Hamartia in Oedipus Rex and Death of a Salesman

The word hamartia refers to a fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero,

The first characteristic defined by Aristotle describes someone who conveys an error in judgment, or hamartia. Hamartia is the downfall of a tragic hero caused by a fatal flaw. According to this description, Willy Loman fits the characteristic of hamartia because he had the inability to see and define success.

In literature a tragic flaw refers in plain words when the main character ends up dead or defeated a characteristic feature of the heroes of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories, “Young Goodman Brown,” “The Minister’s Black Veil”, and “The Birthmark”. However this concept is even more extensive and best explained in terms of “Hamartia”. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica that word can be understood as an inherent defect in the hero of a tragedy or a moral flaw, other sources point out “Hamartia” as an error in judgment or accident that may lead the hero to ruin as a result. From “The Birthmark” the reader can notice how the story starts with a happy romance

Hamartia is a character defect or flaw that brings about the downfall of a tragic hero, usually resulting from excessive pride or another virtue (Cook). In William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Hamlet’s hamartia is essentially his inability to act or indecisiveness, and inability to consolidate his thoughts and actions, which is often misconstrued as he holds on to his past. This flaw can be seen through his incapability of committing suicide, inability to come to terms with his father’s death, putting on a play to delay killing his uncle Claudius and the inability to kill Claudius while he is praying. It is obvious that Hamlet chooses not to act, and this is his tragic flaw. In Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman’s hamartia

He is considered a man of misfortune that comes to him through error of judgment.” The characteristics of a tragic hero described by Aristotle are hamartia, hubris, peripeteia, anagnorisis, nemesis and catharsis which allows the audience to have a catharsis of arousing feelings.

Oedipus displayed his faulty character throughout the play by showing how he is filled with ill-temper and pride, especially during his confrontation with Apollo’s blind prophet, Tiresias. He allowed his own hubris to take over him, eventually leading to his disaster at the end of the story. Now, some critics may argue that Oedipus did not actually go through a downfall in the play, but when looking back at the definition of a tragic hero, it can be seen that there are evidence to prove that Oedipus is a tragic hero.

Oedipus is one of the most famous tragic heroes in drama history. His bizarre fate leads him to a tragic defeat that leaves the audience and reader feeling emotionally overwhelmed. According to Aristotle’s definition, Oedipus’ story makes him as a tragic hero. Oedipus is the personification of Aristotle’s characterization of a tragic hero through his ability to maintain and keep his virtue and wisdom, despite his shortcomings and situation in life. Aristotle’s observation of a tragic hero does not reveal the lack of morality or the evil of the character, based on an error in judgment. The tragedy and drama fit the Aristotelian characteristics of Oedipus.

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,

William Shakespeare’s Othello is a tragedy focusing on the tragic hero Othello. A tragic hero is a character who is noble and good. However because of their hamartia, or fatal flaw, peripeteia occurs and there is a downfall. This downfall usually occurs through the hero’s free will. This is true in the case of Othello, his hamartia of trusting too easily cause him to make bad decisions, ruining his great reputation. It is evident Othello is a tragic hero through his background of high status, hamartia of trusting easily and his downfall through free will.

Both Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman similarly foster the effects of a hamartia in the protagonist of a tragedy through a theme of sacrifice near the resolution part of a story by including supporting characters that influence the protagonist in a similar fashion and introducing two tragic heroes with generally similar values that function as their hamartia, leading them to a fatal downfall.

Sophocles Oedipus the King is a tragic play which discusses the tragic discovery of Oedipus that he has killed his father and married his mother. The story of Oedipus was well-known to the Athenian's. Oedipus is the embodiment of the perfect Athenian. He is self-confident, intelligent, and strong willed. Ironically these are the very traits which bring about his tragic discovery. Oedipus gained the rule of Thebes by answering the riddle of Sphinx. Sophocles used the riddle of the sphinx as a metaphor for the 3 phases of Oedipus' life and to further characterized him as a tragic man. The Sphinx posed the following riddle to all who came to obtain the rule of Thebes: “What is it that walks on 4 feet and 2 feet and 3 feet and has only one voice, when it walks on most feet it is the weakest?” Oedipus correctly answered “Man” and became the king of Thebes. This riddle is a metaphor for the life of Oedipus. As a child man crawls on his hands and knees this is the four feet to which the Sphinx refers. Also, man is at his weakest as a small child. He depends solely on others for his nourishment and well-being. Oedipus was the child of Jocasta and King Laius who was taken to the mountain by a Shepard to be killed so the omen of the god Apollo that Laius' son would kill him and lay with Jocasta would not come true. Oedipus was the weakest of his life at this point.

Oedipus’ hamartia is his determination. The term hamartia is the greek for a tragic flaw or error of judgment. An example of Oedipus’ determination is when he goes to find Laius’ murderer. Oedipus wanted to find Laius’ killer so he could save the city from Apollo’s revenge. Apollo put the city, Thebes under a plague as a punishment for Laius’ death. Apollo wanted the murderers of Laius to be either banished or killed. The journey to find the murderer lead to his downfall. If Oedipus wasn’t determined to find Laius he would never learned about his dark past.

Many stories have tragic heroes that play a very important role in developing the story’s plot. The Gladiator and Braveheart are stories that have a tragic hero which shape the story. In Gladiator Maximus Meridius is the tragic hero, and in Braveheart, William Wallace is the tragic hero. Both of these tragic heroes comply with the Aristotle definition of tragedy, which includes their hubris, hamartia, and catastrophe. According to Aristotle definition of tragedy hubris is “true to life and yet more beautiful” what this means is that the person can be a very good person but they sometimes have a flaw which most of the times lead to their hamartia without them even knowing. Aristotle defines hamartia as “The role of the hamartia in tragedy comes

The tragic hero suffers from a character flaw, a moral weakness in character. The flaw is what sets his actions and what inevitably leads to his downfall. The hero's downfall is partially his own fault, the result of free choice, not of accident or villainy or some overriding, malignant fate. Oedipus seems to make important mistakes or some "errors in judgment" that set the events of the story into action. Oedipus flaw is his pride and stubbornness. When a drunken man tells him that he is a bastard, his pride is so wounded that he will not let the subject rest, eventually going to the oracle of Apollo to ask it the

In the Greek tragedy, Oedipus the King, Oedipus struggles to accept the truth and he lets his temper over power him. Throughout the tragedy, he displays all the necessary elements to be categorized as a tragic hero as defined by Aristotle. His refusal to accept the truth led to Oedipus’ downfall. A tragic hero, as defined by Aristotle, “is a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction.” Based off this definition, Sophocles’ Oedipus clearly exemplifies Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero.