Essays on Tragic Hero

Willy and Shelly as Tragic Heroes

The plays “The Death of a Salesman” and “Glengarry Glen Ross” focus on the dramatic events in the lives of aging salesmen, whose careers are rapidly ended when they start underperforming in their jobs, and even though they try their best to succeed, they are eventually destroyed by their unrealistic ambitions. The figures of Shelly Levene and Willy Loman have been characterized as tragic throughout the years, even though many critics continue to disagree with this denomination. Even though they may not entirely comprise the classical attributes of tragic heroes, they essentially represent the same kinds of heroes that ...

Shakespeare’s tragedies are based on the culmination of the recklessness of his protagonists. For example, suspicion was the major cause of Othello’s downfall; Pride was the cause behind King Lear’s tragedy. As said by Aristotle, the protagonist’s weakness is the major reason for the tragedy to happen in the play. Shakespeare’s plays are based on the concept of Aristotle’s tragedy. The tragic hero according to Corrigan (206) is the good man who faces trouble due to his errors or shortcomings. The shortcomings or errors are the real motivators behind the action of the ...

“Oedipus Rex”, “The Glass Menagerie”, “The Angels in America”

The tragedies have always seemed to attract a wide range of audience because of the depth of the emotions revealed there and the turns of events which would be dreadful and inescapable, the complexity of its characters and main issues present in the plays, as well as because of a possibility for the spectators to connect to the events happening on the stage and empathize with the protagonists. When considering the tragedy as the work of art, it is essential to view it from historical perspective, too, and try to reveal its very origins and the basic ideas which ...

The main purpose of any tragedy, as it is claimed by Aristotle, is based on the notion "catharsis" (Milch), which is a fundamental element in the drama. Catharsis, consequently, as described by Cambridge Dictionary, is considered “the process of releasing strong emotions through a particular activity or experience in a way that helps to understand those emotions”. Thus it was expected from the Aristotelian audience to be feeling a great level of emotional connection towards the actors, greatly empathizing with them – it concerned mainly such feelings as fear and pity. The ultimate aim of this approach was for the ...

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 ...

At the beginning of the play, Hamlet, the son of Hamlet, the king or in other words, Hamlet, the prince, is introduced to the reader as being a university student who had been studying at Wittenberg. He has had to leave his studies to go and attend to the death of his father in Denmark. Although he was very loyal and loved his father so much, he gets disappointed when he gets home and finds that his uncle Claudio, has married his mother, Gertrude. His love for his father comes out when even Claudio realizes that Hamlet was sad, ...

Introduction

The Aeneid is an epic poem that portrays the journey of the Aeneas from the city Trojan to Rome (Hardie, 1999). The city of Trojan was destroyed by the Greeks, and the Aeneas initiates a painful journey to the Trojan. The major reason why Aeneas travelled to Rome is based on a dream in which he was commanded by the god to build a city for his men in Rome. Aeneas’s relationship with Pallas in the entire poem has a central role. Aeneid’s association with Pallas played a critical role in his rage against the Turnur’s ...

Introduction

Fences is a play acted by Troy on the American stage of a modern-day tragic hero who destroyed his son’s dreams to pursue football and college as he chose his course of action in the family. His role in the household had a greater impact as his family members knew he is a man of great personality and his decision was final.

Troy’s inability to accept other people's decisions in life. An example, disagreeing with his friend Lyons’ decision to be a musician and also denying his son a chance to play football while in college. His ...

Hamlet is a play written by Willian Shakespear which deals with loss and revenge, religion and love. Prince Hamlet is a tragic hero who dies, but fulfills his mission which is to avenge his father who was killed by his brother, Claudius. Instead of looking forward to a bright future with Ophelia, Hamlet engages himself in a mission full of acting, deception and hypocrisy. The final result is the tragedy which ends with the death of all of the main characters. Hamlet is a tragic hero who is successful in realizing his goals and who dies due to being ...

Chinua Achebe manages, in a highly entertaining and educative way, to present the theme of collectivism in the Nigeria before the merciless yet highly effective occupation of the British in Nigeria. The Ibo society that forms the setting of the book is a microcosm of not just Nigeria but also the rest of the Eastern countries. Chinua Achebe tells the story of the people of Igbo land of Eastern Nigeria before and immediately after their contact with the Western culture. The story revolves around the life of Okwonkwo, a tragic hero, depicting his birth, how he rises from a ...

The Greeks believed that a tragic hero was chosen to suffer a downfall typically following great success. Many philosophers have defined the characters of such a hero, including Aristotle, Hegel and Nietzsche. Many modern day individuals, including actors, politicians and rock starts can be and have been tragic heroes. Marilyn Monroe, Bill Clinton and Axl Rose each have tragic hero characteristics. Aristotle’s tragic hero is a person we tend to pity and fear. The hero is one who Marilyn Monroe reflects Aristotle’s elements of tragedy. Marilyn Monroe was “an iconic figure of Hollywood glamour and fashion”. Yet, ...

There is a vivid description of a heroic character in the two literature works: Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The heroic protagonist is portrayed, in both cases, as a plain human being with imperfections in one way or the other. In this work, I have critically analyzed and given a comparison of the heroic qualities of both the characters.

On the onset, Beowulf crosses the ocean to fight and the main reason for the fight is to attain fame and honour. In his society, one of the greatest achievements is fame, especially after death. This is the notion that drives ...