Tragic Heroes Essays

  • Tragic Heroes in Euripides Medea, Shakespeare's Othello and Boccaccio's Decameron

    2171 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Tragic Heroes in Euripides Medea, Shakespeare's Othello and Boccaccio's Decameron, Tenth Day, Tenth Story Throughout many great works of literature there are numerous characters whose acts are either moral or immoral. In the works Euripides "Medea", Shakespeare's "Othello" and Boccaccio's Decameron, "Tenth Day, Tenth Story", the main characters all carry out actions which in today's day and age would be immoral and inexcusable. Medea takes on the most immoral act, in Euripides great tragic

  • Many Tragic Heroes and Societal Issues Found in Julius Caesar

    3440 Words  | 7 Pages

    Many Tragic Heroes and Societal Issues Found in Julius Caesar William Shakespeare wrote Julius Caesar around 1599. The play is said to be an adaptation of the Greek account written by Plutarch. This account refers to the lives of Marcus Brutus, Julius Caesar, and Marcus Antonius. Julius Caesar touches on many societal issues, which are still voiced today: suicide, peer pressure, what it means to be a good leader, and assassination. However, though each of these issues is examined throughout

  • Creon and Antigone as Tragic Heroes in Sophocles' Antigone

    560 Words  | 2 Pages

    Creon and Antigone as Tragic Heroes Creon and Antigone, main characters in the Greek tragedy Antigone by Sophocles share some of the same characteristics that make up a tragic hero, but to varying degrees. Antigone, daughter of her mother/grandmother, Jocasta, and father, Oedipus is head strong, proud, and stubborn. She had three siblings, Ismene her sister, and two brothers Eteocles and Polyneices who found there deaths at the end of each others sword in battle over which would become

  • Shakespeare's Macbeth and Hamlet as Tragic Heroes

    878 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hamlet as Tragic Heroes William Shakespeare has written many literary works - from his sonnets to his plays, each has it's own individual characteristics.  One popular characteristic that comes from his plays is the tragic hero.  The audience can always relate to the tragic hero and the many trials he faces.  Macbeth and Hamlet are just two of Shakespeare's plays that involve the tragic hero.  Through their nobility, tragic flaws, and dignity Macbeth and Hamlet prove to be tragic heroes.

  • Oedipus And Blanche: Tragic Heroes

    1475 Words  | 3 Pages

    also be applied to tragic heroes. “The hero’s fall is the result, to use Aristotle’s term, of hamartia: an error or transgression or a flaw or weakness of character…. According to [Aristotle’s] interpretation, every tragic hero has some moral Achilles’ heel that brings him or her to a bad end.” (Rice and Watson 2). Blanche, from Tennessee Williams’s play, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Oedipus, from Sophocles’s play, Oedipus the King, are both protagonists who become tragic heroes. They have misfortunate

  • Examples Of Tragic Heroes Today

    895 Words  | 2 Pages

    role model or ideal.” Modern heroes today are perceived very differently to each person that is asked. For example a modern day hero could be one such as a firefighter, or even someone who was brave enough to stand up to a bully. Heroes come in all different types and sizes. Shakespeare constructed tragic heroes. Tragic heroes begin as likeable and good people that make a terrible decision that eventually leads to their destruction. In shakespeare’s plays the tragic hero always dies. A hero portrayed

  • The Importance Of Tragic Heroes In Literature

    1703 Words  | 4 Pages

    the root of his own downfall.” Throughout society, tragic heroes are always present within every type of literature. A tragic hero is depicted as someone who makes a judgement which leads to his or her own destruction. They follow the five characteristics in which they are born from nobility, are doomed to make the wrong judgement, possess a tragic flaw, are responsible for their own fate, and lastly convey emotions to the audience. Tragic heroes appear over and over again throughout literature, especially

  • Defining Tragic Heroes: A Reinterpretation

    1163 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

  • Tragic Heroes In Shakespeare's Macbeth

    1291 Words  | 3 Pages

    November 2017 Macbeth Essay Tragic heroes often have distinct qualities to them which makes them different compared to the other characters. Often times, the tragic hero has an abundance of ambition to acquire a certain goal. This leads to the tragic hero to obtain guilt,, as they have trouble accepting what they have done, or the person they have turned into because of their ambition. Lastly, pity and fear is felt by the audience, often during the downfall of the tragic hero. William Shakespeare’s

  • Tragic Heroes in Famous Literature

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    greatest tragic heroes of all time: Hamlet, Macbeth, Odysseus -- Ones we all know and love. We laughed at their mistakes, cried at their downfalls, and enjoyed their triumphs. And now a new generation wishes to be among them: King Creon (from Sophocles’ Antigone), Marcus Brutus, and Julius Caesar. But, it will not be easy; it will take a lot for them to win over our hearts and be crowned “most tragic hero” of them all. First, they will have to play the part. What exactly constitutes a tragic hero?

  • Tragic Heroes in The Scarlet Letter

    628 Words  | 2 Pages

    In The Scarlet Letter, there are many people that can be considered tragic heroes. Each tragic hero has a tragic flaw that causes their downfall. Hester Prynne is a tragic heroin because of her downfall that is brought on by her love and loyalty to Reverend Dimmesdale. Hester Prynne is a tragic hero because of her perseverance and determination in her journey with Pearl. Even though she is given the opportunity to leave Boston and remove the scarlet letter that she wears on her clothes, she chooses

  • The Tragic Heroes in Sophocles’ Tragedy, Antigone

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero is someone of great importance or royalty. The hero must go through something terrible such as a relative’s death. We must feel what this character is feeling throughout the story. Aristotle also said that a tragic hero scan be defeated by a tragic flaw, such as hubris or human pride. In Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone, both Creon and Antigone are tragic heroes. In the play, Creon and Antigone can be seen as good or bad characters. Both of them show traits of

  • Comparing the Tragic Heroes in Medea by Euripides

    1325 Words  | 3 Pages

    The play Medea is written by Euripides, and it mainly centers on the action of tragic heroes and their lives as they unfold into a state of conflict. The main beginning of the play starts with conflict itself, where the main character Jason, has abandoned his wife Medea, as well as the two children. He basically wants to marry the daughter of Creon, who is the king of Corinth. Her name is Glauce. These are the parties who are the central characters of the play and the plan unfolds into their lives

  • Oedipus vs. Hamlet as Tragic Heroes

    1556 Words  | 4 Pages

    two characters that are different, yet they both share the same title of being a tragic hero. Oedipus and Hamlet have many characteristics of a tragic hero that separates them in varieties. However, some of those characteristics show that both characters have and use similar thought processes and methods, which classify them as tragic heroes of their dramas. The five characteristics of a tragic hero are: nobility, tragic flaw, peripeteia, anagnorisis, and lastly irony. Both Oedipus and Hamlet hold

  • Tragic Heroes: A Comparative Analysis Across Literature

    1397 Words  | 3 Pages

    Spiderman all have a common fate, they are all tragic heroes. A tragic hero is a great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy who is destined for downfall, suffering, or defeat. Every hero has a downfall and a purpose; typically it is for the greater good for everyone else. In The Oedipus Plays of Sophocles, there are two characters that could be defined as tragic heroes, they are Antigone and Creon. Bounteous people do not envisage Antigone as a tragic hero, these people believe she was crazy, had

  • Tragic Heroes in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House

    1701 Words  | 4 Pages

    Tragic Heroes in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House Dramatists such as Aristotle started to write a series of plays called tragedies. They were as follows: the play revolved around a great man such as a king or war hero, who possessed a tragic flaw. This flaw or discrepancy would eventually become his downfall. These types of plays are still written today, for example, Arthur Millers "Death of Salesman" and Henrik Ibsens "A Dolls House." "Death of Salesman"

  • A Comparison of Shakespeare’s Marcus Brutus to Other Tragic Heroes

    1388 Words  | 3 Pages

    The tragic hero is one of literatures most used (and sometimes abused) characters. The classical definition of a tragic hero is, “a person with heroic or potentially heroic qualities. The person is doomed by the Gods or some other supernatural force to destruction or suffering. The hero struggles against the fate, but due to a personal flaw, ultimately fails in the battle against fate. It is my personal opinion that Brutus,as he is portrayed in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, is a tragic hero by this

  • Three Tragic Heroes in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    2100 Words  | 5 Pages

    Frankenstein, Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and Frankenstein’s Creation reach similar conclusions humanity by seafaring to the North Pole, delving into the dark depths of science, and observing the rejecting nature of humans. The three tragic heroes Walton, Frankenstein and the Creation are all character doubles in their initial enthusiasm for knowledge, inner dualist personalities, religiously glorified personal goals, possessive relationships and negative effects of gaining knowledge. The

  • Tragic Heroes

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    The tragic hero is a type of character that many people know. It is a type of character many have seen in films or plays throughout history. Many students in high school will read plays and watch movies with tragic heroes. But many of these high schoolers may never learn what a tragic hero is. Comparing and contrasting tragic heroes such as Dimmesdale to Frome, and Chillingworth to Hamlet along with the definition of a tragic hero will aid in revealing the true nature of tragic heroes as a whole

  • Tragic Heroes: Noble Birth, Fatal Flaw, and Ruin

    711 Words  | 2 Pages

    experiencing hard times transforms an average person and his mistakes into something remarkable and heroic. What characteristics make a him a tragic hero rather than just an ordinary person? A hero is a person who is admired for courageous acts, noble qualities and outstanding achievements. Despite possessing the same qualities as an ordinary hero, a tragic hero, who is born a noble birth and usually male, has a fatal flaw that ultimately leads to his ruin. The hero 's flaws can range vastly. Tragically