Defining Tragic Heroes: A Reinterpretation

People tend to have different opinions on what a tragic hero is. Everyone knows that a tragic hero has to go through the 4 stages to be considered one, but the real question lies on the last stage of harmentia, wisdom. People think that if a person that goes through wisdom but doesn’t learn anything and gives in and accepts his defeat, he is not a tragic hero. That isn’t necessarily true. It doesn’t matter what the character does in the end, even if he hasn’t learned anything. If it gives the reader a message and gives them a lesson in life to think about, then the character is a tragic hero. All the character has to do is to go through the 4 stages and give the reader a message to be considered a tragic hero. This was shown in the book,” Things fall Apart,” by Chinua Achebe. The main character, Okonkwo, went through the 4 stages of and gave the reader a lesson to think about without learning anything from what he has done. To emphasize on this, the following evidence will show how Okonkwo is a tragic hero, by expanding on the stages he went through. High status, tragic flaw, nemesis, and Wisdom.

First of all, High status is the stage

In the end Okonkwo was the same exact character throughout the entire story attitude wise. But in the end he sends a message to the reader, and that all what really matters. To conclude, everyone can have their opinions on whether Okonkwo is a tragic hero or not, but in the end it depends if the reader learns anything from it or not. People can argue with this, but what’s the point of there being a tragic hero if no point is getting across? Are they called tragic heroes because they learn from their mistakes? It is true, but they give out a moral even if they don’t learn anything. If only people will see that there’s more to tragic heroes and the stages themselves then what people actually think they