Scribd
Upload
208 views

Tragic Hero

This document analyzes and compares the tragic heroes in three plays: Othello, Oedipus the King, and Death of a Salesman. It discusses how each protagonist embodies the characteristics of a tragic hero to varying degrees. Othello is driven to madness and murder by Iago's manipulation, realizing too late his mistake. Oedipus is a noble man fated to unintentionally kill his father and marry his mother. Willy Loman of Death of a Salesman believes himself great but is misguided, making him less of an ideal tragic hero. Overall, the document examines how these plays explore the theme of tragic flaws in human nature.

Uploaded by

steve
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
208 views

Tragic Hero

This document analyzes and compares the tragic heroes in three plays: Othello, Oedipus the King, and Death of a Salesman. It discusses how each protagonist embodies the characteristics of a tragic hero to varying degrees. Othello is driven to madness and murder by Iago's manipulation, realizing too late his mistake. Oedipus is a noble man fated to unintentionally kill his father and marry his mother. Willy Loman of Death of a Salesman believes himself great but is misguided, making him less of an ideal tragic hero. Overall, the document examines how these plays explore the theme of tragic flaws in human nature.

Uploaded by

steve
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

SURNAME 1

Name

Professor

Course

Date

Tragic Hero

Introduction

A tragic hero is a noble individual who undertakes noble tasks although not perfect

whose misfortunes are as a result of a deficiency in his nature leaving the audience with a mixed

taste of pity, terror, and sense of uplift at the end. This paper evaluates the various noble persons

in the three plays namely; Othello, Oedipus the King and The Death of the Salesman and

concludes on their theme of a tragic hero.

Firstly, in the play of the Death of the Salesman, Willy Loman believes himself to be a

great businessman, however, he suffers from a false vision. The source of his greatness is

founded on superficial achievements and the fact that he considers his sons to be both athletic

and attractive (Miller 45). He believes himself to be well known and liked among his business

associates. The tragedy is that he believes that his connections will help him gain a professional

edge and not hard work which is essential to success. He is as such not aware of his tragedy

making him a less ideal tragic hero.

Secondly, in the play Othello, the noble character is Othello the moor of Venice whose

misfortune is caused by jealousy invoked by Iago an old soldier who is furious of being

overlooked for a lieutenant position after working as Othello's personal aide. Iago holds a grudge
2

against Othello and persuades him that his wife, Desdemona is cheating on him (Shakespeare

43). Othello acts as a tragic hero who is enraged and murders his wife only to later realize he had

been tricked he kills himself.

Finally, in the play Oedipus the King, Oedipus is illustrated as the ideal tragic hero. He is

noble and a son of royalty and a man of virtue. He lacks knowledge about his own identity as

such he bears no responsibility for his flaw as no amount of foresight would help him as such his

life is subject to fate and free will (Sophocles 58). Misfortune strikes when he blinds himself as

opposed to committing suicide as it only intensifies his suffering between life and death.

conclusion

People are drawn by the tragic hero because the audience is attached emotionally, they

are also dreadful of what might occur to the hero and also pity the suffering hero after misfortune

strikes. The three plays Othello, Oedipus the king and The death of the salesman are able to draw

such effects depicted by the theme of tragic human flaws.


3

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Othello: The Oxford Shakespeare: The Moor of Venice. OUP Oxford,

2006.  http://shakespeare.mit.edu/othello/full.html

Sophocles, E. A. Oedipus the king. Classic Productions, 1994.

http://classics.mit.edu/Sophocles/oedipus.html

Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman: Revised Edition. Penguin, 1996.


https://www.pelister.org/literature/ArthurMiller/Miller_Salesman.pdf

You might also like