Aristotle in the Poetics defines the tragic hero as someone who is neither excessively evil, someone who is rather like ourselves, who falls from prosperity into adversity because of an error and/or character falling. Discuss this statement with close reference to main characters from plays you have studied.
According to Oxford Dictionary, tragic means suffering extreme distress or sorrow, very bad or inadequate. Meanwhile hero means a person, typically a man, who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. According to Aristotle, tragic hero is a character of noble stature and has greatness, greatness, the character must occupy a ‘high’ status position but must also symbolize and virtue as part of his/her innate character. According to Aristotle also, even though the tragic character is extremely great, he/she is not perfect and the hero downfall is partially caused by his or her fault, the result of free choice, not of accident or wrongdoing or some superseding, evil fate. The hero’s misfortunate is also not completely deserved according to Aristotle. The plays that we had studied are Oedipus Rex by Sophocles and Macbeth by Shakespeare. Both of this plays character is tragic hero as in Oedipus Rex, Oedipus is the tragic hero and in Macbeth, the main character is the tragic hero. Oedipus is a tragic hero in Oedipus Rex because he is a king whose life becomes damage when he knows the actual story of his life. He is a concerned and caring king and his people love and trust him so much. But, he has a quick, hasty temper and he fails to think in some critical situations. What had bring Oedipus to his downfall character or best describe as tragic hero is when he know that he had killed his own father and get married with his mother. At first of the play, Oedipus become a king of Thebes because the former king was dead and people respect and praise him as he was able to solve the riddles of the Sphinx. Before he was a king, Oedipus once went to the Delphic Oracle because he was unsure who his parents are and he wanted to know the truth. The Oracle told him a prophecy that one day he will kill his own father and marry his own mother. Because at that time he was raised by King Polybus and his wife. He has no idea that they were not his real parents. To get rid from this prophecy from happen, Oedipus decided not to go back home again and thus lead him to his actual parents.
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The prophecy at last complete when Oedipus kills an old man which is his father and marry and older woman which is his mother. This is the beginning of character downfall of Oedipus. When the truth reveal, Oedipus blinds himself. This is because, when he knows the truth, he feels like he does not deserve to have eyesight as he cannot use it to see the real thing. Besides, before that Teiresias told that Oedipus has two good eyes but he does not see the situation he living in. Macbeth is a tragic hero because he was able to be the king of Scotland, and that is the rising of his character. He was able to be the king of Scotland because he had killed the previous king of Scotland. At the end of the play, when it had been revealed that he was the murderer of the previous king of Scotland, Macbeth is killed and there is where the downfall of his character and lead to hid degeneration. There are three factors which contribute to the downfall of Macbeth character. The first one is, the prophecy that had been told by the witches, the second one is the influence and manipulation of Lady Macbeth towards Macbeth and the third one is his long time desire to be a King. Cause by this factors, Macbeth character degenerate from a noble man to a violent individual and make him the tragic hero. The first factor is the prophecies that had been told by the witches that had lead to Macbeth character degenerate. The three witches told Macbeth that he will be the Thane of Cawdor, Thane of Glamis, and King of Scotland. Because of those prophecies, Macbeth becomes curious because in what way he will be the King of Scotland. Macbeth keeps on relying on the witches’ prophecy as the play progressing. The witches here act as the solution of Macbeth curiosity which corrupts his character from an ordinary man, to the man who obsesses for power. Next factor that contribute to the degeneration of Macbeth character is the influence of his wife, Lady Macbeth. At the beginning of the play, we can see that Lady Macbeth is a lovable person. But after Macbeth receive the prophecies from the three witches, the desires of Lady Macbeth to be a queen increase. At first, Macbeth was a nice person and never crossed in his mind to betray the king. Just because the prophecies he received, his attitude changed. Furthermore, Lady Macbeth is the one who influence Macbeth to kill King Duncan. Thus, he murdered King Duncan so he can get the thrown. This action of Macbeth had brought him to the downfall of his character. It was his first attempt killing people, however after kill one person, 2
and to cover up his wrong doing, killing people is the only way that he thinks can maintain his position as new King of Scotland. Next is long time desire of to be a king is what that had brought Macbeth to his downfall. Even though his attention to be a king at first is not strong enough to make him to kill King Duncan, however, caused by the influence of Lady Macbeth, he takes the risk of killing the King. The strongest influence of course came from Lady Macbeth who had convinced him about the witches’ prophecies. At first, Macbeth desire to be a king is not strong enough to push him to kill King Duncan. If not cause by the prophecies of the three witches, Lady Macbeth would not influence Macbeth to kill King Duncan and thus this will not make Macbeth long time desires to be a king suddenly conquer his attitude thus lead him to commit the murder. The downfall of Oedipus is caused by his dethroned from being a king because of his ignorance meanwhile the downfall of Macbeth is because he was greed to take over the power and overconfidence about the witches prophecies. The difference between both of the king is, Oedipus seems better than Macbeth. This is because, Macbeth is more evil compared to Oedipus. Macbeth aware that he had done so much wrong doing just for his own advantage and this is what had lead him to his own downfall. Meanwhile Oedipus, never mistreats those who work with him and he get the throne all by his own effort not by using dirty ways. The attitude of being so selfless is the factor that leads to his downfall. The similarity between these two tragic heroes is, Oedipus and Macbeth in both play is both of them is a tragedies. Sophocles and Shakespeare wrote these plays to give lesson for people that even you have a power, it does not mean that your life is perfect. Both Oedipus and Macbeth have a power, but they do not know how to keep it and they are kings who fall cause by their own faults due to inadequacies within themselves. Other similarities of both of these tragic heroes confronted and destroyed by a set of circumtances. Oedipus is destroyed by fate of knowing his true parents and Macbeth is destroyed by the witches and prophecies that telling him that he had been destined to become a king. As a conclusion, based on the plays that I have studied, Oedipus and Macbeth are both tragic heroes that at first gain respect from other people but when the truth reveals, the downfall of their character tell us that even if someone have power, but if they gain it illegally, or they use 3
it wrongly, there will be no guarantee that one the throne will keep with them. Both of the heroes give lesson that, power is not everything and it cannot beat the truth.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aristotle and The Elements of Tragedy (1991). Retrieved on December 5, 2012 from http://www.ohio.edu/people/hartleyg/ref/aristotletragedy.html Campbell, L.B., (1982). Shakespeare’s Tragic Heroes. Britain : Cambridge University Press. Macbeth-Tragic Hero (2007). Retrieved on December 5, 2012 from http://www.field-ofthemes.com/shakespeare/essays/Emacbeth3.htm Misra, K.S., (1992). The Tragic Hero Through Ages. New Delhi : Northern Book Centre. Oedipus
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