, is being told of the good men that conquered a battle, Macbeth and Banquo. Duncan is dismayed by their deed.
A tragedy is a story of a person’s demise brought on them by the specific flaws in their character. The “Tragedy of Othello” by William Shakespeare tells a story of deceit and revenge. Othello, the central figure of the play, is a man noble to his country and people. He is an amazing character, a tragic hero, who has befallen to undeserved misfortune and folly. While it may seem, that the tragedy of Othello was caused by the evil villain Iago, I believe that he was not the only one to blame.