Aristotle Tragic Hero
Introduction
“A hero deserves admiration due to his inherent goodness. If he succumbs to unmerited suffering, he becomes a tragic hero.”_1
In Aristotle’s own words, “a man cannot become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall.” This statement gives the gist of Aristotle’s concept of a tragic hero. A hero must fall from grace and must be able to clearly comprehend the cause of his fall. The “fall” must take place due to an error in judgement that arises out of some flaw (hamartia) in the character of the hero.
“According to Aristotle a tragic hero is a person of exalted position who on account of some error or flaw suffers total reversal of fortune arousing feeling of pity and fear. The calamities befalling him are exceptional and unexpected, and generally lead to his death.”_1
The above definition describes a perfect classical tragic hero in the strictest Aristotelian sense. Such tragic heroes are there only in Classical Greek tragedy, for example, Oedipus of Oedipus Rex was the prototype of Aristotle’s tragic hero. That is why it said that …show more content…
Many readers have interpreted the character of Harry’s Portion’s (a magical subject analogous to chemistry) professor, Severus Snape as that of a tragic hero. Snape’s character swings with every book in the series becoming bad to worse. In the beginning, he is portrayed as an obvious villain because he seems to hold a secret grudge against Harry and goes out of his way to make life difficult for him at Hogwarts. As the series progresses the cause to the grudge is revealed, it is a sour relationship Snape shared with Harry’s father when the two were in school together. Snape has a reputation for pursuing Dark magic and was once a devout follower of the notorious
“A hero deserves admiration due to his inherent goodness. If he succumbs to unmerited suffering, he becomes a tragic hero.”_1
In Aristotle’s own words, “a man cannot become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall.” This statement gives the gist of Aristotle’s concept of a tragic hero. A hero must fall from grace and must be able to clearly comprehend the cause of his fall. The “fall” must take place due to an error in judgement that arises out of some flaw (hamartia) in the character of the hero.
“According to Aristotle a tragic hero is a person of exalted position who on account of some error or flaw suffers total reversal of fortune arousing feeling of pity and fear. The calamities befalling him are exceptional and unexpected, and generally lead to his death.”_1
The above definition describes a perfect classical tragic hero in the strictest Aristotelian sense. Such tragic heroes are there only in Classical Greek tragedy, for example, Oedipus of Oedipus Rex was the prototype of Aristotle’s tragic hero. That is why it said that …show more content…
Many readers have interpreted the character of Harry’s Portion’s (a magical subject analogous to chemistry) professor, Severus Snape as that of a tragic hero. Snape’s character swings with every book in the series becoming bad to worse. In the beginning, he is portrayed as an obvious villain because he seems to hold a secret grudge against Harry and goes out of his way to make life difficult for him at Hogwarts. As the series progresses the cause to the grudge is revealed, it is a sour relationship Snape shared with Harry’s father when the two were in school together. Snape has a reputation for pursuing Dark magic and was once a devout follower of the notorious