Dasianay Ward
Shier
AP English
6 November 2018
Exploring the Tragic Hero
According to Aristotle (384-322 B.C), a tragic hero is one who possesses the characteristics of hamartia, peripeteia, anagnorisis, and has a fate that is greater than deserved. A literary example of a tragic hero would be Sophocles’ Oedipus, from Oedipus Rex, one of Sophocles’ most known plays. Oedipus is known as the “archetypal” tragic hero because of the way his life was destined to be. Oedipus was destined for ultimate tragedy from birth but was too arrogant to realize it. Most tragic heroes possess what is called a “fatal flaw”, which is a character defect that causes the downfall of the protagonist of a tragedy. Oedipus’ fatal flaws are his pride and arrogance. He is a good example of a tragic hero because although he is a good man and ruler, who has shown many times that he cares about his town and its’ people, his actions have caused his dreadful downfall. Another literary example of a tragic hero would be Willy Loman, from Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Willy Loman being a tragic hero can be very controversial because although it can be suggested that he does not qualify as a tragic hero, he shows many characteristics of being a tragic hero. As we are introduced to Willy, he is shown to have been a very loving, family man, who is slowly deteriorating into a tired and suicidal state, which leads him to his tragic demise. Loman shares the same fatal flaw as Oedipus, arrogance, as his actions led him to his death.
Oedipus is the main protagonist in Oedipus Rex, written by Sophocles (497-406 B.C). Oedipus has become King of Thebes by solving the riddle of the Sphinx and saving the town. Upon becoming king, he had also won the hand of the widowed queen, Jocasta, who he married and had kids with. As king, he has always been a great ruler who cares about the people of his town and has always led them down the right path, proving that he is worthy of his status. As soon as his town was hit with a plague, he began to take very swift action to rid of it. He is shown to be very confident and prideful of his role as king, having suddenly become king and is very well known. “I, Oedipus, whose fame all men acknowledge.” (Sophocles, lines 7-8) He was believed to be the son of Polybus of Corinth and Merope, but it was revealed that he was King Laius and Jocasta’s abandoned son, who, according to the oracle of Apollo, was to kill his own father and be in intimacy with his mother. It was then unraveled that Oedipus was the murderer of King Laius, and was married to his mother, which caused Jocasta to kill herself and Oedipus to stab his eyes out and demand to be exiled.
Oedipus Rex is one of Sophocles’ most renowned tragic plays, first performed in 429 BC. Oedipus Rex, also known as Oedipus Tyrannus or Oedipus the King, tells the story of Oedipus, the King of Thebes. Oedipus’ town is under a terrible plague that is killing many and the people of Thebes call for their King Oedipus to save them from this horrible plague. Oedipus sends Creon, brother of Jocasta, Thebes’ queen and wife of Oedipus to find out how to rid of the plague. Creon returns and asks the King if he would prefer for him to tell him what he found out in private or in front of the public. Oedipus tell his brother in law, “Speak out to everyone. The grief I feel for these citizens is even greater than any pain I feel for my own life.” (Sophocles, lines 109-111) meaning that he cares so much about the people of his town that he would let them hear whatever news he’s about to hear at the same time. Creon then tells him that the plague will remain as a punishment until the murderer of Oedipus’ precursor, King Laius is penalized. Oedipus, set on finding the murderer and saving his town from this plague, asks Teiresias, a blind seer, for help, in which Teiresias tells Oedipus, “You are all ignorant. I will not reveal the troubling things inside me, which I can call your grief as well” (Sophocles, lines 391-393), foreshadowing Oedipus’ tragic ending. Oedipus, enraged, demands that Teiresias tell him what he knows. The blind seer then reveals that Oedipus is to blame for the plague because he is the murderer of King Laius and is married to his next of kin. Oedipus, shocked, accuses Teiresias of plotting with Creon to overthrow him and take his throne. Oedipus then threatens to kill his brother in law, but the people of Thebes and Oedipus’ wife, Jocasta, tell him not to kill over something that is merely a rumor, so Oedipus ceases, and then banishes him. Jocasta then begins to explains to Oedipus that her previous husband, King Laius, was told by an oracle that their child would go on to kill him, so they decided to abandon the child to avoid King Laius’ death. She then goes on to explain that Laius was killed by robbers in Phocis, which slowly begins to disturb Oedipus, as he realizes he may be the murderer after all. Oedipus tells Jocasta that he believed himself to be the son of Polybus, until one day, a drunken man declared that he wasn’t. He was appalled to hear this information, so he went on to the oracle of Apollo who informed him that he would kill his own father and have children with his mother. He then left Corinth and was offended by a man in Phocis, a meeting place of three roads, and killed the man and his servants, then went on to Thebes where he solved the riddle of the Sphinx, became King and won the hand of Queen Jocasta. Jocasta then horrifyingly realizes that Oedipus is her son and he killed her husband, King Laius and goes on to kill herself by hanging. Upon discovering Jocasta’s body, Oedipus takes out her golden hair pins and stabs himself in the eyes so he does not have the see the tragic destruction that has been caused. He then turns himself in as the murderer of King Laius and demands to be exiled from the town of Thebes. “Cast me out as quickly as you can, away from Thebes, to a place where no one,
no living human being, will cross my path.” (Sophocles, lines 1697-1699)
Willy Loman is the main protagonist of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. He is a troubled man, who is married to Linda Loman and is the father of Biff and Happy Loman. He is a very arrogant and prideful man, who stays mad at his son for years for not living the life he imagined for him. He is also very down on himself and his life because he is not as successful as he wanted to be. Willy Loman would be considered a tragic hero because although he isn’t of high status, his sons looked up to him as influential person and a hero, and because of him being arrogant and letting his pride get in the way, he ruined his relationship with his sons because he was upset that they didn’t live the life he wanted, and he suffered a tragic demise.
Death of a Salesman is a dramatic play written by author Arthur Miller (1915-2005). Death of a Salesman takes place in 1948 New York and tells the story of protagonist Willy Loman, a businessman who lives in New York with his wife, Linda. As the readers are first introduced to Willy, he is in a tired state of mind. He has returned home after recently having trouble concentrating while he’s driving and zoning out and becoming very forgetful of the traffic laws. “No, it’s me, it’s me. Suddenly I realize I’m goin’ sixty miles an hour and I don’t remember the last five minutes. I’m— I can’t seem to — keep my mind to it.” (Miller, pg. 5) His wife, Linda, has become very worried with his forgetfulness and has noticed that he’s been different lately after recently losing his salary and failing to sell much. Their son, Biff, who has been going from job to job as a farmhand making minimal money, has recently come home to find a “new direction” for his life, which disappoints Willy, who wanted him to lived up to his potential as a businessman. “How can he find himself on a farm? Is that a life? A farm-hand? In the beginning, when he was young, I thought, well, a young man, it’s good for him to tramp around, take a lot of different jobs. But it’s more than ten years now and he has yet to make thirty-five dollars a week!” (Miller, pg. 7) Biff then explains to his brother, Happy, who does have a job and his own apartment, that he feels more content by farm work than he ever did in an office. They also discuss their childhood and Biff and their father’s strained relationship because of him not living the life Willy imagined for him. Willy has been angry with Biff for years because of he is too arrogant to realize that Biff is in charge of his own life and he does not have to live the life that Willy wanted for him. Willy is upset as he sees his neighbor, Charley, who is very successful and his son, Bernard, a man serious about his studies, and compares him and his sons to them, realizing that they lack the attitude and motivation that those two have, and that’s why they aren’t successful. Linda and Willy discuss their shortage of money and Willy discusses his lack of confidence in himself. Linda then goes on to tell the boys about their father’s mental state and how he isn’t himself lately and reveals to them about how he tried to commit suicide multiple times; once from crashing his car and once from inhaling gas through a rubber hose. The boys then start to feel bad, after hearing about their father’s mental state and agree to change and try to live up to his potential to please Willy. The boys then make dinner plans with Willy to tell them the good news about Biff finally becoming a salesman, but Willy, upon sitting at the table, admits to them that he has lost his job. The boys try to comfort him and tell him the news but Willy’s pride gets in the way and he refuses to listen, and Biff starts to yell at him. He tells him that he never will live up to the life that Willy imagined, neither of them will ever fulfill that “American dream” that WIlly longed for and that he should just give up on that. Willy, after hearing Biff’s speech, realizes that it is true, and drives himself away to his death. His family received his life insurance money of $20,000 and their house is now paid off, but now there is no one to live in it.
In conclusion, although both characters are not of the same status, they share the same fatal flaw that led them to their tragic endings, arrogance/pride. In Oedipus’ case, his pride constantly got in the way of his life and it cause him his ultimate ruin, finding out that he murdered his father and killed his mother, and stabbing his eyes out and being exiled. In Willy Loman’s case, his pride got in the way of his relationship with his sons, who looked up to him as a hero and a good influence, and he refused to fix things, leading him to Biff’s ultimate speech and him driving himself away to his death. To many, Willy Loman is not considered a tragic hero because he was not necessarily a person of high status, but Willy Loman shares characteristics that can be seen by Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero, that makes him a tragic hero.