Tragedy and Tragic Hero
Remember that according to Aristotle, tragedies should bring about catharsis, which means a
purgation of emotions of pity and fear which leaves the viewer both relieved and elated. As the
hero/heroine moves toward disaster, pity is evoked because the audience does not feel the
hero/heroine deserves his/her downfall. The audience feels fear that the same situation might
come upon them. By experiencing the events of the tragedy, the emotions of pity and fear are
purged from the audience.
The tragic hero or heroine should neither be totally good nor totally evil. Because if he or she
is all good, then destruction makes fate/gods seem evil. And if he or she is all evil, the viewer
would have no pity because fate is deserved.
Aristotle said that hamartia causes a tragic hero’s or heroine’s downfall. Hamartia is defined as
a tragic flaw in a character. The most famous is hubris, which means arrogance which causes
the hero’s transgression against the gods. However, many scholars define hamartia as a tragic
error in judgment or choice.
Another quality of a tragic hero or heroine is that he or she experiences anagnorisis, which is a
change from ignorance to knowledge. In the Oedipus play, Oedipus’s anagnorisis is when he
discovers who he is and that he is married to his mother. In other tragedies, characters
experience anagnorisis when they realize the full consequences of their behavior.
Directions:
Keeping all of the above in mind, who is the tragic hero or heroine? Antigone or Creon? Defend
your answer with support from the play and using Aristotle’s ideas. Please type.