Modern Day Tragic Hero – Ben Johnson Essay Example

Johnson fits the criteria for a tragic hero that Aristotle set about.

In the terms of being ‘high born’ this could, in a modern context, be translated into ‘high status’. Ben Johnson had high status as a world renowned athlete for his country just as Oedipus had ‘high status’ from being born a prince and then later becoming a king. Johnson’s main opponent in the 100m race was another sprinter called Carl Lewis. When Lewis defeated Johnson, he said “I will never again lose to Johnson”.

This is where hubris comes in. Johnson’s pride demanded he beat Lewis so he took performance enhancing drugs to do just that. His tragic flaw was his pride and that lead to his downfall for when he tested positive for drugs, he lost not only his record, but also his medal which had been the proof he was indeed better than Carl Lewis. This also lead to the loss of sponsors, support and the worlds over all sense of respect for the athlete.

Peripeteia is obvious in this case, with Johnson losing so much and suffering his own downfall all over the world.Oedipus was much the same in the sense that his pride and desire to help save his kingdom from the ‘poison’ that was killing the land brought about his own downfall by revealing he himself was in fact the poison. Through an error in judgement, both men brought about their own downfall. Johnson by taking drugs and getting caught, Oedipus by killing in anger some travelers on the road who turned out to be his father and the king. Both of these men’s fates, once they started down

those paths, were inescapable.

Olympic athletes were tested far too many times for Johnson to simply slip thorugh and Oedipus was so determined to find the King’s killer that it never occurred to him it could be him. However, in the last criteria, Johnson does invoke pity for his fate, however it is not because people feel sorry for him. It is that they pity how stupid he was to use drugs, when he was already a world renowned athlete. Oedipus on the other hand invoked pity for the man himself and his fate. Through a simple mistake, and other people’s interferance, he had killed his father, married his mother and inadvertadely poisoned the very land he ruled.

Oedipus though, learned his lesson and was willing to recognise and accept what he had done. Johnson though appeared to learn no lesson since he went on to be caught for drug cheating again when he finally made his comback into his sport. He did though admit to it and recognised that he had cheated, however that did not stop him from claiming that others, including his rival Carl Lewis, had also cheated using drugs. So, despite his downfall and his loses, Johnson’s pride was still predominant in his persona. King Oedipus was a tragic hero.

He fits the criteria Aristotle set forth of hamartia, hubris, anagnorisis, peripeteia, nemesis, and catharsis. Johnson also fits these criteria, however his differ slightly in the context, for example, what kind of pity he invoked, that he learned his lesson but did he take it in, and a few others. Ben Johnson was on top of the world with support, medals and high status,

much like King Oedipus was with being King, having a family and ruling a beautiful land, but through their own faults and bad decisions, brought about their own downfall and ruined the respected lives they had built for themselves.Unlike back in Ancient Greece though, the ‘tragic heroes’ of today’s society face an even harder challenge. They have to live with their mistakes and the downfalls they caused, whereas King Oedipus and others such as Antigone did not. They were executed or killed for their ‘crimes’ and so were given release in death.

Unfortunately for Ben Johnson, his is a story that will be told and known for generations to come. Hopefully though, it will prevent similar downfalls and many other athletes and people.