Tragedy Changes from One Hero to the Next

What is a tragic hero? What makes them tragic? What makes them heroic? Aristotle once said that a “tragic hero moves us to pity because, since he is not an evil man, his misfortune is more than he deserves; but he moves us also to fear, because we recognize similar possibilities of error in our own lesser and fallible selves,” but that changes from story to story. What Aristotle did not realize was that tragic heroes live among the people. They walk the streets, they have jobs, they have families, and, most importantly, they have a huge heart. These people and characters as well, often bring the “good Samaritan” out of countless ordinary people. We have a propensity to want to be as impactful as them without the tragedy, leaving just the hero effect on society. Often in literature the hero is usually from an elevated class in society, giving them more of an opportunity to fall hard. On the other hand, the real people usually come from nothing, peak, and then fall. Then there are the atypical cases when the character comes from nothing, or the real person comes from wealth. Three examples of each of these tragic heroes are Macbeth, Malcolm X, and the Creature from Frankenstein.

In Greek plays there are two genres, comedies and tragedies. Tragedies end with majority of the characters dead; meaning that the tragic hero must die at some point to augment the readers, or viewers, pity. Of course, for dramatic effect the playwright needed to generate a major fall to the hero’s greatness, as well as, a major fallacy in their life. Although Shakespeare was not a Greek playwright, The Tragedy of Macbeth was very analogous to Greek beliefs. In the play, Macbeth is approached by three witches and told his future. These witches were the keep...

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... point of view that worked in some cases and failed in others. Just like the saying “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” tragic heroes live in the mind of the individual. The question still stands, what is a tragic hero?

Works Cited

"SparkNotes: Frankenstein: Important Quotations Explained." SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. .

"SparkNotes: Macbeth: Important Quotations Explained." SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. .

"SparkNotes: The Autobiography of Malcolm X: Important Quotations Explained." SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. .