Things fall Apart and Okonkwo; A Classic Greek Tragedy and Tragic Hero

Okonkwo, like the tragic hero's of Greek myth, was driven by a personal flaw which motivated his life decisions. He always had to be superior to others because "his life was

A tragic hero is a character whose judgement ultimately leads to their own destruction. In the book “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo is a character who meets the standards of a tragic hero. In “Things Fall Apart,” Christian missionaries from Europe come to various villages to teach them about God and Christianity. Okonkwo’s village is one of the visited areas, and the missionaries are given land in the Evil Forest to build their churches. Okonkwo fears being like his father and is one of the most respected men in Umuofia. He wants to be seen as prideful, confident, and strong. This ends up being one of his downfalls, as it leads him to violence and intense anger outbursts. Okonkwo is a tragic hero because of his errors in judgement and his courageous meeting with death.

A tragic hero is a character that performs courageous actions but develops a tragic flaw as they move on with their lives. The effects of the flaw begin to increase and the character usually makes unwise choices. It often leads to his downfall or even death. In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is depicted as a tragic hero. He lived a life full of contradiction. He desired to be successful and achieve everything he wanted but he ended up committing suicide. The author develops a story in which Okonkwo has to make a lot of decisions and sometimes he makes the wrong choices without himself knowing, which eventually causes his own death. He is a tragic hero in the story for the sacrifices

In the book Things Fall apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo is a high status ruler in the village of Umuofia. Although he is very respected throughout the village, he has many flaws that make him a tragic hero. A tragic hero is described as a character who is a high ruler of a society. They are not thoroughly good or bad, but in a sense are better than everyone. Tragic heroes usually have a tragic flaw that they realize when it is already too late. Okonkwo has many of these characteristics. He is a high ruler of society who thinks he is better than everyone, and has a tragic flaw of being afraid of weakness, which he realizes when it is too late.

A character with a tragic flaw is one who consistently makes a particular error in their actions and this eventually leads to their doom. Okonkwo, a perfect tragic character, is driven by his fear of unmanliness, which causes him to act harshly toward his fellow tribesmen, his family and himself. He judges all people by how manly they act. In Okonkwo’s eyes a man is a violent, hard working, wealthy person and anyone who does not meet these standards he considers weak.

In the novel Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is portrayed as a respected and determined individual whose fatal flaw eventually works against him. Throughout the novel the readers are shown that Okonkwo has many of these Characteristics because he is obsessed with the idea of becoming just like his father. This becomes his flaw in the novel that puts him into exile and makes it hard for him to adjust to the changes that were made with in his village.

Answer: In Chinua Achebe’s novel “Things Fall Apart” Okonkwo is a tragic hero. Aristotle’s Poetics defines a Tragic Hero as a good man of high status who displays a tragic flaw ‘hamartia’ and experiences a dramatic reversal ‘peripeteia’, as well as an intense moment of recognition ‘anagnorisis’. Okonkwo is a leader and hardworking member of the Igbo community of Umuofia whose tragic flaw is his great fear of weakness and failure. Okonkwo’s fall from grace in the Igbo community and eventual suicide, makes Okonkwo a tragic hero by Aristotle’s definition.

The book Things Fall Apart, has a main character named Okonkwo who fulfills Aristotle’s definition of tragedy. In the book, Okonkwo is born into a family that is not known for doing anything to set themselves apart in the Umuofia clan, a lower Nigerian tribe, consisting of 9 connected villages. In fact, when he grows up he makes a promise to himself that he wants to be the complete opposite of his father who died leaving many village debts unsettled. When Okonkwo grew up he became a well respected warrior,

Tragic heroes are literary characters whose actions and judgment errors inescapably lead to their own self-destruction. In the book, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, our tragic hero is Okonkwo. Okonkwo is a man whose biggest fear is being like his father, meaning to be a failure. His actions usually consist of an aggressive, turbulent temper. Even though he appears to be a bad man (personality wise), we can say he’s pretty hardworking and determined. His biggest judgment error in this book, led to his own self-destruction, was killing Ikemefuna, a boy from another village who was sent to Umuofia in the result of a crime that was committed. Even though the killing of Ikemefuna was an accident, this part of the story was the first step to take us

Anyone one could go around and call themselves a tragic hero just for fun, but it doesn’t mean the same thing as actually being one, meaning that you can’t become a tragic hero until you see your own downfall. In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo, the main character, had started with a bad reputation which caused him to grow up and earn great titles, face troubles due to christian missionaries, and later, face his own downfall. Okonkwo is a tragic hero because his choices not only led to his downfall, but also because he had no way of changing that events that were going to happen.

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.

In conclusion, Okonkwo exemplifies Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero. His character has many tragic flaws, including, fear of weakness, hubris, and his work ethic, which in the end lead to his death. His life and death provoke pity and fear for the audience. Okonkwo becomes noble and is a great leader overall in the story. In the end, Chinua Achebe has shown an expressive character that evidently can be called a tragic

In his poetic, a tragic hero cannot be an eminently good man. The suffering of such a man will be shocking. The tragic hero neither can be a bad man nor a villain. According to Aristotle, “The tragic hero is a man who is not eminently good and just, yet whose misfortune is bought about not by voice, but by the some error of judgement” (Aristotle, 1978). The misfortune of such a man will lead to downfall. In Things fall Apart, the main protagonist Okonkwo is considered as tragic hero and he has the all the noble characters. Oknokwo was very successful and renowned in his community. He was the leader of Ibo society and he was also a famous wrestler and successful farmer. With these characters of successful in many ways, he was very wealthy man, hold a high position in the community, he had three wives, and is also best wrestler and worrier. He also rules his family with

A tragic hero is a hero who goes though a lot of things. Okonkwo is a tragic hero because is important in his society and he meets death of choices with courage. In things fall apart Okonkwo gets a lot of fame because he has three titles and three barns of yams.

In Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, the main character, Okonkwo, serves as a tragic hero. A tragic hero, as defined by Aristotle, is a great character who makes a judgement error that inevitably leads to his or her’s own downfall. By the end of the novel, Okonkwo’s downfall can be seen when he ends up taking his own life. On one hand, some may argue that Okonkwo was merely a victim of fate. On the other hand, others may also argue that Okonkwo was responsible for his own downfall. I believe that Okonkwo, like all tragic heroes, was ultimately responsible for his own death.