A Grandfather Turns Embezzler Character Analysis

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,

For instance, he calls Odysseus a lazy beggar and tries to trip him off the path. This is an example of hubris because it shows his arrogance and how he thinks he is superior to the poorer people. However, hubris leads to fatal retribution, as evidenced in the next example. When Odysseus, his son, and their godly allies are killing the suitors, they think of a special punishment for Melanthius and Odysseus commands his men to “wrench Melanthius’ arms and legs behind him,/ fling him down in the storeroom-lash his back to a plank/ and strap a twisted cable fast to the scoundrel’s body.” (22.181-83). He is condemned to die by his king because of his arrogance and his horrible treatment of beggars which are forms of hubris. Although wicked people like Melanthius tend to demonstrate more hubris, heroes also have a handful of comparable

In “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe and “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles, both Okonkwo and Oedipus possess tragic flaws, which lead to their eventual downfalls, thus making both “Oedipus The King” and “Things Fall Apart” fall under the category of tragedy. This aside, these aspects of their personalities in these texts by Sophocles and Achebe are not helped by the negative twists of fate that seem to make the problems with their behavior more pronounced, thus more tragic in the end. Due—is the nature of fate as it functions in terms of tragedy and the tragic elements of both of these stories, both Oedipus and Okonkwo are partially to blame for their demise, but on the other hand, each of these characters possesses traits that seem to invite tragedy. The difference of both these stories is that Okonkwo bears more responsibility for his downfall than Oedipus, simply because he had more opportunities to change the course of his fate. Oedipus, on the other hand, despite his rash actions, is more a victim of fate than Okonkwo.

First Example where hubris is being shown is when the Hurricane had come and Tea cake beforehand had said that there was no Hurricane coming and that they should not worry about anything. However when the Hurricane had come Tea cake started to feel bad about not listening to Janie and started to apologize to her. He said “"Ah reckon you wish now you had of stayed in yo' big house 'way from such as dis, don't yuh?" (159). He said this because he thought that maybe Janie might be regretting the fact of marrying him, since she already had a house and was from a higher class than what he was.

A tragic hero, determined by Aristotle, must show a nobility and virtue of a certain magnitude however, their path to happiness should be ceased by their destructive vice (Harmartia- the flaw that eventually leads to their downfall). Peripeteia, the point where the character’s fortune changes, must evoke a state of pity and fear amongst the audience, and give above all, a didactic message. The outcome of this characteristic should result in a complex but sole instigation of both the hero’s

Hubris is excessive pride which is essentially arrogance however Willie is blind to his arrogance as he often treats people like judge with very little respect, thus this is shown when Willie is meeting with the judge and he takes a drink of the judges without asking,”Aw, have a drink the Boss said , and laughed on the red carpet”(Warren 44). This shows that Willie doesn't respect that this is the judges house, thus he treats it like its his own. Later in the story as the judge and Willie conversation becomes more intense Willie becomes even more rude and even more disrespectful,so much so that the judge tells willie,”Ill thank you sir, to get out of that chair and get out of this house!”(Warren 47). However instead of listening to the judge and leaving, Willie says,”Jack,” he said, “you were sure right. The judge don't scare easy”(Warren 47).

Tragedy can either be the darkest part of life for one person or it can be a learning opportunity for the other person. Of all the tragedies written in the literate, “Oedipus the King” written by ‘Sophocles’ is one of the oldest and the most prominent tragedy written till date. It is the story of the king, who is brutally left to die by his own parents, luckily survived, unknowingly killed his own father and married his mother. Although this story was written 2000 years ago, but it still has a great significance in the modern world. Of the most powerful tragedies of the time, “Oedipus the king” discloses such values and situations as parental aggression, child abandonment, self-confidence, ability to handle trauma, and parent-child intimate relationship that people are struggling with in today’s world. Sophocles reveals these behaviours and incidents through the actions of Oedipus.

Hubris is a very popular theme in Greek mythology. Hubris was a very important moral concept to the Greeks. Committing hubris was a very serious crime. Hubris is defined as having extreme pride or arrogance. Pride became hubris when it became all consuming or hurtful to others. Other actions that were seen as hubris were acting as if you were equal or more powerful than the gods, or trying to defy them. Hubris was a severe crime that deserved a serious punishment, and it was the downfall of many characters in ancient myths.

            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

Hubris, which can be defined as excessive pride, is also a trait which multiple leaders have or develop. Connecting back to the play of Oedipus Rex, it is seen throughout the play that Oedipus without a doubt is a proud man. While there is nothing wrong with being proud, to a certain degree, too much

In the Poetics, Aristotle provides an outline of how the artist is to portray or represent the perfect Tragedy. A Tragedy, of course, was nothing more than a drama, in which the characters appeared "better" than in real life (in a comedy, they appeared "worse," according to Aristotle). Aristotle's Poetics makes several references to other dramatic works to illustrate his points, but he most commonly calls upon The Odyssey to support his argument for how a dramatic structure should be designed. However, along with the Odyssey, Aristotle extensively references Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. Both poetic works were enormously popular in their time (the former had been passed down orally for generations, and the latter won the top prizes at the dramatic festivals). Therefore, Aristotle is comfortable using both to support his viewpoint concerning Tragedy and the Tragic Hero. This paper will analyze the standards that Aristotle sets out concerning the definition of the Tragic Hero and show how Sophocles' Oedipus exemplifies Aristotle's definition of a Tragic Hero.

Sophocles’ Oedipus is a dramatic play that deals with tragedy and comedy. Tragedy can awaken humans to the place of grasping hope and growth; Aristotle’s and Sophocles’ display an all-inclusive story of the tragedy of fate. Sophocles’ tragedy is an emotional story of a ruler who kills his father and unwarily takes his mother as his significant other. A tragic hero characterizes one who makes unwise decisions that prompts catastrophe overcome. Due to the prophecy that their new son would kill his father, Laius and, Jocasta, King and Queen of Thebes, gave their infant to a shepherd with orders that he be left on a mountainside to die. The shepherd, however,

At one time in our lives there is a moment that we may think of ourselves as better than someone or something else. There may also be a point when making a decision leads to a great error in judgment. In the play Oedipus Rex, written by Sophocles, both of these characteristics can be seen in the main character. These characteristics are known as tragic flaws. These flaws are known as hubris meaning excess pride, leading to overconfidence, and hamartia meaning errors and weakness in judgment. Both of these characteristics are the main reason of destruction and downfall in mankind and the tragic hero in this play. The tragic hero is unable to escape his misfortune that is destined to happen.

Reading through three related stories, we discover different motifs denoting author’s thought in different time.Without any doubt, the tragic essence goes through the Three Theban Plays. As Sophocles meditates the philosophy of the tragedy all along his life, the tragic essence expands from individuals in a society. The conflict in each play becomes increasingly complicated. In Antigone, we can clearly distinguish the conflict between Antigone and Creon, family and politics. However, in Oedipus at Colonus, the play merges all the conflicts happened to former plays and enhances the theme of the story. The later part of this trilogy, especially the ending of Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus, reveals a darker and deeper phenomenon of Thebes and projects it to Oedipus. The prophet plays important role of forming the story line and tragic image of Oedipus, but the root causing the series of tragedy of the characters is not gods’ command. It is degeneration of people, which is pathetic to humanity. Finally, after suffering from family complex and exile, Oedipus is not only a victim of the society, but also the reflection of the twisted humanity of Thebes.

One of the main themes in Greek tragedies is that through suffering there is knowledge to be gained. Greek tragedies focused on popular myths and beliefs, especially in relation to the mythical powers of the gods. The plays read in class show how knowledge is gained through suffering in relation to: the hubris and stubbornness seen by Creon in Antigone, the attempt of trying to change fate seen through Oedipus in Oedipus Rex, and the consequences of disastrous flaws demonstrated by the character Pentheus in the Bacchae.