Essays on Tragic Flaw

English 224: Fact, Truth and Fiction

Greatest American literary works of the twentieth century, such as from Herman Melville’s Moby –Dick, Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, and William Faulkner to Jon Kraukaur’s Into the Wild published in 1992 have always expressed strong disillusionment, depression and a desire to escape from the present conditions into the wild or alternative world. Leslie Fiedler identified that the central theme of U.S Literature is escape of American boys from the existing society and embrace a journey or quest into the unknown world. It is the arbitraries of the modern society which forced the writer to chronicle the ...

According to Aristotle a tragic flaw is when the hero has a flaw in his/her judgment or personality that causes them to commit acts that will lead them to disaster (Froula). In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare the titular character of Hamlet has a number of tragic flaws. His biggest flaw is the fact that he thinks that he is cleverer than he actually is. Hamlet’s second tragic flaw is his indecisiveness and failure to act. Even though he has been told by the ghost of his dead father that "The serpent that did sting thy father's ...

Oedipus Rex is an astounding and great Sophoclean play which portrays a tragic hero in a unique way. The play was composed during the ancient Greece time when Sophocles took advantage of the using character flaws in the drama. He gave Oedipus the role of a tragic hero to ensure that he captured the attention of the audience. Sophocles’ play was outstanding because the play-watchers felt to be part of it and experienced a catharsis of reactions. At the beginning of the play, Sophocles gives Oedipus a decidedly recognized character with a high sense of intelligence. Oedipus is portrayed as a privileged individual who is not ...

Things Fall Apart was written by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe and was published in 1958. The title foreshadows the tragedy in the novel. Achebe borrows the title from W B Yeats’ poem The Second Coming: ‘Things fall apart and the center cannot hold’. The phrase things fall apart is used to show the images of more general chaos that follows in the novel. The second phrase is a kind of declaration that “the centre cannot hold,” It is relevant to Achebe’s novel as the traditional structure of the society is challenged by the coming of missionaries and the white ...

Thesis: Based on Aristotle’s definition of not only a tragic hero but also of tragedy, Shakespeare’s Othello, the Moor of Venice could rightly be described as a tragedy due to the main character’s lack of knowledge as well as due to the play’s depiction of a community and adherence to tragic guidelines. - Othello as a Tragic Hero - Noble and Admirable Characteristics - Common, Human Elements - The Issue of Race in Separating Othello from Other Characters - Othello’s Tragic Flaw or Mistake - Adherence to Greek Tradition - Presence ...

The play “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles begins with Oedipus the king explaining his concern about his citizens thus: “My zeal in your behalf ye cannot doubt; Ruthless indeed were I and obdurate, If such petitioners as you I spurned” (11-15). These lines clearly establish the fact that Oedipus is a good king and looks after his kingdom, Thebes, quite well. However, this is not enough. No matter how well Oedipus governs his kingdom or how valiant he is, tragedy befalls Oedipus through what can be said as “Hamartia”. Hamartia or tragic flaw is what brings down a great character and ...

Death of a Salesman is a story that represents the real and contemporary American society and their dreams and aspirations. It is a story of the common people and their dreams. The title itself reveals the tragic end of the protagonist Willy. As far as the tragic flow of the story is concerned, it can be studied as the modern version of the Aristotelian tragedies, though it can be a comparative analysis with some resemblances and some differences. The story fulfils many parameters of the tragedy. Only the difference is that unlike the typical Aristotelians tragic hero, Willy does not belong to the ...

Introduction

Thesis: Lady Macbeth is the greatest female villain and one of the most notorious female villains in Shakespeare’s works and the western literature in general. The role she plays in Macbeth is evident. - As a powerful and influential woman - She has the qualities of a man - Evil was tied to masculinity, but she crosses over - Her Impact in Macbeth - She is responsible for Macbeth’s fall - Overambitious as a tragic flaw - Her role in the death of Duncan - ‘Performing for men’ - Conclusion ...

Introduction paragraph

Thesis: Lady Macbeth is the most important character in Macbeth because she tries to act like God, she has a flaw that the audience can identify with and that she stark raving mad.

I: Lady Macbeth Tries to be God

- Hannibal quote - Similarity to Lady Macbeth - What being God entails - Manipulates Macbeth – questions his manhood

II: Lady Macbeth’s Tragic Flaw

- She’s a human being - Audience can identify with her flaw - Makes her so memorable - Everyone has thought about killing someone

III: Lady Macbeth Goes Stark Raving Mad

- Duncan looks like her father - She empathizes with her victims, even though logically she shouldn’ ...

Chinua Achebe, in the famous novel, Things Fall Apart, goes on to delve deep into the culture of two different communities through the story of the life of the protagonist, Okonkwo, who is a heroic character of his village in Nigeria. The protagonist is an acclaimed man who has three wives and many children. He is someone who has shown his valor and warlike skills for which he is known among all. The character has a tragic flaw, nonetheless, that leads to his ultimate downfall. He is obsessed not to reveal any sign of emotion or weakness to people. However, ...

“Othello” is one of Shakespeare’s most intense plays and reflects the Aristotelian ideas of the perfect tragedy. According to Aristotle, “A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious,” (From Poetics, p.1). In addition, the tragedy has a “magnitude [that is] complete in itself; in appropriate and pleasurable language [and] in a dramatic rather than narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear,” (From Poetics, p.1). In other words, an outstanding tragedy looks at a single issue that is very important in the play and allows the reader to feel pity and fear for the hero as he heads ...

According to the ancient Greeks, a hero was an immortal religious figure that had received cult honors and was anticipated to come back, so to bring prosperity to the entire community (that worshiped the hero), including the animals and the fertility of the crops (Nagy). However, a hero could also be a mortal, hence a literary figure, whose life had to undergo an ordeal, in order to receive immortalization after he dies (Nagy). Born with a heavy legacy already on his shoulders, Oedipus spent his entire life trying to avert an ominous prophecy that placed him as the person that would kill his ...

When people describe an event as “tragic,” the first thing that comes to mind is that something terrible has happened to a person or people. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines tragedy as “a very bad event that causes great sadness and often involves someone's death; a very sad, unfortunate, or upsetting situation , something that causes strong feelings of sadness or regret, [or] a play, movie, etc., that is serious and has a sad ending.” In life, it is not difficult to classify particular situations as tragic, such as the ending of a young life by a drunk driver or the destruction of the World Trade Center by terrorists. ...

Oedipus Rex is one of the great masterpieces by the great dramatist Sophocles. Oedipus the King is a trilogy out of which Oedipus Rex is the first part. The fast pace of this play and the horrible fate of the mighty king grips the reader from the very first word of the play.

After reading the play, some might argue that everything happened because it was supposed to happen i.e. because of the predestination. Furthermore, it is believed that Oedipus’s character had nothing to do with whatever happened with him and he was just a puppet in the fate’s ...

Throughout the history of literary criticism, a lot has been said about Shakespeare’s poetic wonders, his melancholy prince Hamlet and the power-mad Macbeth. They are like two sides of a coin, the good and the bad, both tainted in their tragic endeavor. As it is the case with most of his tragedies, the protagonists carry within themselves a tragic flaw, tainting them as Byronic heroes who despite their utter devotion to their cause, can never truly come out as winners. Despite the fact that one is the protagonist and the other antagonist of the play, their similarities are ubiquitous: they both ...

Essay

Can you ever love your mother too much? In an essay of at least 1000 words, compare and contrast the two characters, Oedipus and Hamlet.

Thesis

While love—towards anyone or anything—can be beautiful when passionate, when it hinders on obsession, love can often render more harm than happiness, and in the case of Oedipus and Hamlet, their obsessive love caused their tragic ending. However, in both their cases, it was not the love for their mothers that cause their downfall, and so, it cannot be said that they suffered and caused suffering because of their attachment to their ...