Tragic Hero

Aristotelian tragic hero

Characteristics

Aristotle once said that "A man doesn't become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall." An Aristotelian tragic hero must have four characteristics^[1]:

1. Nobility (of a noble birth) or wisdom (by virtue of birth).
2. Hamartia (translated as flaw or error of judgment).
3. A reversal of fortune(peripeteia) brought about because of the hero's Hamartia.
4. The discovery or recognition that the reversal was brought about by the hero's own actions (anagnorisis)

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 bears 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.This could also include a leader of a family
• The hero must be intelligent so he may learn from his mistakes.^[2]

A tragic hero usually has the following sequence of "Great, Good, Flaw, Downfall." and more often than not dies at some point in the story.

Tragic virtue

An alternative view of the tragic hero, especially in Renaissance British literature, is one in which he or she possesses a tragic virtue (as opposed to the Classical idea of Hamartia). In this paradigm, the hero exhibits traits that would under other conditions be considered desirable, but due to external circumstances cause their eventual undoing. For example, Shakespeare's character Hamlet from the eponymous play is often criticized for his contemplative nature, and his failure to act is cited as his tragic flaw. Under other circumstances, however, such as the kingship that Hamlet was to inherit, a contemplative nature is certainly a virtue. The tragedy of Hamlet, then, is not that of a flawed character who simply succumbs to his failings, but that of a virtuous character who is consumed by circumstances not under his control.

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.

References

1. ^ http://www.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/poetics.html
2. ^ Answers.com

External links

• Outline of Aristotle's Theory of Tragedy

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