King Lear Tragic Hero Essay

As defined by Aristotle a tragic hero is a character that makes a judgmental error that inevitably leads to there own fall. In shakespeare's plays he utilizes all tragic heroes by them trying to justify their actions for whatever reason. It could be said that honor was the underlying reason why they made the judgment, but is honor really enough to guide men's actions towards their ends? Though all the main characteristics in a tragic hero revolve around their Free Choice, the punishment exceeding the Crime, and the hero has Increased Awareness about his actions.
First, the tragic hero falls because he chooses one course of action over another. An example of this is King Lear, in this play shakespeare devices Lear as the tragic hero when his fatal mistake contributed to his imprisonment and the death of one of his daughters.It had

Shakespeare wanted the audience to feel like the punishment for the decision the hero made was unwarranted. This is important of development in a tragic hero as stated by Cahn, Victor, “We need to witness the injustice of what has occurred to the tragic hero.”(5). In King Lear we experience this when his other two daughters who he gave the land to make a plot to kill him. Eventually it all comes down to a war and Cordelia is captured. She is later ordered to be executed. This is a gratuitous punishment for banishing one of his daughters is to have her die and and for him to be imprisoned by his other daughters. When people first see this they find its injustice overpowering, its characters pathetically guiltless, and its perspective verging on nihilistic. It has also been seen this way by Bradley who states, “This is where Shakespeare takes off the gloves. He brings us right to the edge of the abyss, then kicks us over that edge. King Lear is the most devastating by far of the Shakespeare tragedies -- this is a play which leaves the reader shattered as the curtain falls.”