Tragic hero

A tragic hero is a dramatic character who brings about his or her own downfall by an error of judgment or a personal flaw. The idea of a tragic hero was first defined by the philosopher Aristotle from his observations of Greek theater. To Aristotle, a tragic hero was a noble person displaying six specific characteristics who eventually spirals to an unavoidable tragic fate. The concept has been a common theme in literature and drama from ancient Greek plays to modern films. Some of history's most iconic fictional characters can be classified as tragic heroes, including William Shakespeare's Hamlet and Darth Vader from the Star Wars films.

Background

The oldest known dramatic plays were developed by the ancient Greeks around the sixth century BCE. The dramas, known as tragedies, were performed at religious festivals and are believed to have originated from the reciting of ancient poetry or sacrificial rituals in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine and theater. The word tragedy comes from the Greek tragōida, or "goat song," most likely a reference to the sacrificing of goats to Dionysus.

Tragic dramas were a popular form of entertainment in ancient Greece. They were mainly performed in competitions held in conjunction with religious festivals. Most were inspired by Greek mythology and focused on characters facing complicated moral dilemmas. These main characters were usually kings or mythic heroes who were eventually brought down by their overconfidence or ethical weaknesses.

Some of history's earliest surviving plays were tragedies written by Greek playwrights around the fifth century BCE. Aeschylus, considered the father of Greek tragedy, is credited with writing Prometheus Bound, the story of the titan Prometheus who was chained to a rock as punishment for giving fire to humans. In Medea, by Euripides, the title character is a scorned wife who seeks revenge when her husband leaves her to marry another woman. Sophocles wrote Oedipus Rex (also known as Oedipus the King), the tale of a man who unwitting kills his own father and marries his mother.

Overview

In the fourth century BCE, the Greek philosopher Aristotle noticed similar themes running through the tragedies of the era. Based on his observations, Aristotle developed the concept of the tragic hero, a character who falls from grace by his or her own actions. According to Aristotle, for a character to become a tragic hero, he or she must first possess heroic or noble traits that gain the sympathy of the audience. To evoke this response from an audience, the hero must display six common characteristics.

• Hamartia is a character defect or tragic flaw that makes the hero relatable to the audience but is also the direct cause of his or her downfall. The term comes from the Greek hamartanein, meaning "to err."
• Hubris is excessive pride and arrogance. The name is derived from hybris, an insolence or outrage so great it provokes the anger of the gods.
• Peripeteia—from a Greek term meaning "to fall around" or "a sudden change"—is an abrupt reversal of fortune.
• Anagnorisis is the moment the hero realizes the situation was caused by his or her own doing. The term is based on the Greek word for "recognize."
• Nemesis is the inescapable fate the character is bound to suffer as a punishment. In Greek mythology, Nemesis was the goddess of vengeance.
• Catharsis, meaning to "cleanse" or "purge," is the emotion of pity and fear the audience feels for the character, as the punishment handed out by fate is greater than he or she deserves.

One of the best examples of a tragic hero from Aristotle's time is the character Oedipus from Oedipus Rex. Oedipus is a king whose people are suffering under a terrible plague. When an oracle tells him the only way to end the plague is to punish the man who killed the city's previous king, Oedipus vows to bring the killer to justice. He questions a prophet on the whereabouts of the man, but the prophet tells Oedipus that he is the killer and that the former king was his own father. He also says the widowed queen Oedipus married was his own mother. Oedipus is furious with the prophecy and at first refuses to believe it. When the truth is finally revealed, Oedipus blinds himself in grief and his mother commits suicide.

Aristotle's concept of the tragic hero has expanded over the centuries to include everyday characters of less-than-noble status or characters who exhibit villainous traits. To be classified a tragic hero, the character must still gain the sympathy of the audience and display a fatal flaw that causes his or her own downfall.

Some well-known examples of tragic heroes include the title character from William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Hamlet is a Danish prince seeking revenge on his uncle for the murder of his father. Hamlet devises a plan to fake madness to gain proof of his uncle's guilt. His scheme is derailed by his insecurities, which not only result in his death but also the deaths of many of those close to him.

Ahab, the captain of the whaling ship Pequod in Herman Melville's Moby Dick, is single-mindedly bent on killing the white whale. Ahab's hatred was born from the loss of his leg in a previous encounter with the whale. His obsession is considered his tragic flaw, which eventually leads to the sinking of the Pequod and the deaths of himself and the entire crew except for one survivor.

In modern film, one of the most popular tragic heroes is the iconic villain Darth Vader from the Star Wars series. In the first three movies, Vader was the powerful henchman of the evil galactic emperor. Kept alive by a black, armor-like suit, Vader is a remorseless killer who finds a measure of redemption upon his death. In later films, Vader's story is told from his youth as Anakin Skywalker. Skywalker is a gifted student of the noble Jedi Order and is considered a prodigy capable of restoring balance in the universe. He instead lets his pride and jealousy consume him until he is ultimately disfigured and inadvertently causes the death of his wife.

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