Yukio Mishima's The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea

A tragic hero is defined as a literary character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy. In Yukio Mishima’s The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea, the main protagonist, Ryuji Tsukazaki, proves to be a tragic hero as his internal confliction and the ambiguity of his character served as his fatal flaw which ultimately led him to his death. Ryuji believes that he is destined for glory, even though he does not know what it may be. He is conflicted between his pursuit of glory, which he believes provides him the superiority over other men and his love for Fusako which contrary to his pursuit of glory, turns him into an ordinary man. His consubstantial ideologies of linking death to both the sea and love, intertwine with each other numerous times which ultimately proved to be …show more content…
He speaks about his quest for glory and could “see it almost, aglow like the noctilucae that fire the water” (17). The reference to fire that is ignited on top of the water metaphorically states that one element will be in hand with the other. Even if they are both completely opposite elements, they will exist with one another at the same time. This is interpreted that he will remain conflicted between his belonging to one surrounding. This idea can also be seen in his favorite song “I Can’t Give Up the Sailor’s Life” as some of the verses of the song were “Now the sea’s my home, I decided that…As I wave, boys, I wave so sad. At the harbor town where my heart was glad” (18) The lyrics are very conflicting as he takes the sea for his home, yet his heart is glad on the land. Ryuji also states that he “hated the immobility of the land, and the eternally unchanging surfaces. But a ship was another kind of prison.” (16) His confusion of where he believes he belongs gives us insight of the ambiguity he