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.

Poems for Sabrina

My best friend Sabrina's birthday is Jan. 3 and since I'm a little short on money I'm writing her a bunch of poems for her birthday/christmas present and I'm teaching her how to snowboard. So far I've written 3. Please let me know if you have any thoughts on them b/c i want them to be perfect for her present.

Binds

Let's be Friends.
A statement unspoken
A thought shared

Will it stick?
Will it grow?
We had no idea.

Who knew we would
Connect so quickly
Letting go of first impressions

Looking deeper
Seeing each other for who we are
The internal beauty

I've seen your heart
You've seen mine
Now we know

It's gonna stick and
It's gonna grow
This bind is built to last.


Hearts Beat As One

It began so simply.
We are bound together
Our hearts know

This is Beautiful
It's meant to last

It began as Friends
We broke those binds long ago
Breaking the bounds of DNA.

Sisters. Follows next
The connection is stronger
The binds are tighter

Our hearts know
one another
beating together

We share.
Our sorrows
Our joys
Our love

We share.
Our successes and failures
Our laughter and tears
You laugh, I laugh
You cry, I cry
Our hearts beat as one

True Beauty

Open your Heart to all
you share your joy
Giving love

Every smile, Every hug
gives a glimpse of
the beauty inside

Your over the top
your more nutty than crunchy peanut butter
Your effervescent as the wings of an angel

You are your own person
No one is gonna change that
It's beautiful

Who you are is what you do
You love and share and give
What you do is beautiful

You are beautiful inside and out
and darling
this beauty is eternal!

-let me know what you think guys. thanks.

Notice

Hey bros, this is just me warning you that if you ever talk to mom or dad about anything that i write on this blog i won't talk to you for a VERY long time.

that said now i can get on with the story of my very complicated life.
I skipped school today at the request of my mother. We went to the cities to visit a small liberal arts college by the name of Augsburg. It is awesome! the only thing wrong with the place is that it is in minnesota and the closest ski areas are afton alps and welch village. Arthur, Caleb or Seth if you happen to know of any small awesome liberal arts colleges in utah or colorado or washington for that matter, please notify me b/c i would really like to go to one and as much as mom wants me to stay close i really don't want to be away from the mountains. You are probably thinking, Why doesn't she just come to BYU? well i dont want to go to a huge college like that and there are too many mormons. Frankly i don't know how you handle it.

you rain on me - cleanse, cleanse my soul -the soul to be -the me to be -now i stand all skin and bones -only a voice to scream at you -Theif you've t

this isn't something i wrote but i think its pretty darn awesome. these are the lyrics to the song- Thief, you've taken all that was me by Weezer.

Thief, of silent dreams
Of golden scenes
Stole away

All, it was in me
It wasn't me
Who slipped away

Now I stand with skin and bones
Without a dime to call my home
Only a voice to tell you
Thief, you've taken all that was me

Rain, It laughed so hard
It cried on me
You rain on me

Cleanse, cleanse my soul
The soul to be
The me to be

Now I stand with skin and bones
Without a dime to call my home
Only a voice to scream at you

Now I stand with skin and bones
Without a dime to call my home
Only a voice to scream at you
Thief, you've taken all that was me

it's in the air

ginger, cinnamon,
warm cocoa, bread baking
can you smell it?

warm ovens,
roaring fires,
rush of icy air through the door thrown open,
followed by the warmly welcomed
suffocating embrace of family
can you feel it?

frosting cookies,
wrapping the tree in memories, love, and hopes
filling its base with gifts to and from.
can you wait?

long awaited tales
connecting across countries, states and oceans
laughter, tears of joy and sorrow, voices
all flitting around and around
wrapping everyone up in warmth and love.
can you hear it?
can you feel it?

snow falling past frosted windows
smiling faces all in a circle
cookies wrapping paper and presents all mixed together
vibrant greens, reds, golds blending and flowing
twinkling lights and eyes
can you see it?

now blend it all together
family, love, joy
laughter, good food
brothers, sisters, bestfriends
gifts, snow, fresh baked cookies
steaming hot cocoa, tales of adventure
fun, love, surprise, sadness, and joy
new friends and old

can you smell it?
can you hear it?
can you see it?
can you feel it?
its in the air!

its not santa or his elves
not presents not death
no its a celebration
of the birth of our savior
of the love in our lives
of our family
of good friends

its a time of gratitude
a time of giving
a time of love
a time of hope

in all these things
in all these ways
all together--
we give thanks to our lord and our savior
on christmas day for all that we have.

Merry Christmas guys
i know its early but...
"its in the air"
p.s. i love all you guys (sabrina included)

but OH! what could have...

It flits through my consciousness
alighting for a moment
pull me in
turning on a light in my mind

it's a spark.
setting my imagination on fire.
the wheels began to turn.
gears churning faster and faster
lance armstrong is behind the handlebars
my mind keeps charging

building speed
breaking through barriers.
skipping over.
flying past.
so fast
not quite sure what is happening
all i know
it feels like heaven

my mind is full of hope
possibilities
the options are endless

ive got no idea where im goin
i hope im doin this right?
right now!

No! dont catch it!
do you dare to pause and question
ability and power
all you need is heart, drive, passion

these are the fuel
my mind is the engine.
but oh what sparked this flood
breaking down the dam
holding me back

but OH!
what could have shook my mind
causing this avalanche of hope

don't catch it
let it catch you
carry you away
into the unknown

oh the beauty of it

but OH! what could have caused this?

don't let it flit past.
jump on and fly away
fly away into the future

but OH! what could have caused this?
this marvelous idea?


fyi. arthur i never proofread these b4 i post them.