Final Essay
In these historic and world renounced novels, the authors use similar techniques and writing styles to build their tragic heroes.
The tragic hero is a character designed and used to evoke both pity and fear in audiences; in these two novels each author creates a strong tragic hero through their use of character foil.
Both of our tragic heroes, Othello and Okonkwo undergo the traditional cycles and events that make a tragic hero, these cycles can be highlighted by the authors’ use of character foil. Both characters have several foils, making it easier to recognize these events. In both novels our characters are responsible for their own fate; they are rash, aggressive, and proud. These qualities contrast significantly with those that are closest to them. In Othello, our hero’s wife, Desdemona, can be seen as almost the direct opposite, she is calm. Cool headed, and wise. These traits exemplify just how out of control Othello has become, leading him to destroy his future. During these cycles Othello has another foil in the villainous character Iago. Iago’s cunning and deceitfulness contrasted greatly with Othello’s tactfulness and trusting.” I know, Iago, Thy honesty and love doth mince this matter.” (Shakespeare II.iii. 1396) This quote just goes to show how reliant Othello is on Iago. Similarly in Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo’s foils can be shown in his son Nwoye and the rest of his community, when the tribes give into the influence of the white men. Their resignation and acceptance contrasts boldly with Okonkwo’s firm attitude and resentfulness, it is because of his foils that he commits the crimes and sins that he does, leading eventually, to his own demise. “The missionaries had come to Umuofia. They had built thei...
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...rcy on me! (Shakespeare V. ii. 3335) Similarly in Things Fall Apart, driven mad with grief Okonkwo chooses to end his life rather than live in the world his tribe has come to. Okonkwo stood looking at the dead man. He knew that Umuofia would not go to war. “He knew because they had let the other messengers escape. They had broken into tumult instead of action. He discerned fright in that tumult. He heard voices asking: “Why did he do it?” He wiped the machete on the sand and went away.” (Achebe 205) His grief and anger could be contrasted to the passiveness and resignation of his community, who serve as a whole, one large character foil to Okonkwo.
In both of these historic novels, authors Chineua Achebe and William Shakespeare strongly employ a sense of character foil to suggest the use of a tragic hero in their novel.
Works Cited
Othello
Things Fall apart
When it comes to being a tragic hero the character has to have the qualities of being a tragic hero. A tragic hero is where the main character of a tragedy whose fatal flaw leads to his or her destruction. Either the character was born into society as a great man or a slave, they may have carry
The definition of the tragic hero is a protagonist who is otherwise perfect except for a tragic flaw, also known as a fatal flaw, which eventually leads to his demise. One may ask, why have a tragic hero? The reason to have a tragic hero is to give a story purpose. A tragedy by nature isn't an uplifting story, but the introduction of a tragic hero presents an opportunity to learn from the tragedy. In other words, tragic heroes make tragedies worth reading. Let's first define the characteristics that are common to most tragic heroes and focus on those that are demonstrated by Gawain. Tragic heroes are born into nobility, responsible for their own fate, endowed with a tragic flaw, and are doomed to make a serious error in judgment. Eventually, the tragic hero will fall fr...
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The 1960s was a period well remembered for all the civil rights movements that occurred during that time frame and the impact these movements had on the social and political dynamics of the United States. The three largest movements that were striving in the 1960s were the African American civil rights movement, the New Left movement and the feminist movement. These three movements were in a lot of ways influenced by each other and were very similar in terms of their goals and strategies. However, within each of these movements there were divisions in the way they tried to approach the issues they were fighting against. Looking at each of these movements individually will reveal the relationship they all share as well as the changes that were brought forth as a result of each groups actions.
We all know what a hero is defined as right? A hero is a figure that portrays a unique quality that makes them special. An example being superman, superman has the ability to fly and in doing this he saves lives which cause him to grow as a hero. Tragic heroes are alike in the way that they both carry a special quality trait but different in a way that a tragic heroes special power leads to their destruction and down fall. Victor Frankenstein is the tragic hero of Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein ,because no matter his good intentions, his thirst for knowledge leads to his destruction because of a single cause and primary key factors that evident to heart wrenching results.
A tragic hero is a literary character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy. In the play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller portrays John Proctor, the protagonist, as a tragic hero who has a major flaw—lust for Abigail, his teenage house servant. For fear of being exiled in a town where reputation is highly upheld, Proctor initially tries to hide his crime of adultery, but this affair triggers a major series of events in Salem, where unproven accusations lead to internal struggle and eventually to catastrophe.
Over the course of Intro to College Writing I have written a total of three essays and turned in. These three essays consist of: Narrative, Profile, and Argumentative. My first essay was the Narrative in which I wrote about the night of my mothers arrest. With this essay. I as a writer was trying to convey the emotions I felt during the experience and describe the many atmospheres that occurred throughout the incident. The only memorable thing from this essay was figuring out how to end the essay in a way that wrapped the entire essay back up in a short meaningful, stylistic way. That I felt I did well with my last line being “That was the first time I had said “I love you” in well, I couldn't tell you.” Through writing that last statement I felt I summed up a struggling relationship I held with my mother sparring details that spanned over years into a simple sentence that echoed around the core concept. This was the only breakthrough I met as I wrote this essay recalling the night and describing my feelings flowed easily and I found myself done quickly. I only stopped to find a fancier word or write a sentence in a different way. Either making it longer, shorter or include more details. I had strong feelings that I communicated the entire situation in a comprehensible and touching way. Looking back on the essay there was much too be corrected as I did in my re-write such as: Organization, fragments, Contractions, comma splices.
Of Shakespeare’s five greatest tragedies, Othello is by far the most passionate and gripping. It is a tale of love, deception, evil, honesty, and virtue. Othello himself is set apart from other Shakespearean tragic heroes by the absolute feeling of affection the audience feels for him even unto the very end of the play. Any discerning reader painfully recognizes the virtue and goodness of Othello throughout the entire play, in contrast to the general degeneration of character so typical of a tragic hero. It is this complete pity that makes the death of Othello so tragic as the audience lends their full hopeful support until the inevitable and unavoidable fall. The evil side of Othello’s tragic flaw came from without, in the form of Iago. The internal flaw exists only in his heartrendingly unshakable goodness and honor.
In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo strived to be the adverse of his father; however, his motives were often too radical. For instance, Okonkwo believed that any signs of emotion or affection meant weakness. This caused him to constantly abuse his wives and children, even slaughtering one of his favorite [adoptive] sons because he feared helping would show he cared, and in Okonkwo’s eyes, was weak. Ironically, his father was an inefficient father which Okonkwo became - and in the end, Okonkwo hangs himself which is one of the most disrespectful fates in African
A tragic hero is defined as,“a literary character who makes a judgement error that inevitably leads to their own destruction.”(Tragic Hero as Defined by Aristotle). A villain is, “a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot.”
Okonkwo is the main character within the book, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe. Okonkwo is an individual whom has many different personalities that are portrayed in different situations. He can be a nice and welcoming individual but also an abusive and harmful individual. Before returning to Umofia, in which the missionaries had invaded, Okonkwo had grown up upon resenting his father’s laziness, devoting his time in proving that he was much better than his father. That he was more respectable and masculine. These were qualities in which Okonkwo’s father had lacked. Upon reaching Umofia, Okonkwo becomes more passive than he has ever been. While watching in sorrow and grief of the coming of the missionaries as he is unable to anything about. The missionaries had turned Okonkwo into a completely different individual. Changing him for the worst.
Okonkwo takes his life as he sees himself a lone warrior in a society of weaklings. This isolation is truly imposed by his decision of how to handle the conflicts which he encounters. His unitary channeling of emotions, cultural inflexibility, and tendency to seek physical confrontation are compiled into a single notion. The idealized vision of a warrior by which Okonkwo lives is the instrument that leads to the climax of Achebe's novel, Things Fall Apart: Okonkwo's demise.