Gladiator Tragic Hero Analysis

What do you think makes a tragic hero? According to “an old dead Greek dude”, otherwise known as Aristotle, the very same who created the guidelines of what would qualify as “a good body of text”, a tragic hero is noble or wise, has a fatal flaw, a reversal of fortune, a realization that their fatal flaw is what caused their misfortune, and a greater fate than they deserved. I personally completely agree with Aristotle’s ideas of a tragic hero. They need to be noble or wise so the audience can have some form of respect for the character. They also need their fatal flaw so the audience can relate to the character and be able to put themselves in their position, ultimately making them think about the situation through their own eyes. The sudden reversal of fate is one of the better ways to show how their flaws affect them and emphasize how heavy they hit. The realization of the hero’s own misfortune puts the audience in the position to believe that they could’ve done …show more content…
He is wise and shows that he is noble by being the most respected and well liked generals in the army. He is shown to be very proud in his ability to fight, even a little too proud of it at times. He is also favored to be the new ruler of Rome over the king’s son by the king himself. His sudden change of fortune is caused by the king dying at the hands of his son, leaving Maximus helpless as he was forced to flee from his execution set by Commodus, the king’s son. Commodus went after Maximus’ family regardless of the fact that Maximus is still alive because as far as he knew, Maximus was dead. Maximus knew that they went after his family due to the fact that both the king and Maximus are supposedly dead. Maximus eventually fights Commodus and kills him at the cost of his own life, not by Commodus’ skill in the sword, but due to his underhanded