Tragic Hero Essays

Art imitates life and is a mirror of the inherent complexities of our nature we uphold. It should be very true to our life. These are the words of Aristotle, a great Greek philosopher, who made tragedy a genre, something to implore upon. He said tragic plays should depict something very terrible, pity and deplorable […]

Oedipus Rex has an extremely unusual plot but it has a recognizable beginning. Oedipus the King relates the story of Oedipus who reached Thebes, having killed on the way an old man with whom he picked a quarrel. The city of Thebes was then suffering terribly because of the monster, the Sphinx. He solved her […]

A Shakespearean tragic hero may be defined as “an exceptional being of high degree” who contributes to his own degeneration and illustrates a personality flaw. The character of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is in all ways the perfect example of a tragic hero. His greatness and bravery in battle for his country ultimately leads him to be […]

In his work Nature and Elements of Tragedy, Aristotle outlined the characteristics needed in order to create a compelling tragic hero. He states that this particular character must be “better than we are,” a man who is superior to the average man in some way. At the same time, a tragic hero must evoke both […]

The idea of tragic heroes requires them to begin as virtuous individuals, but possess flaws that enable the audience to identify with them and inevitably lead to their downfall. In Macbeth, the witches appear for the first time and reveal their plan to meet with Macbeth. The initial witch inquires about their next meeting, which […]

“What a piece of work a man is,” says the title character, Hamlet, of William Shakespeare’s famous tragedy Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (Shakespeare 2. 2. 327). Men are pieces of work, and some men like to make pieces of work, like Shakespeare and his numerous plays, and other men like to give their opinion on […]

The main character of the play Oedipus the King, Oedipus Rex, embodies the classic traits of a tragic hero. He possesses exceptional talent and noble lineage, but also has a tragic flaw that leads to widespread suffering. Despite this, he ultimately acknowledges his own culpability in his downfall. Oedipus’s remarkable abilities and aristocratic background are […]

Tragic Greek dramas featured tragic heroes. A tragic hero is defined as a character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy. Of all the tragic heroes in Greek literature, Sophocles believed that Oedipus was the truest. Sophocles was correct, for […]

The novel Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, is a tale of a man and the eventual downfall of his life and well-being. Ethan emerges as the main protagonist and hero of the story. He is a proud man of tall stature and good nature. Although Ethan is not of noble blood and is very poor, […]

John Proctor as a Tragic Hero In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, a husband, John Proctor, deals with the traumatic stress of his wife, Elizabeth, and the accusations of witchcraft pressed onto her. John Proctor is put face-to-face with the men of the court; while righteously defending his family, he is put under the spotlight and […]

To what extent do you think Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a tragic hero? The 17th century play, ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare, was written during a time when James the first became the first king of both Scotland and England. The characters in the play are also based upon his descendants. The play itself focuses on […]

Through extensive critical study of William Shakespeare’s play Othello, taking into account the countless productions of the play over the years, which reaffirms its status as an enduring valued text, it becomes distinctly evident that part of its ability to continually engage readers is drawn from its treatment of themes universal to the human experience […]

In his essay Tragedy and the Common Man, Arthur Miller writes of how ‘the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were’, and uses the protagonist, Eddie Carbone, an as illustration of the ‘common man’. Miller has a unique perspective on tragedy, and tries to reinvent its […]

There is great talk among the Heath folk of Clym Yeobright and how well he has done for himself after moving away to become a diamond merchant’s manager. We see people respect him and even though he has got an education people still admire him. He is seen as a hero figure but has a […]

In Paul Roche’s portrayal of the Oedipus Plays by Sophocles, Oedipus is depicted as a tragic character who embodies the qualities of a noble and powerful king. He earns the respect of his people and understands his role as a proper ruler. In addressing his subjects, Oedipus recognizes their sorrowful gestures and acknowledges his responsibility […]

The main focus here is not the term tragedy, which means “goat song” and has a connection to Dionysus’ ritual. Instead, we will primarily explore Aristotle’s concept of tragedy, which comes from the story of Dionysus and other sources. According to Aristotle’s Poetics, a crucial aspect of tragedy is the depiction of a noble and […]

Aristotle defines a tragic hero as someone, usually a male, who “falls from a high place mainly due to their fatal flaw. ” During the highest point of the tragic hero’s life, something is revealed to the protagonist causing a reversal in their fortune. This reversal of fortune is caused by the flaw in their […]

The book “Things fall apart” by Chinua Achebe depicts Okonkwo as a tragic hero according to Aristotle’s definition. Okonkwo, a central character of noble birth, possesses a fatal flaw that ultimately leads to his downfall. To determine if Okonkwo fulfills the criteria of a tragic hero, we need to examine Aristotle’s four-part definition. By chapter […]

In Aristotle’s Poetics, he described what a tragic hero is with several characteristics, and in the Greek Tragedy of Sophocles; Electra, the main protagonist really has some of these characteristics. In terms of Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero, Electra is considered as a tragic hero. First, she is an individual of noble stature; she […]

A tragic hero according to Aristotle, is, ‘a [great] man who is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness but because of some mistake’. In this play, Arthur Miller uses many techniques to try and draw a picture to the audience, that Eddie […]

Tragic heroes exemplify a number of qualities including courage and some type of personal sacrifice. The character Okonkwo in the novel Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, demonstrates many of the characteristics of a tragic hero. However, he also exhibits many qualities not representatives of a tragic hero. There are many ways to define a […]

Argumentative/Persuasive Essay Hamlet; The Tragic Hero In many plays there is always one person that is the tragic hero. They always possess some type of tragic flaw that in turn leads to their tragic deaths. In the Shakespearean play Hamlet the main character Hamlet is considered to be a tragic hero. By carefully analyzing the […]