Every piece of literature we consume has one factor in common. Influence. Cohesive texts will have a theme that a reader or audience can make mental connections to other texts with. This may be through how this text makes us reflect on ourselves or perhaps the genre in which the text is presented. A tragic hero is an effective character archetype that helps someone engaging with a text relate to the thought presented. Tragic hero’s were originally formalized by Aristotle. He conceptualized this outline for characters that could classify them as tragic. The most accepted tragic heroes would be those who are once great but during their peak, their excessive pride and other fatal flaws leads to a downfall resulting in all their fortune being lost. A tragic hero must also face a fate that is greater than deserved, this is often death or another calamitous situation. The point of having a flawed character who’s demise is inevitable is so audiences can reflect on their own human nature. As humans we are imperfect by nature through these characters we can see ourselves and understand the fault that we contribute to humanity. This realization creates a cathartic experience which helps us deal with our emotional build. Four texts that exemplify the idea of a tragic hero are King Lear, Citizen Kane, Gladiator and Game of Thrones season one. They are all significantly connected through the use of a tragic hero character.
Shakespeare’s King Lear is one literature’s classic texts that wears it’s influences from Greek Poetics on it’s sleeve. The texts shows it’s Greek roots by using Aristotle’s model of a tragic hero on the protagonist ‘Lear.’ Throughout the play we follow the story of an aging King who we know as Lear. Lear makes an executive decision to divide his great kingdom between his three daughters. In an attempt to satisfy his ego he presents his children with a prompt where they must express who loves him the most. Cordelia is truly the most loving and loyal child however she refuses to feed her father the deceitful affection that her sisters present which results in her banishment. Shakespeare intentionally presents the reader with Lear’s hamartia early on so we can swiftly recognize his hamartia. Hamartia is an essential component of the tragic hero archetype because it leaves audiences to reflect on their human nature. We realize that we could be very true that we are just as vulnerable to deceit as Lear is. The tragic hero character is a reflection of ourselves. We contemplate if we are just as blind. Pride is actually a common trait and often it can be confronting for audiences to follow a character like Lear where his pride is so essential to his downfall. It seems that one day he’s on top but through his wrath, through his pride, all the fortune he once encompassed, “A most poor man, made tame to fortune’s blows who, by the art of known and feeling sorrows.” Lear loses everything and it’s only once he’s lost it he understands how he fell so far. At the end of the day, Lear just wants to feel like he’s loved. That’s why when Cordelia refuses to falsely express how much she actually love him, “I love my majesty according to my bond: no more, no less” it’s heartbreaking for Lear to hear. He may be too prideful to realize what true love is, but just like us, he wants to feel loved. That’s what a tragic hero makes us do, reflect. We empathize with Lear and when we realize how similar we are to him, it leads to a heavy cathartic experience.
Shakespeare isn’t the only literature figure to utilize the tragic hero outline. Classic cinema’s ‘Citizen Kane’ is a contemporary interpretation of this tragic blueprint. Orson Welles tells a compelling story that reflects how humans can be lead astray with greed and he critiques the “American Dream” that so many people had became fascinated with. Charles Kane can be connected to Lear through his character structure as both of them posses a hamartia which sends them down an unavoidable spiral resulting in their nemesis. For Kane, aside from his hubris has to battle greed as his greatest vice. He always wants more. Even when he’s successful, he wants more market share in the newspaper industry. Even when he has financial power he desires political status. Even when he has the perfect wife he needs a mistress to satisfy him. That’s why during his rise to the top, he cannot maintain it. His greed causes his downfall. It all crashes. Kane is not too different from Lear, their fatal flaw blinds both of them, “there’s only person who’s going to decide what I’m going to do and that’s me.” Kane is so confident in his abilities to succeed, there’s actually irony in the fact that his personality was a key driver to his success but and even bigger driver to his peripeteia. This is why the “tragedy genre” is such an effective structure to present Citizen Kane, an audience will reflect on how fragile of a characteristic pride really is. It helps put the world into perspective, “you know Mr Bernstein, if I had hadn’t been very rich, I might have been a really great man,” here Kane shows self awareness of his excessive pride which in turn, makes audiences think about how there’s so much more to just recognizing our flaws, if we want a different ending to Kane in our own story we have to act upon our faults. So when we see Kane break down we feel pity because we could see it coming for so long and fear because he’s not too different to us.
With tragedy being such a popular genre of literature it ranges and innovates constantly. It’s first popularization came from Greeks and as discussed in Citizen Kane it was adapted into American media. Another sub-genre to create their own brand of tragic hero are the Roman’s. In the year 2000, Ridley Scott made a cinematic adaptation of a roman tragedy. In the film Gladiator we view the tragic rise and fall of Maximus, a once respected general turned slave. His connection to tragedy is true yet unique in it’s own right. The plot that revolves around him shows a rise in fortune and then a sudden peripatetic which comes as a result of his hubris. Maximus is yet again, a protagonist that falls victim of his own excessive pride. When Maximus has lost everything, he actually begins to have a rise in fortune, “Father to a murdered son. Husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next. Maximus is driven by this vengeance, he knows that he’s a powerful soldier and general, although this is indeed true, it doesn’t mean that he will succeed. At the beginning of the film he makes his crucial decision which causes this spiral to happen, he chooses to resist Commodus instead of join him. His pride outweighs his intelligence. As Maximus continues on his path to vengeance, his pride drives him more than anything, people around believe in him and he becomes delusional to the fact that he is only just one man. It appears that he believes that he can single-handedly take down the roman government. He lives by what Marcus Aurelius tells him, “Death smiles us all. All a man can do is smile back”, here such an enormous amount of pride is displayed and it makes his failure so inevitable. Maximus helps put the world into perspective through his tragic qualities, even someone as remarkable and honorable as him cannot take on the world, this same characteristic is shown in Citizen Kane, as he believes that he can do everything from business to politics to family but they both can’t juggle everything. Audiences feel a release understanding that we’re so insignificant in the grand scheme of the universe. If even Maximus is destined for failure, what does that mean for us?
The final tragic hero that I believe to be connected to the texts presented before is Eddard Stark, who was the protagonist of season one of Game of Thrones. Eddard is obsessed with honor, it comes before anything else in his life. Although Eddard possess high moral qualities, he struggles to see beyond them. He believes that everyone acts upon the same moral high ground as he does. Eddard is offered a position as ‘hand of the king’ due to his strong moral compass, just like Maximus, his great morals and pride take him to a place of achievement. But the refusal to compromise these believes both bring them to their peripeteia. With this new position Eddard falls more victim to his pride, “I am the King’s Hand, I was keeping the peace,” honor has been consumed by pride. Eddard believes with his new found power he is just, no matter the situation. However through his pride, he cannot see past his honor, and he gets falsely accused and thrown in prison. Here he is given the chance to spare himself, he is told he can confess to treason and he will be pardoned, the only condition is that he must give up his pride. This is where Eddard differs from Maximus, he actually accepts this offer, ” I am Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Hand of the King. I come before you to confess my treason, in the sight of Gods and men. I betrayed the faith of my King, and the trust of my friend, Robert.” The audience feels a sense of relief as Eddard has set aside his ego and can continue to live. That is until ten seconds later where his head is removed anyway. Catharsis here is so strong as our expectations from a tragic hero are completely subverted. We feel lost. Eddard seemed to have taken all the right step yet his fate is inevitable.
What makes literature so compelling is how we can view such a variety of texts that tell their own unique story, yet upon further inspection share many similarities. In King Lear, Citizen Kane and Game of Thrones, these texts consciously craft their protagonists to follow an outline that makes audiences reflect on themselves. We feels sorry, pity and fear when we understand why our heroes have fallen so far. We fear that we can relate to our protagonists so much. It’s scary to understand that we are not so different. That’s what a tragic hero does. Reflects our nature.