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Tragic Hero
• Be flaw
flawed:
ed: While being heroic, the character must also have a
DEFINITION tragic flaw (also called hamartia) or more generally be subject to
human error, and the flaw must lead to the character's downfall.
What is a tragic hero? Here’s a quick and simple definition:
On the one hand, these flaws make the character "relatable,"
someone with whom the audience can identify. Just as
A tragic hero is a type of character in a tragedy, and is usually
important, the tragic flaw makes the tragedy more powerful
the protagonist. Tragic heroes typically have heroic traits
because it means that the source of the tragedy is internal to the
that earn them the sympathy of the audience, but also have
character, not merely some outside force. In the most successful
flaws or make mistakes that ultimately lead to their own
tragedies, the tragic hero's flaw is not just a characteristic they
downfall. In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is a
have in addition to their heroic qualities, but one that emerges
tragic hero. His reckless passion in love, which makes him a
from their heroic qualities—for instance, a righteous quest for
compelling character, also leads directly to the tragedy of his
justice or truth that leads to terrible conclusions, or hubris (the
death.
arrogance that often accompanies greatness). In such cases, it is
Some additional key details about tragic heroes: as if the character is fated to destruction by his or her own nature.
• Suff
Suffer
er a rreever
ersal
sal of ffortune:
ortune: The character should suffer a terrible
• The idea of the tragic hero was first defined by the ancient Greek reversal of fortune, from good to bad. Such a reversal does not
philosopher Aristotle based on his study of Greek drama. merely mean a loss of money or status. It means that the work
• Despite the term "tragic hero," it's sometimes the case that tragic should end with the character dead or in immense suffering, and
heroes are not really heroes at all in the typical sense—and in a to a degree that outweighs what it seems like the character
few cases, antagonists may even be described as tragic heroes. deserved.

Tragic Her
Heroo Pr
Pronuncia
onunciation
tion To sum up: Aristotle defined a tragic hero rather strictly as a man of
noble birth with heroic qualities whose fortunes change due to a
Here's how to pronounce tragic hero: tr
traa-jik hee
hee-roh
tragic flaw or mistake (often emerging from the character's own
heroic qualities) that ultimately brings about the tragic hero's terrible,
The E
Evvolution of the T
Trragic Her
Heroo excessive downfall.
Tragic heroes are the key ingredient that make tragedies, well, tragic.
That said, the idea of the characteristics that make a tragic hero have The Modern T
Trragic Her
Heroo
changed over time. Over time, the definition of a tragic hero has relaxed considerably. It
can now include
Aris
Aristtotle and the T
Trragic Her
Heroo
• Char
Charac
actter
erss of all ggender
enderss and class b
back
ackgr
grounds.
ounds. Tragic heroes
The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle was the first to define a no longer have to be only nobles, or only men.
"tragic hero." He believed that a good tragedy must evoke feelings of
fear and pity in the audience, since he saw these two emotions as • Char
Charac
actter
erss who don't fit the cconv
onventional
entional definition of a her
heroo.
being fundamental to the experience of catharsis (the process of This might mean that a tragic hero could be regular person who
releasing strong or pent-up emotions through art). As Aristotle puts it, lacks typical heroic qualities, or perhaps even a villainous or or
when the tragic hero meets his demise, "pity is aroused by unmerited semi-villainous person.
misfortune, fear by the misfortune of a man like ourselves."
Nevertheless, the essence of a tragic hero in modern times maintains
Aristotle strictly defined the characteristics that a tragic hero must
two key aspects from Aristotle's day:
have in order to evoke these feelings in an audience. According to
Aristotle, a tragic hero must: • The tragic hero must have the sympathy of the audience.
• Be virtuous: In Aristotle's time, this meant that the character • The tragic hero must, despite their best efforts or intentions, come
should be a noble. It also meant that the character should be to ruin because of some tragic flaw in their own character.
both capable and powerful (i.e. "heroic"), and also feel
responsible to the rules of honor and morality that guided Greek Tragic Her
Heroo, Antiher
Antiheroo, and B
Byr
yronic
onic Her
Heroo
culture. These traits make the hero attractive and compelling, and
There are two terms that are often confused with tragic hero: antihero
gain the audience's sympathy.
and Byronic hero.

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• Antiher
Antihero o: An antihero is a protagonist who lacks many of the to rid the city he leads of a terrible plague. At the start of the play,
conventional qualities associated with heroes, such as courage, Oedipus is told by a prophet that the only way to banish the plague is
honesty, and integrity, but still has the audience's sympathy. An to punish the man who killed the previous king, Laius. But the same
antihero may do the right thing for the wrong reason. Clint prophet also reports that Oedipus has murdered his own father and
Eastwood's character in the western film, The Good, the Bad, and married his mother. Oedipus refuses to believe the second half of the
the Ugly, is fundamentally selfish. He digs up graves to look for prophecy—the part pertaining to him—but nonetheless sets out to
gold and kills anyone who gets in his way, so he's definitely a bad find and punish Laius's murderer. Eventually, Oedipus discovers that
guy. But as an antihero, he's not completely rotten: he also shows Laius had been his father, and that he had, in fact, unwittingly killed
a little sympathy for dying soldiers in the bloody war going on him years earlier, and that the fateful event had led directly to him
around him, and at the end of the film he acts mercifully in marrying his own mother. Consequently, Oedipus learns that he
choosing not to kill a man who previously tried to kill him. He himself is the cause of the plague, and upon realizing all this he
does a few good things, but only as long as it suits him—so he's a gouges his eyes out in misery (his wife/mother also kills herself).
classic antihero. Oedipus has all the important features of a classical tragic hero.
• Byr
yronic
onic her
heroo: A Byronic hero is a variant of the antihero. Named Throughout the drama, he tries to do what is right and just, but
after the characters in the poetry of Lord Byron, the Byronic hero because of his tragic flaw (hubris) he believes he can avoid the fate
is usually a man who is an intelligent, emotionally sensitive, given to him by the prophet, and as a result he brings about his own
introspective, and cynical character. While Byronic heroes tend to downfall.
be very charismatic, they're deeply flawed individuals, who might
do things that are generally thought of as socially unacceptable Willy LLoman
oman as T
Trragic Her
Heroo in De
Deaath of a Salesman
because they are at odds with mainstream society. A Byronic hero
Arthur Miller wrote his play Death of a Salesman with the intent of
has his own set of beliefs and will not yield for anyone. While it
creating a tragedy about a man who was not a noble or powerful
might not be initially apparent, deep down, the Byronic hero is
man, but rather a regular working person, a salesman.
also quite selfish.
The protagonist of Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman, desperately
According to the modern conception of a tragic hero, both an tries to provide for his family and maintain his pride. Willy has high
antihero and a Byronic hero could also be tragic heroes. But in order expectations for himself and for his children. He wants the American
for a tragic hero to exist, he or she has to be part of a tragedy with a Dream, which for him means financial prosperity, happiness, and
story that ends in death or ruin. Antiheroes and Byronic heroes can good social standing. Yet as he ages he finds himself having to
exist in all sorts of different genres, however, not just tragedies. An struggle to hold onto the traveling salesman job at the company to
antihero in an action movie—for instance Deadpool, in the first which he has devoted himself for decades. Meanwhile, the prospects
Deadpool movie—is not a tragic hero because his story ends for his sons, Biff and Happy, who seemed in high school to have held
generally happily. But you could argue that Macbeth is a kind of such promise, have similarly fizzled. Willy cannot let go of his idea of
antihero (or at least an initial hero who over time becomes an the American Dream nor his connected belief that he must as an
antihero), and he is very definitely also a tragic hero. American man be a good provider for his family. Ultimately, this leads
him to see himself as more valuable dead than alive, and he commits
suicide so his family can get the insurance money.
EX
EXAMPLES
AMPLES Willy is a modern tragic hero. He's a good person who means well,
but he's also deeply flawed, and his obsession with a certain idea of
success, as well as his determination to provide for his family,
Tragic Her
Heroes
oes in Dr
Drama
ama ultimately lead to his tragic death.
The tragic hero originated in ancient Greek theater, and can still be
seen in contemporary tragedies. Even though the definition has Tragic Her
Heroes
oes in Lit
Liter
eraatur
turee
expanded since Aristotle first defined the archetype, the tragic hero's
defining characteristics have remained—for example, eliciting Tragic heroes appear all over important literary works. With time,
sympathy from the audience, and bringing about their own downfall. Aristotle's strict definition for what makes a tragic hero has changed,
but the tragic hero's fundamental ability to elicit sympathy from an
audience has remained.
Oedipus as T
Trragic Her
Heroo in Oedipus R
Reex
The most common tragic flaw (or hamartia) for a tragic hero to have is
Jay Ga
Gattsb
sbyy as T
Trragic Her
Heroo in The Gr
Greeat Ga
Gattsb
sbyy
hubris, or excessive pride and self-confidence. Sophocles' tragic play
Oedipus Rex contains what is perhaps the most well-known example The protagonist of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, is Jay
of Aristotle's definition of the tragic hero—and it's also a good Gatsby, a young and mysterious millionaire who longs to reunite with
example of hubris. The play centers around King Oedipus, who seeks a woman whom he loved when he was a young man before leaving to
fight in World War I. This woman, Daisy, is married, however, to a man

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named Tom Buchanan from a wealthy old money family. Gatsby in order to fulfill a prophecy and become king himself. Macbeth
organizes his entire life around regaining Daisy: he makes himself rich commits his murder early in the play, and from then on his
(through dubious means), he rents a house directly across a bay from actions become bloodier and bloodier, and he becomes more a
hers, he throws lavish parties in the hopes that she will come. The two villain than a hero. Nonetheless, he ends in death, with his wife
finally meet again and do begin an affair, but the affair ends in also dead, and fully realizing the emptiness of his life. Macbeth is
disaster—with Gatsby taking responsibility for driving a car that Daisy a tragic hero, but the play is interesting in that his fatal flaw or
was in fact driving when she accidentally hit and killed Tom's mistress mistake occurs relatively early in the play, and the rest of the play
(named Myrtle), Daisy abandoning Gatsby and returning to Tom, and shows his decline into tragedy even as he initially seems to get
Gatsby getting killed by Myrtle's husband. what he seeks (the throne).
Gatsby's downfall is his unrelenting pursuit of a certain ideal—the • Michael Corleone: The main character of the Godfather films,
American Dream—and a specific woman who he thinks fits within this Michael Corleone can be said to experience a tragic arc over the
dream. His blind determination makes him unable to see both that course of the three Godfather movies. Ambition and family loyalty
Daisy doesn't fit the ideal and that the ideal itself is unachievable. As push him to take over his mafia family when he had originally
a result he endangers himself to protect someone who likely wouldn't been molded by his father to instead "go clean." Michael's
do the same in return. Gatsby is not a conventional hero (it's strongly devotion to his family then leads him to murder his enemies, kills
implied that he made his money through gambling and other his betraying brother, and indirectly leads to the deaths of
underworld activities), but for the most part his intentions are noble: essentially all of his loved ones. He dies, alone, thinking of his lost
he seeks love and self-fulfillment, and he doesn't intend to hurt loves, a tragic antihero.
anyone. So, Gatsby would be a modernized version of Aristotle's • Ok
Okonkw
onkwo:o: In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is a
tragic hero—he still elicits the audience's sympathy—even if he is a man of great strength and will, and these heroic traits make him
slightly more flawed version of the archetype. powerful and wealthy in his tribe. But his devotion to always
appearing strong and powerful also lead him to alienate his son,
Jav
Javert
ert as T
Trragic Her
Heroo in Vic
Victtor Hug
Hugoo's Les Misér
Misérables
ables break tribal tradition in a way that leads to his exile from the tribe,
Javert is a police detective, obsessed with law and order, and Les and to directly confront white missionaries in a way that
Misérables' primary antagonist. The novel contains various subplots ultimately leads him to commit suicide. Okonkwo's devotion to
but for the most part follows a character named Jean Valjean, a good strength and power leads to his own destruction.
and moral person who cannot escape his past as an ex-convict. (He • Anakin Skyw
Skywalk er:: The three prequel Star Wars movies (episodes
alker
originally goes to prison for stealing a loaf of bread to help feed his I, II, and III) can be seen as an attempt to frame Anakin Skywalker
sister's seven children.) After Valjean escapes from prison, he changes into a tragic hero. Anakin is both powerful in the force and a
his name and ends up leading a moral and prosperous life, becoming prophesied "chosen one," but his ambition and desire for order
well-known for the ways in which he helps the poor. and control lead him to abandon and kill fellow Jedi,
Javert, known for his absolute respect for authority and the law, inadvertently kill his own wife, and to join the dark side of the
spends many years trying to find the escaped convict and return him force and become a kind of enforcer for the Emperor. Anakin, as
to prison. After Javert's lifelong pursuit leads him to Valjean, though, Darth Vader, is alone and full of such shame and self-hatred that
Valjean ends up saving Javert's life. Javert, in turn, finds himself he can see no other option but to continue on his path of evil.
unable to arrest the man who showed him such mercy, but also This makes him a tragic hero. Having said all that, some would
cannot give up his devotion to justice and the law. In despair, he argue that the first three Star Wars movies aren't well written or
commits suicide. In other words: Javert's strength and righteous well acted enough to truly make Anakin a tragic hero (does
morality lead him to his destruction. Anakin really ever have the audience's sympathy given his bratty
whininess?), but it's clear that he was meant to be a tragic hero.
While Javert fits the model of a tragic hero in many ways, he's an
unconventional tragic hero because he's an antagonist rather than
the protagonist of the novel (Valjean is the protagonist). One might
then argue that Javert is a "tragic figure" or "tragic character" rather
WHY WRITER
WRITERSSU
USE
SE IT
than a "tragic hero" because he's not actually the "hero" of the novel Above all, tragic heroes put the tragedy in tragedies—it is the tragic
at all. He's a useful example, though, because he shows just how hero's downfall that emotionally engages the audience or reader and
flexible the idea of a "tragic hero" can be, and how writers play with invokes their pity and fear. Writers therefore use tragic heroes for
those ideas to create new sorts of characters. many of the same reasons they write tragedies—to illustrate a moral
conundrum with depth, emotion, and complexity.
Additional E
Exxamples of T
Trragic Her
Heroes
oes Besides this, tragic heroes serve many functions in the stories in
• Macbe th: In Shakespeare's Macbeth, the main character Macbeth
Macbeth: which they appear. Their tragic flaws make them more relatable to an
allows his (and his wife's) ambition to push him to murder his king audience, especially as compared to a more conventional hero, who

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might appear too perfect to actually resemble real people or draw an ◦ A one-minute, animated explanation of the tragic hero.
emotional response from the audience. Aristotle believed that by ◦ Is Macbeth a Tragic Hero? This video explains what a tragic
watching a tragic hero's downfall, an audience would become wiser hero is, using Macbeth as an example .
when making choices in their own lives. Furthermore, tragic heroes
can illustrate moral ambiguity, since a seemingly desirable trait (such
as innocence or ambition) can suddenly become a character's HO
HOWWT
TO
O CITE
greatest weakness, bringing about grave misfortune or even death.

ML
MLAA
OTHER RESOURCES Hogue, Chelsea. "Tragic Hero." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 5 May 2017.
Web. 31 Aug 2017.
• The Wikipedia PPag
agee ffor
or T
Trragic Her
Heroo: A helpful overview that
mostly focuses on the history of term. Chic
Chicag
ago
o Manual
• The Dic
Dictionar
tionaryy Definition of T
Trragic Her
Heroo: A brief and basic Hogue, Chelsea. "Tragic Hero." LitCharts LLC, May 5, 2017. Retrieved
definition. August 31, 2017. http://www.litcharts.com/literary-devices-and-
• Tragic Her
Heroes
oes on YYou
ouTTube: terms/tragic-hero.

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