Achilles As A Tragic Hero

A Tribute to Tragic Heroes Dictionary.com defines a tragic hero as a great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy who is destined for downfall (“Tragic Hero”). Aristotle defined a tragic hero as a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his own destruction (“English IV Class Discussion”, 2016). A tragic hero must be physically or spiritually wounded by his experiences, often resulting in his death; intelligent so he may learn from his mistakes; have a weakness, usually it is pride; and be faced with a very serious decision that he must make (“Tragic hero as defined by Aristotle”). Achilles, Hector, Beowulf, and Hamlet all exhibit these characteristics and, as a result, can be seen as prime examples of

The intelligence of Achilles proves him to be a tragic hero. Achilles’ extreme intelligence allowed him to think in the most complicated situations. When Achilles made nonsensical decisions, Achilles knew of his foolishness and the possible outcome of his decision. Achilles’ intelligence shows when Achilles decides to enter the Trojan War. Achilles knew that he would be killed in the war; however, Achilles chose to die in the war and be considered a hero over dying as an old man and being considered a coward ("Learning from Achilles"). Hector shows his intelligence by leading the Trojans. A specific instance when Hector showed his intelligence has never been revealed; however, Hector must be intelligent to be the leader of the most feared army at that point in time. Beowulf shows his intelligence when he confronts Grendel. Beowulf deceives Grendel by pretending to be asleep. As Grendel reached for Beowulf’s sleeping hand, Beowulf surprised Grendel by meeting his hand. Beowulf then tears Grendel’s arm from Grendel’s body, killing Grendel ("Beowulf for Beginners - The Fight With Grendel"). Hamlet shows his intelligence by pretending to be a mad man. Hamlet proves that one must be highly intelligent to accomplish a task such as pretending to be mad. Hamlet also shows his intelligence when he finds a way around being sent to England to be beheaded.

Achilles’ two main weaknesses are his pride and his heel. Pride proves to be a weakness of Achilles because he only went into the battle for the pride and glory of dying in war. If Achilles had not gone into the battle, he would not have died; therefore, pride proved to be a weakness of Achilles. Achilles’ heel proves to be the other main weakness of Achilles. Thetis dipped Achilles in the River Styx so that he would become immortal; however, Thetis held Achilles by the heels causing Achilles’ heels to not be dipped in the River Styx. As a result, the heels of Achilles were not immortal. Achilles can only be killed by wounding him on the heel. Achilles died when Paris shot Achilles on the heel with a poisoned arrow (Homer, Murray, Wyatt, 1999). Hector’s pride proves to be Hector’s weakness. In Book XX of the Iliad, Hector’s pride leads him to refuse to retreat when Achilles returns to war. Hector’s refusal causes many men to be killed. When Achilles came to the city Hector refused to go inside the Trojan wall, insisting that he stay outside to fight Achilles. Hector felt that his pride led to the deaths of the men whom he did not allow to retreat; therefore, Hector felt that he needed to stay outside the wall and fight Achilles himself. This ultimately led to Hector’s demise. Beowulf’s weakness proves to be the fact that he fights only with his hands instead of