Hamartia is a literary device that has frequently found its place in several pieces of literature through the years as well as in films and television series. It is often a feature in tragic narratives. Hamartia is the “fatal flaw” that brings about a hero or heroine’s eventual downfall. This might be an inherent trait in their character, or it may be an error in judgment; oftentimes, there can be a more complex blending of the two. The term “hamartia” itself is a derivation from the Greek hamartanein, which means “to err.”
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Origins of Hamartia
Hamartia as a literary device was first introduced by Aristotle in his work focusing on dramatic theory, Poetics. It used Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex (also known as Oedipus the King) to explain hamartia; Oedipus unwittingly kills his own father and then marries his mother. While Oedipus did make a grave error in his decision, it is not as simple. He made that mistake under the influence of two things: his own hubris as well as his ignorance. Oedipus’ pride, or hubris, is an inherent trait of his character. However, it is not just an internal flaw of his moral character that has led to his decisions. Oedipus also becomes a victim of his external circumstances that render him ignorant of his parentage. Thus, this is an example of the complex nature in which hamartia can function in a narrative.
Hubris is the most common type of hamartia found in several different stories and characters.
The tragedy caused by hamartia pivots on the humanity and relatability of the character, not their overt evilness or villany. Often, when it refers simply to a character trait of the hero, it may not even be a primarily negative trait. It can simply be a trait present in excess or one that has been leveraged by another character to steer the hero onto the path of their own destruction.
Hamartia becomes even more human when it refers to errors in judgment. These are decisions that anybody could potentially make when placed in the hero’s shoes. Thus, the resulting disaster becomes even more poignant.
However, as in real life, hamartia is not often unidimensional when used in narratives. Both character flaws as well as errors in decision-making go hand in hand, aided and abetted by external circumstances of the characters in the story. All of these elements work toward producing a tragic ending.
Examples of Hamartia in Literature
Hamartia is found in narratives from across various time spans, from Ancient Greek theater to Shakespeare to modern literature. The following are some of the most well-known examples of hamartia:
- As mentioned above, the example first used to articulate and describe the device of hamartia was the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex. The titular character, Oedipus, was abandoned by his birth parents, Laius and Jocasta, at the behest of a prophecy that predicts that their son will kill his father and marry his mother. Growing up as the adopted son of another royal couple, Oedipus is hungry for power. In his quest to expand the territories under his control, he finds himself up against Laius, whom he kills, not knowing that this was his birth father. It is only years after his marriage to Jocasta that he is informed of the reality of his actions. Thus, Oedipus’ downfall came at the hands of his hunger for power, his hubris, and his flawed judgment. Concurrently, Laius too caused his own demise when he and Jocasta made the error of abandoning their son out of fear.
- In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth’s fatal flaw is his ambition. Ambition in and of itself is not a negative characteristic. However, in the play, Macbeth allows it to get the better of him and succumbs to the urging of Lady Macbeth and the half promises of the three witches. When he murders Duncan, it sets off a chain of circumstances that force Macbeth into the position of having to murder more and more people to hold onto his precarious position. It also makes single-minded, focused solely on his ambition to retain his newly acquired power, while also making him blind to the falseness of the predictions he has relied upon.
Shakespeare was one of the most prolific users of hamartia; it can be found in each one of his tragedies.
- Both Romeo and Juliet are so deeply in love and impatient to be together, that they do not spare a moment before committing to their actions. This is their hamartia. It is especially evident in the final moments of the play when each of them commits suicide in what can only be described as haste; both of them are heavily under the influence of strong emotion and passion when they make their decisions.
- An example of hamartia being a recognizably negative trait in the hero is that of Hamlet. Hamlet commits himself to avenging his father’s murder but is cowardly and passive. He spends more time on brooding than on action. Rather than directly confronting his uncle, he devises convoluted plans; in the end, it is almost by fluke that Claudius is killed. However, Hamlet and his mother Gertrude are also inadvertent victims of his plot.
- Jay Gatsby, from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, is caught up in his desires—for Daisy, for wealth, and for the realization of his ambitions. To obtain these, he indulges in a lavish lifestyle and decisions are made without a care for their consequences. The result is multiple tragic deaths, including that of Gatsby himself.
- In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the eponymous Victor Frankenstein, caught up in his own hubris, builds a monster and brings it to life. The rebellion of this monster brings about Frankenstein’s death when the latter is unable to properly handle his new role of creator, something he views as a challenge to God.
Besides literature, hamartia is frequently also found in films and TV. Examples of these include, Harvey Dent’s idealism in The Dark Knight, Marie Antoinette’s excessive indulgence and greed in Marie Antoinette, Walter White’s obsession with money and his pride in Breaking Bad, and Don Draper’s infidelities in Mad Men.
