Okonkwo Tragic Hero

Through two stories about African culture and whites coming into Africa, with a tragic hero being an African named Okonkwo and a tragic hero being a white man named Marlow showing opposites sides of their story's. Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart is presented as a fearless warrior who has no feeling because he only believes in strength. In Heart of Darkness the tragic hero Marlow is presented as a determined captain obsessed with someone he knows nothing really about. There stories of tragic heroism are not far off from each other it’s just told from different perspectives and concepts.

The tragic hero Okonkwo in Heart of Darkness is shown as a tragic hero by him being a well respected warrior. “Okonkwo was young but he was already one of the

This shows Okonkwo is a tragic hero because the first step to being a tragic hero is “through the tragic hero is a character of noble stature and has greatness.” (Aristotle and the tragic hero). This shows that he’s a tragic hero because he is well respected and is of a noble stature. Also “Okonkwo was the war emissary and was treated with great honor and respect.” (Things Fall Apart, Page 12). Proving even more that he is honored well respected and noble the first step of being a tragic hero. A “tragic hero is great and awesome but not perfect.” (Aristotle and the tragic hero). Okonkwo is great and well respected and loved but he has some impurity by him “he hated everything his dad was so instead of having feelings he believed strength was the only thing he needed nothing else.” (Things Fall Apart, Page 13). His impurity is his non perfect modo that he can have no feelings showing that is a sign of weakness he only believes in strength. To

Like Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart Marlow is a well respected man by his people. Like when there on their steam boat and his guy says, "well I must defer to your judgement, you are the captain he said with marked civility I turned my shoulder in sign of appreciation and looked into the fog." (Heart of Darkness, Chapter 2). So this shows that he is respected by his men and he's also a man of high stature. Like Aristotle said "through the tragic hero is pre-eminently great he/she is not perfect." (Aristotle and the tragic hero). And Marlow is great he's loved by his men but he's not perfect like Aristotle said making Marlow not perfect. The reason Marlow isn't perfect is because "of his obsession for Kurtz he knows nothing about he just knows about Kurtz from all the story's that have been told to Marlow but he's obsessed with him and he keeps hearing that Kurtz could be dead and all the work he's been through for a guy he doesn’t know." (Heart of Darkness, ending of chapter 1). Marlow's obsession for a man he doesn’t even know really at all is what makes him not perfect. And from Marlow's imperfectness comes his downfall which was "the steam boat getting attacked and several people dying getting shot with arrows but Marlow scares them away and they get Kurtz but Marlow finds out the person Kurtz really was because Kurtz ordered the attack on the steam boat." (Heart of Darkness, middle of