Not only does Hamlet himself die, but those closest to him also die, often at his own hand as he falls into the depths of insanity. As the story progresses and he dives deeper into insanity, this introspective nature eventually leads to his demise.īecause the play Hamlet is a Shakespearean tragedy, these character flaws send Hamlet to a sad ending. He also struggles with too much introspection, shown in his many soliloquies. His tragic flaw is his deep emotions and his inability to take quick action. Hamlet shows the characteristics of a tragic hero because of his royal birth and charming personality. Creon is also a tragic hero because he loses his extended family and his son due to his excessive pride. Defying Creon’s orders that her brother not be buried with honor, leading to her martyrdom. Antigone, the title character, is Oedipus’s daughter, and she tries to bury her brother against the wishes of Creon.Īntigone’s fatal flaw is not a character flaw, but rather is her fierce dedication to her family. He became ruler of Thebes after Oedipus’s sons died in the war, and Creon took the throne. Creon and AntigoneĪntigone, another Aristotelian Greek tragedy, has a tragic hero in Creon. The story arouses fear and empathy, which adds to the classic tragic hero paradigm. Eventually, it leads to his death and the death of his love.Įveryone can feel compassion for the star-crossed lovers and how their warring families pull them apart, which adds to the fact that he is a tragic hero. His fast decisions lead him to marry Juliet after meeting her 24 hours earlier.
Romeo comes from noble birth and has the tragic flaw of being impulsive and having a fair share of hubris. In William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, Romeo Montague, the male protagonist, is an excellent example of a tragic hero. Romeo Montague Romeo Montague via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain His pursuit of these things causes him to put himself and his love interest in danger. Gatsby’s tragic flaw is his unbridled desire to reach the American Dream, including great wealth and a specific woman. This unrequited love causes the reader to pity Gatsby, yet it takes him down a tragic path. Sadly, he finds that she is married, and the tale tells how he works to fashion his life so that he will regain the lass. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is a young millionaire who wants to find Daisy, a woman he loved before going off to war. He punishes himself by gouging out his own eyes, which ends the plague but shows his tragic ending. Unbeknownst to him, the previous king, Laius, was someone he had unknowingly killed many years earlier. A prophecy tells him he can do so if he punishes the man who killed the previous king. Oedipus sets out to rid the kingdom of a terrible plague. It is this pride that draws King Oedipus down a fatal path. In the play, Oedipus suffers from one of the most common tragic flaws the condition of hubris. In the Greek play Oedipus Rex by Aristotle, the title character is, in fact, a tragic hero. To understand this character’s role in literature, looking at tragic hero examples can help.
the downfall of Walter White in Breaking Bad Suffer a downfall or death due to their tragic flaw e.g.
Be of noble or high birth or hold a position of leadership, e.g.To fit the tragic hero model, a character archetype must: Peripeteia: A reversal of fortune, usually a downward turn Catharsis: The feelings of fear or pity a tragedy brings to the audience.ĥ. Anagnorisis: The moment of realization a character experiences.Ģ. The Greek philosopher Aristotle defined the concept of the tragic hero in Poetics, and he used five terms to describe this type of character. The tragic hero often appears in stories that respin the hero’s journey, for example Breaking Bad or The Sopranos. However, the tragic hero eventually falls victim to a personal tragic or fatal flaw, and that flaw causes the character’s death or loss of position. Here are 17 of them.Ī tragic hero is a type of character in literature characterized by heroic or noble traits. Literature shows many tragic hero examples that are great to study.
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