Tragic Overture

between tragedy and dark humor. William Shakespeare’s Macbeth has always been considered one of the literary worlds most celebrated tragedies. It is arguably the darkest and most gruesome of his plays. The protagonist, Macbeth, is the poster child for tragic hero, “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” (www.dictionary.com). And until recently we were satisfied with that… At the Cannes Film Festival in

William Shakespeare was a very talented man known for his various works of literature. His works include poems, plays, and sonnets. His works are then broken down into tragedies, comedies, and histories. Shakespeare left this world centuries ago, but his writings continue to live throughout the world today. He has greatly impacted the world of literature and his existence will forever be remembered. In 1564, William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon (Hazell 32). It seems that Shakespeare’s

Beowulf as Tragic Hero By definition, a tragic hero is a protagonist that due to some tragic flaw loses everything he has. Throughout history, literature has always been filled with main characters possessing some tragic flaw. In Macbeth, Macbeth’s tragic flaw is his enormous ambition to become king. In Hamlet, Hamlet’s tragic flaw is his need for revenge for the death of his father at the hands of his uncle. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh’s tragic flaw is his need to be remembered. In

state and the state of their kings. Furthermore, there is also a relationship between Oedipus’ armed entrance into the bedroom in which Jocasta hanged herself, and Hamlet’s confrontation of Gertrude in her bedroom. Both plays share the emphasis on a tragic irony in the chain of events that lead up to ritual of catharsis, but the plot of Hamlet makes a much more complicated

The Tragic Fate of an Unrequited Childhood in Quicksand by Nella Larsen In reading Quicksand written by Nella Larsen one may come to the end of the book with a reaction much like…’what!’” Then, in frustration, throw the book down, lean an aggravated head back, and continue to ponder the books in its entirety. One may wonder how a promising life could end in such a sad way. Where did Helga Crane go wrong? What could she have done differently? Along with these questions, a reader may feel

Julius Caesar as a Tragic Hero      The Ides of March mean much more than March 15th, it was also the day Julius Caesar, the Roman general and leader was killed. Although this day is not a holiday, we should take time to think of things Caesar didn’t on this fateful day. In “Julius Caesar,” by William Shakespeare, Caesar that morning solidified his place as a tragic hero because of his tremendous fatal flaw. Aristotle once defined the tragic hero as a person of noble or influential

article, "The Christian Tragic Hero," Poet W. H. Auden defines a Christian tragic hero according to the Judeo-Christian view that all people are moral agents and own responsibility for their actions. One of his examples is Macbeth, who listens to the witches and is tempted to commit a crime that he knows is wrong. Auden says that the audience's response to Macbeth's fall is, "What a pity it was this way when it might have been otherwise." This contrasts with the pagan tragic hero, like Oedipus, who

Sophocles' Antigone is, at its simplest, a tragedy of conflict and misunderstandings. In the play, the laws of the gods are set up against the laws of man, and the two appear irreconcilable as the values are upheld by equally opposing characters, Creon and Antigone respectively. Indeed, Wilkins and Macleod decide that in Antigone `not only is there conflict, there is also a refusal even to recognise the other's point of view' (23). Thus Chorus significantly warn against the pursuit of extremes and

states that despite whatever one chooses to decide, the outcome of their choices and decisions will still result to their predetermined fate. Sophocles’ tragedy, Oedipus the King, demonstrates this statement throughout the play in the role of his tragic hero Oedipus. In the course of Oedipus’ actions of trying to escape his predestined fortune, his fate and flaws of being human played major roles to bring about his downfall. Oedipus’ doom was already predetermined by an Oracle at Delphi before

characterized as the tragic hero in the story. The argument that Antigone is the hero is deffinatly a strong one. There are many critics who believe that Creon, however, is the true protagonist of the play. In order to determine whether or not Creon is the tragic hero one must first examine what a tragic hero is. Aristotle states that a hero is neither purely innocent nor purely malevolent. A hero is usually born into high rank of society, and this person must possess a tragic flaw. This flaw normally