preview

Kennedy Is an American Tragic Hero

Better Essays

Kennedy Is an American Tragic Hero What makes a hero a tragic hero? According to the Greek play write Aristotle, a hero must possess certain character traits in order to be tragic. Aristotle’s rules are still used today when labeling a hero tragic or not tragic. Jack Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth president of the United States is a tragic hero, because he possess four of the six traits a tragic hero must possess. This will be proven through the use of credible sources and explanation of these four traits. President Kennedy easily qualifies for the first rule of being a tragic hero because, he was a man of noble stature and greatness. Kennedy accomplished noble stature and greatness before he became president when he wrote a …show more content…

He was on anti-spasmodic. He was on hydrocortisone. He was on testosterone. He was on a variety of antibiotics…He was occasionally on sleeping medication, and lots of pain killers to deal with his back. (Dallek, Robert). Such a large dose of different medications had their effects on the president, Kennedy took multiple drugs at a period of time when medical science was very much unaware of how drugs interacted with each other. Kennedy often had to take more medications for his medications, and he often suffered from depression and mood-swings as a result. Dr. Nassi Ghaemi, a Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine and a Director of Mood Disorders Program at Tufts Medical Center studied President Kennedy’s Archives and believes that the amount of steroids the president was taking had a direct effect on his ability to make decisions, stating: There is a correlation between JFK, the failure, and the overuse and abuse of steroids- and JFK the success and the appropriate use of steroids. Travell and another doctor, Max Jacobsen (who was injecting Kennedy with a mixture of probable amphetamines and more anabolic steroids) were giving Kennedy a major mix of anabolic steroids throughout 1961. In 1962, after a medical coup d’état – then Travell was displaced and Jacobsen fired – Kennedy’s other doctors, led by a White House physician, George Burkley, markedly reduced the president’s steroid intake. The president’s leadership,

Get Access