Things Fall Apart

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Recommended: Aristotle's definition of tragedy

Things Fall Apart: An Aristotelian Tragedy
A tragedy is not merely the canceling of one's favorite television program, but rather a work of literature the at meets specific criteria .According to Aristotle, a tragedy is a story with many different elements. The presence of a conflict of great magnitude, with a tragic hero at the center of focus highlight these important aspects. The tragic hero is most often a man of high importance who has fatal flaw that causes his downfall. Aristotelian tragedies also stress the presence of pity, created by the tragic hero. Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart takes place in the Igbo society of Nigeria. The main character, the brave and famous Okonkwo, commits an accidental crime and is exiled to another …show more content…

Aristotle stated that a tragic hero was to be "a person of high estate, he must fall from that position into unhappiness" (Baines). Aristotle said that a tragic hero must be present in a story for it to be considered a tragedy. This tragic hero must be extremely important in his society, and must eventually be removed of his importance and become unhappy in some way. This element is portrayed in the novel when Okonkwo is exiled from his village where "his life had been ruled by a great passion-to become one of the lords of the clan" but soon after "everything had been broken" (Achebe 121). Okonkwo's transition from prosperity and happiness in his home village to an empty life exemplifies the presence of a tragic hero in the …show more content…

The tragic hero's downfall "would lead the audience to feel very sorry for the character- the tragic hero... as he moves toward a destructive end" (Alonardo). The pity and fear that is created in the hearts of the audience by the story is extremely important to the overall idea of a tragedy itself. The novel is representative of this idea as Okonkwo is exiled from the village and "work no longer had for him the pleasure it used to have, and when there was no work to do [Okonkwo] sat in a silent half-sleep" (Achebe, 121). This creates pity and fear because the audience is lead to fell that Okonkwo's downfall may have been partially out of his control. Although he had no control over the accidental firing of the bullet into the child's body, he did not try to fight back against his "fate". Instead, he ran away from the village and accepted his fate, while living miserably for quite some time. This is in some part due to Okonkwo's pride, which prevents him from attempting to resist his exilement for he did not want to harm his reputation any

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