A STUDY OF THE TRAGIC HERO IN LITERATURE
Any analysis of the Heroic Life of certain men and women makes for a complex and challenging psychological inquiry. We will delve into this subject, by looking into at least three main aspects of the heroic character. First we will discuss the nature of the singularity of the hero; second, his social significance at the time he lives; and third the interaction between fate or destiny and the hero’s own known attributes and defects which may bring him success or failure. Let us use three examples to illustrate these three points: Homer’s Achilles, Sophocles’ King Oedipus and finally G.B. Shaw’s Saint Joan.
Let us then first discuss the unique qualities
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Here the gods have already taken the place of Destiny. Fate is still a powerful element, but the sense of its omnipresence has been greatly reduced since the Iliad, six centuries before. Oedipus is chosen by the gods, and not by Destiny, to lead a heroic life of suffering and torment, and when at the end he discovers the truth about his life, he is ready to put the blame on Apollo, rather than on Fate as might have been expected from an earlier Greek.4 My teacher of World Literature in Bachillerato (high school) in Caracas kept on referring to la Maquina, Spanish for a Supernatural Machine or being. This choice of the hero by a supernatural force is even more obvious in the case of Saint Joan. Here she is chosen to win back France from the British by God Himself---from among all the other French he could have chosen---through the intervention of the “voices” of Saint Michael, Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret. Thus the choice of Joan is a definite act of Providence as contrasted with our Greek heroes, where the choice is not as …show more content…
This fact is by no means universal, yet occurring often enough to merit closer analysis. Of particular interest to us is its presence with the three heroes we are discussing. In the Iliad, we find Achilles alone and brooding after his quarrel with Agamemnon, “nursing his sorrow.”
Again, following the death of Patroclus we find Achilles, alone among all the warriors, wailing and crying, unique in his great sorrow. He is left alone to cry it out at the games. With Oedipus, the ultimate lonely condition of the hero is legendary. When the tragedy befalls him he becomes resigned to his fate, he is banished outright from the city by Creon and the other citizens. It is only in Oedipus at Colonna that the company of his daughter Antigone becomes his only consolation. But even here, the presence of a child is no great remedy, and we find Oedipus fighting his greedy relatives until his last days, totally alone. He finally dies
Many cultures in the ancient and medieval worlds found courage as a value and virtue associated with warriors. To a great extent, western cultures also find courage as an attribute of warriors. This courageous cultural tendency gets its imaginative manifestation in literature of heroic societies such as The Epic of Gilgamesh, homer’s Iliad and Beowulf. These Epic heroes which show human conditions are Gilgamesh, Achilles from Homer's Iliad and Beowulf. Although, the actions and lives of these warriors occurred at different times in history, their stories are passed on from generations to generations and they share a lot of commonalities but with some discrepancies based on their lives, their choices, ideals and beliefs. These warriors present human conditions in terms of their heroism, weaknesses and mortality. All demonstrate the nature of humans and their constant struggles with understanding and curiosity which drives their internal hunger. The struggle of understanding and the curiosity drive is faced with difficulties and the greatest one is that of facing their fears head on.
man who did not let any mortal man, god, or goddess stand in his way
Idolized for their courage and noble qualities, a hero achieves superlative success by utilizing their strength and intellect to battle against their greatest challenge. Typically, heroes bask in the glory of their fame and triumph, admired by those throughout society, but realistically, not all heroes live happily ever after. As demonstrated through the epic poem, Beowulf, translated by Burton Raffel, and Sophocles’ tragic play, Oedipus, abridged by Nick Bartel, there comes a time for one’s downfall, usually provoked by an illogical decision or characteristic flaw. Their misfortunes arrived as a result of a free choice gone awry, not because it their fate that doomed their lives, proving that heroes are just like any commoner who experiences
The great Sophoclean play, Oedipus Rex is an amazing play, and one of the first of its time to accurately portray the common tragic hero. Written in the time of ancient Greece, Sophocles perfected the use of character flaws in Greek drama with Oedipus Rex. Using Oedipus as his tragic hero, Sophocles’ plays forced the audience to experience a catharsis of emotions. Sophocles showed the play-watchers Oedipus’s life in the beginning as a “privileged, exalted [person] who [earned his] high repute and status by…intelligence.” Then, the great playwright reached in and violently pulled out the audience’s most sorrowful emotions, pity and fear, in showing Oedipus’s “crushing fall” from greatness.
Heroes are found everywhere. They are seen in movies, on television, in books, and in reality. A hero can be anyone from a friend to a fictional character. To be considered a hero, one must make selfless sacrifices, develop and learn, overcome challenges and temptations, and ultimately present their known world with a gift of any kind. Homer’s The Odyssey paints a picture of the supposed savior Odysseus. The irony of Odysseus’ situation is that he really is not the marvelous hero that many who read The Odyssey see him to be. When imagining a great hero, the words of cruel, unfaithful, selfish, or careless never come to mind, but the son of Laertes sets examples for each attribute. Odysseus makes many poor decisions that cause his dislikable traits to highly outweigh his few better ones. Several of his more prominent characteristics are exhibited on numerous accounts. Odysseus cannot possibly earn the title of being a hero because he harbors hubris, he displays a lack of faith, and his self-centeredness causes unfortunate events.
A person will typically think a hero as one who is equipped with great strength or ability. But a hero is more than just being brave or strong. In the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus goes through many challenges and is faced with his biggest weakness: his hubris or excessive pride. Though, Odysseus earns the title of a hero because he exhibits courage, utilizes cunning, and overcomes his hubris.
Why is Odysseus such a great warrior? Well, he is a great warrior because he is willing to risk his life to make it back and to keep his people safe. No matter what the problem is, no matter who or what he has to go against. He knows exactly how to approach and take care of the issue. Even if Odysseus is far from home and battling for his life or battling terrible creatures, his heart is set to one place. Ithaca, and he has his mind set that he will make it back, no matter how rough things will get and he is a hundred-percent determined to bring himself and his men back to Ithaca. Stuck,trapped, or tired. He is determined to make it back safely. And even though Odysseus is not a hero who can fly or has supernatural powers, he is still human who is Capable of making mistakes or making decisions that are not always the smartest, And super hero or not,He is a warrior who fought day through night and never once had the thought of giving up. Being a hero means being better than you were yesterday, meaning growing stronger from the mistakes, and pushing limits to the furthest. Odysseus is a great hero by noble-birth because he smart about what he does, and he will travel over vast areas if it means it will lead him towards home.
The idea of a true hero is varied from person to person, because each viewpoint has a different idea of the personality that makes one a hero. There have been many fiction and non-fiction heroes that show different character traits, which influence people’s definitions of a hero. However, each person’s unique thought about a hero still focuses about one central idea: a hero must prove himself in order to earn his heroic status. This is the cornerstone of all the opinions about heroes because heroes have to show their heroism in order to become who they are in the end. At the beginning they are inexperienced, ordinary people who go on their adventures, and face their fears and weaknesses, but they develop greatly throughout these journeys. After comprehending what true heroism is and following it only then will they become heroes even though each of them has different traits. In the epic poem The Odyssey, by Homer, Odysseus gains the title of hero during his journey back to Ithaka, from Troy, by proving to be one. It is through his characteristics and experiences that he becomes the well developed man at the end of the book. In truth, because of his confidence, loyalty, and difficult struggles, Odysseus becomes a genuine hero to the people he defended.
Oedipus Rex has so many problems for just one man. Starting with the prophecy he got when he was a baby. Then later became a king to a town named Thebis and after that, the town was cursed. Talk about bad luck. Oedipus’s character is played as a protagonist in the story in Oedipus the King. According to Aristotle to be a protagonist you need to have a hamartia. Oedipus has many tragic flaws, but which is his true downfall; there is killing his biological father, another one is that he slept with his real mother and has kids with her, or is it him really trying to run away from his prophecy and him actually believing he could. Which one is his true harmarita; making him the protagonist, by giving the audience pity and fear for him.
From the beginning of time, mythology has appeared to be one key method of understanding life’s confusions and battles. Within these myths lies a hero. From myth to myth and story to story, heroes experience what may be called a struggle or a journey, which lays down their plot line. Bearing tremendous strength, talent, and significant admiration, a hero holds what is precious to their audience, heroism. Over time however, no matter the hero, the hero’s role remains indistinguishable and identical to the position of every other hero.
The fallout of the once blissful mother and son, and husband and wife, is inevitable as it was the predestined fate of the glorified king and savior of Thebes. Through Oedipus’s traits and motivations, interactions with others, and language of others it is evident that fate is not something you can run or hide from.
Even though Oedipus is a hero, we should not admire him, as the intentions for his actions are self-centered. This distinction is necessary to help us better understand the difference between being a hero, and a hero worth of admiration. It is important to know that somebody’s admiration must ultimately stem from the intentions of their actions rather than the results of their actions alone, so we can act accordingly in the future.
Before the twentieth century plays were mainly written as either a tragedy or comedy. In a tragic play the tragic hero will often do something that will eventually destroy him. In the book Oedipus the King, Oedipus is the tragic hero. In this tragic play the main character, which is portrayed as Oedipus, will do a good deed that will in turn make him a hero. This hero will reach his height of pride in the story, and in the end the action, which he had committed earlier, will return and destroy this man who was once called a hero.
According to Aristotle's theory of tragedy and his definition of the central character, Oedipus the hero of Sophocles is considered a classical model of the tragic hero. The tragic hero of a tragedy is essential element to arouse pity and fear of the audience to achieve the emotional purgation or catharathis. Therefore, this character must have some features or characteristics this state of purgation. In fact, Oedipus as a character has all the features of the tragic hero as demanded by Aristotle.
One of the most compelling topics The Iliad raises is that of the intricate affiliations between fate, man and the gods. Many events related by Homer in his epic poem exhibit how these three connections interweave and eventually determine the very lives of the men and women involved in the war. Homer leaves these complex relationships slightly unclear throughout the epic, never spelling out the exact bonds connecting men's fate to the gods and what can be considered the power of fate. The motivation for the ambiguousness present in The Iliad is not easily understood, but it is a question that enriches and helps weave an even greater significance of the results into Homer's masterpiece. I feel that the interaction between man, god, and fate can be shown to be one great fluidity that ultimately leaves life mysterious, giving much more depth and complexity to the bonds between the three.