Poetic diction

What classifies as a tragic hero has seemingly gone unaltered through centuries of literature. Many characteristics of classic tragic heroes such as Shakespeare’s Othello, and Hamlet, and Sophocles’ Oedipus, are practically paralleled in characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and Willy Loman from modern works of literature. Nobility through strength-whether mental, emotional, or physical can be recognized as a heroic trait of literary tragic heroes. What commonly identifies these characters as…

Hamlet and Agamemnon are both plays that possess the elements for Aristotle’s definition of tragedy. The both include the downfall of a likeable and over all good character that by an error or choice. Both show the protagonist becoming aware or insightful of their misjudgment and the unravelling and consequence that comes from their errors. Both plays deliver a sense of pity or sympathy towards the characters and some relief upon the conclusion. The two famous plays have similar themes. Power…

Hamlet Essay The ending of Hamlet is one of the most well known throughout literature. The play ends with Hamlet’s mother Gertrude, being poisoned and dying. Following her death Hamlet kills his uncle and Laertes with whom he was dueling. At the same time Laertes runs Hamlet through with a poison sword and causes him to die. Right before Hamlet’s death he hears that Fortinbras has come into the castle and with his dying words says that Fortinbras should take over as the king of Denmark. When…

reputation and prosperity…" and must take at least partial responsibility of his own downfall and learn from his mistake (Kennedy and Gioia, 2013). C.H. Reeves (1952) points out that Aristotle first spoke about his theory on tragedy in general in “Poetics”. Aristotle asserts a true tragic hero is not: A good man going from happiness to misery, a bad man from misery to happiness or an extremely bad man from happiness into misery (Reeves,…

Rough Draft Blackening others happened more than anything else when it comes the time to save your name or value. In “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, pride had an impact on the characters throughout the whole play. People with excessive pride would risked themselves to lose everything just to make sure nobody would spoiled their good name. The meaning of pride is a sense of one’s self-worth and value. This can often lead to being confident of one’s own reputation. Pride blind people from reason…

In Tragedy and the Common Man by Arthur Miller, Miller argues that the classifications of a tragic hero need to be modernized due to the fact that common folk are capable of tragedy. Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero states that in order to be classified as such one must be higher than ordinary moral worth. Miller, however argues that common folk are as or more capable of tragedy than those of high rank and has a vastly different definition to Aristotle of whom a tragic hero should be.…

The downfall of mankind is an essential part of comprehending human nature. If there is nothing tragic, then inversely there is little happiness to be taken from comedy. Nonetheless, every tragedy requires a hero with a tragic flaw. The protagonist being human makes the character relatable and even more pitiful because the audience is aware that his inevitable downfall is to come. His tragic flaw not only harms himself but harms others in the story as well. Works such as Sophocles' drama Oedipus…

“The truly tragic kind of suffering is the kind produced and defiantly insisted upon the hero himself so that, instead of making himself better, it makes him worse and when he dies he is not reconciled to the law but defiant…” - W. H. Auden. According to Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher, some examples of being a tragic hero can be defined as having a weakness, usually seen in pride, having to be faced with very serious decisions throughout the story, and the hero must have discovered his…

Many times, in a novel, a tragic hero will be presented as a wholesome character, who winds up badly because he was being just and brave. Aristotle’s view on tragic heroes was that they had to evoke empathy from the reader, and had to be relatable. A tragic hero must also possess qualities of goodness. In the novel, Things Fall Apart, the main character Okonkwo deliberately chooses to have a certain personality based on what he thinks is perfectly masculine. Based on Aristotle’s view about a…

Eugene O’Neill has been celebrated as one of the most influential dramatists from America. He wanted to imbue modern American theater with the poignancy of Greek drama and therefore the tragic struggle of his dramatis personae and their moral conflicts can be traced back to the olden times when individual suffering touched the heights of heroic grandeur in its nobility and sheer helplessness. Although he substituted the role of fate and Gods with modern psychological theories to make his…