The Tragic Concept of a Tragic Hero (english final)

Concerning heroes Aristotle opined that, "A hero cannot become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall." This holds true to the tragic heroes, Okonkwo from Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart, Hamlet from William Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, and Oedipus from the Greek play, Oedipus the King by Sophocles. These three tragic heroes all come from very different times in very different worlds; through their tragedies they are connected and similar. Oedipus is the son of Laius the King of Thebes and his wife Jocasta. Abandoned as a baby he was taken in by the king and queen of Corinth. Centuries later there is Hamlet, the son of the deceased king of Denmark and his wife Gertrude, centuries after the death of Hamlet is the story of Okonkwo a village elder in Nigeria who came from poor lineage. The problem with Aristotle's ida of a hero is that it fails to take into account the tragic hero who does not discover the root of his downfall until it is too late. As such the tragic hero in literature has a tendency to die at the conclusion of the novel. The classic tragic hero is a character the audience can connect and empathize with. Through their thoughts and actions athe audience glimpses their strength and the tragic flaws that will lead to their demise, and by comparing the tales of many tragic heroes, the audience can discover the role of fate in their lives.
Who a person is, is based not on what they are doing at this moment in their lives but on their history, actions, and what they have done as a result. Okonkwo, Hamlet, and Oedipus, whether they realize it or not , base their entire existence on where they come from and who their fathers were, and in essence become, their father's sons. Hamlet and Oedipus both come from royal and noble lineages and were born into positions fo great responsiblility. While born into a life of poverty, created by his father, Okonkwo rose from it to become a well know and powerful man in his tribe. Subsequently these three men rose to the expectations held for them, even breaking a few, to become respected men within their individual spheres of influence. In order to become respected each man had to prove their selves worthy. Okonkwo worked hard for his fame and good standing. From a young age he worked to build his wealth and leave behind the life his laqy and severely indebted father had left for him. Along with becoming a trustworthy man, Okonkwo also proved his strength and courage. The first instance of this is when he throws the great and undefeated wrestler, Amaline the cat. He continues to exhibit stength and leadership in his dealings as a village elder in keeping peace in the plan. Like Okonkwo, Odeipus displayed a great deal of strength and leadership in order to rise to his position. After freeing Thebes from the control of Sphinx by answering the riddle, the citizens of Thebes asked him to be their king. Upon becoming the king of Thebes, his strong leadership skills bring peace and contentment to the lives of his subjects for a time. As a result, the citizens of Thebes are very loyal to him because of the way he has proven himself overtime as their king. When the city of Thebes falls from its pelasant times into sickness and famine a priest comes to Oedipus and pleads with him to save them from this plight, "For now this land of ours calls you its savior since you saved it once. So letus never speak of your reigh as of a time when first our feet were set secure on high, but later fell to ruin. Raise up our city, save it and raise it up." (Oedipus the King, 54-58). Like Oedipus, Hamlet, is a character beloved by his people, so much so that his uncle, King Claudius, is afraid to do anything to him beacause of their love for him. After Hamlet kills Polonius, King Claudius realizes that he cannot take action against Hamlet for this very reason. In order to get him out fo the palace he sends Hamlet to school in England. This love is not unwarranted' throughout his life Hamlet has been seen by the public for who he is, the pure and compassionate son of their dead king Hamlet. The grieving Hamlet continures to love, the beautiful and witty Ophelia, and to be hurt, by his mother, who quickly abandoned the grave of his father for the wedding bed of his uncle.
Those who bask in the glory of these tragic heroes, feel a connection with them. Thsi connection extends not only to their subjects but also to the reader and audience. Humanity has a method by which it connects all mankind. When each character's humanity is revealed the audience begins to understand and empathize with them. The first major moment in which the reader feels pity for the tragic hero is when someone close to them dies. For example the death fo Hamlet's father and the suicide of his lover Ophelia, the suicide of Jocasta, Oedipus' wife and mother, and the death of Ikemefun, Okonkwo's foster son. Other emotions such as love, fear, sorrow, and anger help the readers to connect with the protagonist. After the death of his father, the grieving Hamlet sarcastically admonishes his mother when hse asks him why he mourns so long, "'Seems,' madam? Nay, it is. I know not 'seems.' / 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, / Nor customary suits of solemn black, / ... That can denote me truly. These indeed 'seem,' / for they are actions that a man might play. / But I have that within which passeth show, / These but the trappings and the suits of woe." (I.ii. 76-86), through his sarcasm Hamlet shows a glimpse of the pain that lies underneath his clothes of mourning. The reader also finds a connections in the imperfections fo the heroes, or their flaws.
In his novel, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe's character Okonkwo realizes that, "living fire begets cold impotent ash" (Achebe 153). The reader can see that rash decisions can spell ruin for the decision maker, this is directly appplied to the idea of the hero's tragic flaw; a major flaw in character which coupled with rash actions will in effect lead to the character's demise. When Oedipus' adoptive parents tell him of the prophecy, "he'll be revealed a brother and a father to his children in his house, husband and son to her who gave him birth; wife-sharer adn killer of his father." (Oedipus the King, 457), he becomes obsessed with alluding his horrible fate. His fear of the future leads him down the path to his destruction; he leaves Corinth and along his wy unkowingly kills his father, then by freeing Thebes of the Sphinx he marries his mother nad has children with her, thus leading to his curse and destruction of his life. After the truth of his actions is brought to light everything around him falls to pieces. Similarly Hamlet's own obsession proves to be the ruin of him as he focuses so intently on exposing the truth he becomes paranoid and appears to have gon mad. His choices result in the deaths fo all near him save his close friend, Horatio, the sole survivor. Okonkwo's obsessive fear of appearing weak and feminine causes him to taking very negative actions. One such notable moment is his execution of his foster son Ikemfuna. Instead of following the advice of others to let someone else take care of it Okonkwo does it himself out of pride, and a need to maintain his strong and unchangeable exterior. Actions like this lead to his won suicide after a failed attempt at a rebellion againts the invasion of the Whites. Each character exhibits their flaws in very separate and individual ways but the same key flaw is evident in all of them. their obsession wiht control to the point of narrow mindedness.
While trying to evade the fates they miss the very things which are bringing them down into the net of despair. Okonkwo, Hamlet, and Oedipus all have one thing in common; who they are is based off of who and what their fathers were and did. Okonkwo's fear of being like his father who was, "lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of htinking of tomorrow" (Achebe, 4), causes him to become him to become a harsh ruler os his household, a diligent and meticulous title owner. In parallel ther is Hamlet whose entire existence as known by by the audience is based upon the exposing the truth of his father's death and getiting revenge for it, subsequently brining out his paranoia tragic legacy of father destroying the son. All his adult life Oedipus attempts to thwart the prophecy that he will murder hsi own father, basing his choices on exaclty that, how to avoid his father. This shortsightedness ultimately leads to the destruction of the heroes.
In examing each tale closely the reader may notice the concurrent theme of the crime of passion committed by the tragic hero. While trying to avoid killing the man Oedipus had always believed was his father he in turn happens apon a man going the opposite direction as he is, and out of anger he kills the man. Later to his despair he comes to realize that the man he had killed was his father and is horrified to discover the prophecy had been fulfilled. In Hamlet's attempt to evade the fates by exposing the truth, the kills Polonius, an advisor to Claudius. The death of Polonius sets forth a chain of events leading ultimately to the fated death of Hamlet. Comparable to this is Okonkwo, his village has changed and his choice to hang himself. Unfortunately for everyone none of the heroes plans work out quite how they had hoped, leaving the reader to wonder if fate can be thwarted.
While Aristotle's theory of the hero is not flawed the heroes he refers to are. Consequently the heroes go through trials; losing a parent, a loved one, defeating enemies. They do not survive unscathed, quite the opposite in fact, they are utterly cahnged bringing to the surface their flaws. Chinua Achebe concludes in his novel, Things Fall Apart, that, "A proud heart can survive general failure because such a failure does not prick its pride. It is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone." (24-25). While trying to evade their fate the heoes alienate themselves and fail alone. The bitterness of their failures is felt by the audience who connects with the tragic hero. Aristotle was correct in saying that a hero must understand their weaknesses in order to truly become a hero. It is at the point when the tragic hero discovers "the root of his won downfall" that he surrenders himself and is in a way destroyed, but that is not the end of a tragic hero. A tragic hero is a hero who's stengths and weaknesses and courage live beyond the realms of physical mortality.

Every man dies, but not every man really lives.

With every day i get a little older, more joints hurt, i get more tired, more stressed, more everything not fun. Whenever i think about it like this i get really sad so i have found a solution to this little problem; think about all the positive things about getting older. For instance, each new day brings a new beginning, a chance to start over, another opportunity to try cool new things, another day to snowboard, another chance to laugh, another memory. So i've decided that instead of thinking about all the things that are getting me down i'm going to think about the positive things that come from each of these trials.