Shakespearean Tragic Hero: Tonya Harding As A Tragic Hero

Sophocles’ play Antigone continues the calamitous story of the Theban royal family, recounting the conflict between Creon’s authority as king and Antigone’s sense of justice. While many of the events of the play are certainly tragic, whether or not Antigone and its characters should be considered tragic is less definite. Aristotle’s theory of a tragic hero calls for a basically good character who experiences a fall due to some flaw or error, experiencing a transformative realization and catharsis as a result. When considered together, the traits of both Antigone and Creon come together to fulfill all of the requirements for the play to be a tragedy, but neither character can be considered an Aristotelian tragic hero standing alone.

Shakespeare's play, “Othello, the Moor of Venice,” is a powerful example of a tragedy and it’s main character, Othello, is an excellent illustration of what Aristotle constitutes as a tragic hero. The play imitates life through basic human emotions such as jealousy and rage. In addition, Othello is far from being a perfect character - another quality that meets Aristotle's requirements. Othello also matches Aristotle's ideas of tragic hero because our Othello realizes the error of his ways, causing us to feel sympathy for him. If we carefully examine the third scene in the third act, we can see how Othello fits into Aristotle's definition of tragic hero. This passage reveals how much Othello has deteriorated as far as his ability to reason

In order to gain a proper perspective on the concept of what a tragic hero is, we must synthesize information from the following play’s, “The Death Of A Salesman”, and “Oedipus The King”. Both plays takes the stance on the idea that validates the ultimate notion,  “tragic hero. From Willy’s hubris personality to his questionable and mysterious death, to Oedipus dynamic and complex choices and kingly personality that determines his fate. A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgement that leads to his/her downfall. In other words, even though both characters made incredible contributions and left a very noble legacy, their choices and decisions determined their ultimate fate. In today’s world tragic heroes are commonly present,

Amongst all of Shakespeare's tragedies, Macbeth is the most inconsistent and fragmented. Like the mental state of the protagonist, the tragic structure of the play is in disarray from the very onset. According to Aristotle, all tragedies must follow a certain set of characteristics, and the most important of these is the presence of a tragic hero. This tragic hero must possess a tragic flaw, or hamartia, which is a good quality taken to such an extreme that it now exhibits immoral behaviour from the hero. He must also draw sympathy of his plight from the audience. Macbeth, although the protagonist, is not a tragic hero because he does not possess this hamartia. This significant absence of a flaw leads to his actions being without

Most people would consider a hero as someone who has impacted the world in a positive fashion, but doing a single positive action does not abolish all of the bad deeds that a person has committed. The great philosopher, Aristotle classifies a tragic hero through the principals hamartia and hubris, meaning a character in a dramatic tragedy who expresses a tragic flaw and excessive pride, conclusively leading to their downfall. In the tragic play “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare, the main character, Macbeth is a considered a tragic hero since he represents the principal hamartia through his tragic flaw of ambition and he exhibits the principal hubris through his excessive pride.

Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher, defines a tragic figure as one who represents goodness, superiority, a tragic flaw, and a realization of their tragic flaw and inevitability. A tragic figure is normally someone of royalty, or importance, and also experiences a great devastation. A big flaw of a tragic hero is usually their pride. The figure will experience an ironic plot twist, where they realize things are not what they expected, and then are to face the reality of their fate. In, The Theban Plays, by Sophocles (translated by E. F. Watling), the characters Creon and Antigone represent tragic figures. In the play “Antigone,” Sophocles depicts the character Creon as a tragic hero. Creon portrays many characteristics of a tragic figure. His tragic story begins when makes the decision of becoming a hubris. A hubris is one who ignores the gods, and follows their own path. When Creon does this, his decisions greatly affect the fate of his loved ones; his son, wife and Antigone. Along with Creon, Antigone portrays a tragic hero in as well. Antigone’s tragic fate comes from her loyalty to her family and the gods. She chooses to stick to her own beliefs, rather than having obedience towards the king, and this was the cause of her downfall.

Aristotle characterizes a tragic hero as an individual of noble characters whose downfall or destruction is for a greater cause. According to Aristotle “tragedy is an imitation of an action of high importance… acted by means of pity and fear effecting its purgation” (Sophocles, 856). They do not have vicious habits, but they persist in following the decision they made whatever the cost. Aristotle also describes a tragic hero as a person who was born noble and has some mistakes that lead to his downfall. This is a situation that Aristotle refers to as Hamartia. This directly defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary to mean “tragic flaw.” Aristotle also suggests that a true tragic hero also experiences peripeteia. This is a situation where a sudden or unexpected reversal of circumstances or situation happens as a result as the hero’s flaws. (Webster) The tragic hero also engages in activities that increase self-awareness and knowledge. Overall the audience tends to pity and sometimes they also fear for the hero.

In his “Poetics,” Aristotle originally identified a tragic hero as someone who possesses an arete, hamartia, peripety, and anagnorisis. An arete shows human excellence or nobility in a character. On the other hand, a hamartia reveals a character’s major flaw. The tragic hero also undergoes a change in fortune from good to bad known as a peripety. Through the peripety, the character realizes his hamartia. In the Greek playwright “Antigone” by Sophocles, Creon, the King of Thebes is a tragic hero because he possesses all four of these traits.

Throughout my study of “Othello”, I have learnt of the many aspects of Othello’s character. He is noble and strong, yet he has many insecurities and is recognised for trusting others too easily. This causes him to obtain the famous title of ‘tragic hero’. According to Greek philosopher Aristotle there are certain characteristics of a tragic hero. These include a noble birth, a tragic flaw that eventually leads to his downfall, a reversal of fortune brought about by the hero’s tragic flaw, his actions results in an increase of self-awareness and the audience must feel pity or fear for the character.

In a recent documentary it was noted that anyone who proceeded to skate with Tonya would have to resign from the United States Figure Skating Association. The United States Figure Skating Association ostracized Tonya from the rest of the community. Tonya Harding’s relationship with Jeff Gillooly, was an abusive one, but she kept coming back to him. She says in interviews that he “always saying the right things to get me back, and I’d be stupid enough to go back and get beat up again.” Jeff Gillooly was not the only abusive person in her life. Her mother was also abusive. Tonya Harding came from an abusive family that did not have a lot of money. Tonya Harding could not afford to get private ice the same as Nancy Kerrigan did. Even after proceeding to get second place at the 1994 Olympics Kerrigan made many mistakes such as talking rudely about Oksana Baiul who had won first place that year. and the Disneyland Parade float she was on calling it “corny” and “stupid”. To today Kerrigan who was an ideal female figure skater was forgiven for her mistakes that she

In Remote Control, written by Sarah Marshall it talks about Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding, two well-known figure skaters, and their relationship at the 1994 US Figure Skate Final Championship. Nancy grew up in a warm kind-hearted family around her and felt the love and importance of being in a family. Nancy was admired and praised by being elegant “without being sexual, strong without being intimidating and vulnerable without being weak, and in the end she embodied no quality quite so perfectly as she did the set of draconian contradictions that dictated a female athlete’s success” (Marshall 283).

            To identify the tragic hero in Sophocles’ renowned play “Antigone”, we should first consider both the elements present in Greek tragedies and what characteristics define a tragic hero. Aristotle’s definition of tragedy is: “Tragedy is a story taking the hero from happiness to misery because of a fatal flaw or mistake on his part. To be a true tragic hero he must also elicit a strong emotional response of pity and fear from the audience. This is known as catharsis or purging of emotion.” In most cases the tragic hero begins

A tragic hero, as defined by Aristotle, is a man who is great but also terribly flawed, who experiences misfortunes while still remaining admirable to the audience at the end of the play. One of Aristotle’s favorite works, Oedipus the King, a play by Sophocles, is a play that above all others, defines the meaning of what a true tragic hero really is. In the play, Oedipus the King, the story unfolds after Oedipus unintentionally kills his own father and goes on to marry his mother. The events of the play are tragic, but it is the way that Oedipus handles the tragedies that make him a tragic hero.

Tragedy can expose humans fallibility and weaknesses. Traditionally, a tragic hero is established into three parts: hamartia, a hero’s tragic flaw; peripeteia, the change in the hero’s fortune; and catharsis, a hero’s tragic ending. In William Shakespeare’s Othello, Shakespeare illustrates how a General, Othello get manipulated by his subordinate, Iago.Iago tells Othello that his wife, Desdemona is having an affair with his friend, Cassio. Othello deeply believes in Iago’s lies, and kills Desdemona and Cassio. In William Shakespeare’s Othello, Shakespeare uses hamartia, peripeteia and catharsis to show that Othello is a tragic hero. Ultimately, through Othello’s tragedy the audiences learn that one’s gullibility can lead their tragedy.

According to Aristotle a tragic hero is not any normal man; they are born with outstanding abilities, and they all share a tragic flaw, known as hamartia. Two of the many tragic heros that share Aristotle's characteristics are the protagonist in Othello by William Shakespeare and Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. Overall, Othello’s and Oedipus’s already written fate and men’s will and words shaped their tragic endings.