FratFiles

• Save Paper

In his work Nature and Elements of Tragedy, Aristotle outlined the characteristics needed in order to create a compelling tragic hero. He states that this particular character must be "better than we are," a man who is superior to the average man in some way. At the same time, a tragic hero must evoke both pity and fear among the audience, causing each member to experience a feeling of catharsis, or strong emotion. According to Aristotle, the best way to achieve this effect is to accurately portray the protagonist’s imperfections, for a character that constitutes good and evil is more convincing than a character that is purely good. Lastly, a tragic hero can be characterized by his hamartia, a Greek word that can be translated as "tragic flaw," or more simply, "error in judgment." Upon close inspection of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, however, it appears as if Oedipus’ downfall was a result of the will of the gods and not a consequence of his “tragic flaw.” Therefore, in regards......

View the rest of this paper...

Approximate Word Count: 1352
Approximate Pages: 6 (250 words per double-spaced page)

Similar Essays

1. Oedipus: Tragic Hero Or Victim Of Fate
   

   Oedipus: Tragic Hero Or Victim Of Fate In his work Nature and Elements of Tragedy, Aristotle outlined the characteristics needed in order to create a compelling tragic hero. He

2. Oedipus Rex: A Tragic Hero
   

   Oedipus Rex: A Tragic Hero Through Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero, it can be inferred that Oedipus is a tragic hero because of three main reasons: he discove his fate by

3. Oedipus: Victim Of Fate
   

   Oedipus: Victim of Fate In the play "King Oedipus", by Sophocles, Oedipus is caught in a series of tragic circumstances. When he was only a few days old he was left on a

4. Oedipus Rex
   

   Oedipus Rex Oedipus Rex, a tragic victim of fate, easily meets the criteria of the tragic hero. According to Aristotle, a tragic hero can not be extremely virtuous or evil, they

5. Concept Of A Tragic Hero - Death Of A Salesman Vs. Oedipus The...
   

   victim to a circumstance within the plot. To this extent, Arthur Miller's definition of a tragic hero varies because he believes "the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in