Tragic hero
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A tragic hero is a protagonist with a tragic flaw, also known as fatal flaw, which eventually leads to his demise. The concept of the tragic hero was created in ancient Greek tragedy and defined by Aristotle. Usually, the realization of fatal flaw results in catharsis or epiphany. The tragic flaw is sometimes referred to as an Achilles' heel after the single fatal flaw of the Greek warrior Achilles. [citation needed]
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[edit] Aristotelian tragic hero
In a complex Aristotelian tragedy, the hero is "a man like us," born of middle or lower class, however more admirable than ordinary men. He cannot, however, be morally perfect because the best plots arise when his downfall is the inevitable consequence of some defect in character (or tragic flaw).The spectacle of a good man dragged to destruction by a single error arouses in the audience both pity and fear, leading to the catharsis, a psychological state through which those emotions are purged; the audience leaves the theater relieved, or even exalted, rather then depressed.
[edit] Characteristics
An Aristotelian tragic hero must have four characteristics:
- Nobleness or wisdom (by virtue of birth).
- Hamartia (translated as tragic flaw, somewhat related to hubris, but denoting excess in behavior or mistakes).
- A reversal of fortune (peripetia) brought about because of the hero's tragic error.
- The discovery or recognition that the reversal was brought about by the hero's own actions (anagnorisis).
[edit] Other common traits
Some other common traits characteristic of a tragic hero:
- Hero must suffer more than he deserves.
- Hero must be doomed from the start, but bear no responsibility for possessing his flaw.
- Hero must be noble in nature, but imperfect so that the audience can see themselves in him.
- Hero must have discovered his fate by his own actions, not by things happening to him.
- Hero must see and understand his doom, as well as the fact that his fate was discovered by his own actions.
- Hero's story should arouse fear and empathy.
- Hero must be physically or spiritually wounded by his experiences, often resulting in his death.
- Ideally, the hero should be a king or leader of men, so that his people experience his fall with him.
- The hero must be intelligent so he may learn from his mistakes.
[edit] Modern fictional tragic heroes
In the Modernist era, a new kind of tragic hero was synthesized as a reaction to the English Renaissance, The Age of Enlightenment, and Romanticism. The idea was that the hero, rather than falling calamitously from a high position, is actually a person less worthy of consideration. Not only that, the protagonist may not even have the needed catharsis to bring the story to a close. He may die without an epiphany of his destiny, or suffer without the ability to change events that are happening to him. The story may end without closure and even without the death of the hero. This new tragic hero of Modernism is the anti-hero. This happened all thoughout history.
[edit] Examples
- Anakin Skywalker (Darth Vader) of the Star Wars series
- Eddie, from Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge
- Ethan Frome from Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome
- Hamlet from Shakespeare's Hamlet
- Jack Bauer from the television series 24
- James Gatz (Jay Gatsby) from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- JC Denton from the PC game Deus Ex
- John-117 from the Halo video games
- Michael Corleone, from The Godfather series of films by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola
- Napoleon Wilson from Assault on Precinct 13 (1976 film), a film by John Carpenter
- Okonkwo from Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe
- Richard B. Riddick from the film Pitch Black
- Romeo from Shakespeare's tragedy- Romeo and Juliet
- Sirius Black in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series
- Tony Montana from Scarface a film by Brian De Palma
- Wolverine from the X-Men comic book series
- Willy Loman from Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
- John Proctor. fpr, The Crucible, also by Arthur Miller.
- Arthur Dimmesdale from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Edmond Dantès from Alexandre Dumas, père's The Count of Monte Cristo
- Pete Rose from Cincinatti Reds His on the field gambling made him great, and as a leader of men, his gambling cost him the all of fame in baseball.
