King Lear Tragic Hero Essay

What is a tragic hero? According to Aristotle, a trait must have various traits to be defined as a tragic hero. The five qualities are the following: flaw or error of judgment, reversal of fortune, anagnorisis, excessive pride and the hero must be doomed from the start. The best example of a tragic would be presented in the play King Lear by William shakespeare through the character King Lear. He can be seen as a tragic throughout the story from his long term arrogance which causes him to go through the stages of a tragic hero throughout the play.

First of all, King Lear can be seen as a tragic hero through his arrogant decision to banish the only daughter that loves him truly. King Lear decides to create a competition between all his daughters, allowing him to figure out “ which one of [them] shall [they] say love him the most” (1.1.52). The rest of the

For a character to be considered a tragic hero, they must start at the beginning great but has isn't completely perfect. King Lear starts the play off as a king just wanting to split his kingdom between all his girls “ To shake all cares and business from [his] age” (1.1,38). Suddenly his arrogance becomes clear and causes the audience to start to notice that this character may not be perfect. This is shown through never wanting to admit when he was incorrect throughout the play he keeps convincing himself that everything is okay, even when everything around him is in shambles.Convincing to himself that Regan and Goneril were perfect until he realizes that “ They told [him he] was every thing; 'tis a lie,[he is] not ague-proof” (4.6, 107). He tries to convince his daughters to stay with him even though they are obviously evil, and then he severely overreacted when they show their true colors.When everyone around him is dead, he has a moment of clarity and realizes what a mess everything has become and then he