Tragic hero

For other uses, see Tragic hero (disambiguation).

Oedipus, a figure commonly considered a tragic hero

A tragic hero is the protagonist of a tragedy. In his Poetics, Aristotle records the descriptions of the tragic hero to the playwright and strictly defines the place that the tragic hero must play and the kind of man he must be. Aristotle based his observations on previous dramas. Many of the most famous instances of tragic heroes appear in Greek literature, most notably the works of Sophocles and Euripides.

In other media

File:Akseli Gallen-Kallela gesus - Kullervo Cursing - Google Art Project.jpg

Kullervo, a tragic hero from the epic poetry Kalevala by Elias Lönnrot, curses beasts from the woods to attack his tormenter, the Maiden of the North. J. R. R. Tolkien wrote an interpretation of the Kullervo cycle in 1914; the piece was finally published in its unfinished form as The Story of Kullervo. (Kullervo's Curse, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, 1899)

The influence of the Aristotelian hero extends past classical Greek literary criticism. Greek theater had a direct and profound influence on Roman theater and formed the basis of Western theater that continues into the modern era, deeply influencing a wide variety of arts throughout the world, in diverse mediums such as literature, music, film, television and even video games. Many iconic characters featured in these genres follow the archetype of the tragic hero. Examples of such characters include Anakin Skywalker from George Lucas' Star Wars films, Othello from the Shakespeare play Othello, Okonkwo from Nigerian author Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart, Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby, Arthas Menethil from the video game franchise Warcraft, Captain Martin Walker from 2K Games' third-person shooter video game Spec Ops: The Line, Eddard Stark from George R. R. Martin's novel series A Song of Ice and Fire and Daenerys Targaryen from the HBO television series adaptation Game of Thrones, Homura Akemi and Sayaka Miki from Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Kiritsugu Emiya in Fate/Zero, Itachi Uchiha in Naruto, Lelouch vi Britannia in Code Geass, and Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight.

Other tragic heroes include Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle in American Sniper and Macbeth in William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Macbeth.

Some film historians regard Michael Corleone of The Godfather as a tragic hero, although using traditional literary conventions, the character would more closely fit the role of anti-hero, not tragic hero.

Sources

• Carlson, Marvin. 1993. Theories of the Theatre: A Historical and Critical Survey from the Greeks to the Present. Expanded ed. Ithaca and London: Cornell UP. ISBN 0-8014-8154-6.
• Janko, Richard, trans. 1987. Poetics with Tractatus Coislinianus, Reconstruction of Poetics II and the Fragments of the On Poets. By Aristotle. Cambridge: Hackett. ISBN 978-0-87220-033-3.
• Pavis, Patrice. 1998. Dictionary of the Theatre: Terms, Concepts, and Analysis. Trans. Christine Shantz. Toronto and Buffalo: U of Toronto P. ISBN 978-0-8020-8163-6.