Aristotle: The Five Characteristics Of A Tragic Hero

According to Ancient Greeks, a tragic hero is a protagonist with a fatal flaw. Because of this fatal flaw, the suffer through a downfall and it eventually leads them to their demise. Aristotle, who was a great philosopher of Ancient Greece, had a lot to say about and had a certain perspective of a tragic hero. He believed that they must have the five characteristics in order to truly be a tragic hero. The five characteristics are basically known as “Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero.” The first characteristic focuses on nobleness. The tragic hero must be born of royal birth and have certain character traits that make them wise. The second characteristic focuses on hamartia which is a fatal flaw that makes the character hubris. In other …show more content…
He is general of Rome’s army and is asked to become leader of Rome, his family gets murdered by the son of the leader, he gets bought as a slave and is forced to battle and becomes a gladiator, and he is killed by the envious son of the late leader of Rome. After watching this film, I’ve come to believe that Maximus is most definitely qualified to be considered a tragic hero. He has all five of Aristotle’s characteristics of what it truly means to be a tragic hero. Not many people may agree with this judgement, however, I strongly feel that the events Maximus goes through really shows how he is a tragic …show more content…
Tragic hero, today, is defined as the main character of a tragedy whose tragic flaw leads to his or her destruction. At the start of the film, we see that the main focus is on Maximus’ life. Throughout the film, we see how his life transitions and what situations he results to be in. At the end of the film, his tragic flaw eventually leads him to his destruction, death. For a hero to truly be a tragic one, they must have certain traits or characteristics and must lead themselves to their own destruction. They must somehow make the audience feel sympathy for them. Maximus was most definitely a tragic hero. He conformed to every trait or characteristic there was that defined what a tragic hero really was. As a result, Maximus ends up facing both his destruction and death. A tragic hero is not only noble or hubris, but brave as well. Being brave is something that really impacts a hero in being a tragic one which is exactly what Maximus