Who Is Harriet Tubman A Modern Day Tragic Hero

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In a tragedy, the tragic hero is a literary character that makes judgmental errors that will ultimately lead to his/her destruction. A tragic hero is a person who is born into noble life, with heroic qualities summoned by a higher activist, to suffer great suffering. The purpose of a tragic hero is to get rid of the audience's fear with suspense and overriding. The tragic flaw of a hero sets the character in downfall, or a tragic ending. Aristotle defines a tragic hero more as a noble birth more often than others as well as a man of noble birth with heroic qualities who shifts into a flaw or misfortune due to their mistakes, that really brings out the character's self. The tragic hero caves in on his own suffering due to flaws. While the human …show more content…

To begin, Araminta Ross, or more famously known as Harriet Tubman, was born to her mother Harriet Green and Ben Ross in March, 1822, in Dorchester County, Maryland (1). Before reaching the title of one of the most known activists and conductors during slavery, Tubman was born into slavery with her mother and father along with her, who taught her the knowledge of the outdoors, which later taught her how to later escape to freedom, and others. (Matthew 3). As a child, “Tubman was trying to stop a supervisor of the compound or fort from actively hurting another child, leading Tubman to get her skull fractured by a metal weight, causing Tubman to have recurring black outs” (Matthew 2). She was led to believe that these were messages from God that were telling her what to do. Tubman was in slavery for just over 20 years, until around 1849, she escaped from slavery, fleeing to Philadelphia. “Tubman then continued to go back to Maryland, and bring not just herself back, but more captive slaves, to freedom” (Matthew 2). All in all, Tubman rose above his impoverished youth to become a social …show more content…

“Harriet Tubman was one of the few people to successfully escape slavery and continue to find ways to not only save her, but others.” (Gale 1). Harriet Tubman used her drive and effort to put it into making ways for others to escape from freedom, so she could prove to people that they mattered. “Tubman then continued to invent something known to many as, “The Underground Railroad,” which had help from not only blacks, but whites as well.” (Gale 2). Many abolitionists, men and women, started to conduct and direct ways for slaves to be transported. For example, the community used boats to carry people across lakes, have house lights on so the slaves could stay overnight whilst being chased or hunted by the supervisors and their animals, such as dogs, in hidden places of the houses that were nicknamed, “Safe houses,” or “Stations”. “The Underground Railroad was one the most successful operations in slavery, exceeding over one hundred thousand slaves, and moved them into the north for them to move into freedom.” (Gale 3). Finally, Harriet Tubman suffered a gradual downfall when she grew up in slavery and every day fought starvation, abuse, and being excluded. “When Tubman was seven years old, Tubman was caught stealing a lump of sugar, and fled the scene to avoid being beaten. She then hid

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