Oedipus: The Tragic Hero (#3) In "Oedipus the King," Sophocles concocts one of the most famous and intricate characters of Greek drama. A tragic hero, Oedipus' desire for self-discovery and understanding inevitably leads to his tragic downfall. In the end, it can be seen that Oedipus' ...

The basis of Greek drama was a religious festival, which paid homage to Dyonicis, god of wine and fertility. Greek drama consisted of a protagonist, the main character, of noble birth whose life is full of happiness in the beginning, but ends up in agony in the end due to their tragic flaw or weakn...

Authorial InformationEuripides was born in 484 BC and took up drama at the young age of 25. At most drama competitions, however his plays came in last place until he was about 45 or 50 years old. In his entire life, he wrote 92 plays of which only five received first place awards at competition. Eur...

In the story of Antigone, an argument of who is the main character between Antigone and Creon exists. I firmly believe Creon is the protagonist of the play due to his role as the key figure of the entire story and being a the traditional tragic hero in the end. Creon ends up to be one of...

Although most readers would not immediately recognize it, a number of the so-called "Tales of Terror" by American author Edgar Allan Poe, born in Boston in 1809 and the youngest son of Elizabeth and David Poe. Jr., contain central themes associated with tragedy and tragic drama. With a det...

A tragedy is a play, story, or other literary work, which arouses terror or pity by a series of misfortunes or sad events. The plot is usually about the downfall of a great man. Many take it a step farther and say that the main character or the person who experiences the downfall brings it upon hi...

Hamlet\'s Delay Everyone contains a tinge of Hamlet in his feelings, wants, and worries, and proudly so, for Hamlet is not like the other tragic heroes of his period. He stands apart from other Shakespeare\'s heroes in his today much-discussed innocence. Is this supposed tragic hero may be an ideal ...

Death of a Salesman Willy Loman is a tragic hero in the drama by Arthur Miller's, Death of a Salesman. He has a problem differentiating reality from fantasy. No one has a perfect life; people deal with their personal conflicts differently. Some insist on ignoring the problem as long as possibl...

In Greek dramas, there is usually a tragic element. In Antigone, by Sophocles, Creon is a tragic hero. Creon presents himself as a good king until his two nephews die. One of the nephews, Eteocles given a military burial and ceremony, but the other, Polyneices, is refused any burial and placed untou...

Oedipus The King Tragedy lets people take a legitimate kind of pleasure while watching a noble man suffer. In this play Oedipus - the main character - is destined to kill his father Lauis and marry his mother Jocasta so his parents wanted him dead, the farmer was not able to let ...

In every Sophoclean drama, there is a hero of some kind. These heroes usually are the focus of the myth. Some examples would be Frodo from the Lord of the Rings, Jason and the Argonauts in the Quest for the Golden Fleece, etc. Characters such as Creon and Antigone of the myth Antigone are also great...

Tennessee Williams is one of America's most respected playwrights. He was one of the select few playwrights responsible for American theatre's 'golden age', and with works like The Glass Menagerie and Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, it is no surprise. Williams was born in Mississippi an...

Tragedy is defined as a drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw . This tragic flaw is inborn to the main character. The tragic hero must be noble, having a higher stature than most men, must have a ...

The definition of tragedy in the Oxford dictionary is, "drama ofelevated theme and diction and with unhappy ending; sad event, serious accident,calamity." However, the application of this terminology in ShakespeareanTragedy is more expressive. Tragedy does not only mean death or calamity, butin fa...

A tragic hero is a man who "... is highly renown and prosperous, but One who is not pre-eminently virtuous and just, whose misfortune, However, is brought upon him not by vice or depravity, but by some Error in judgment or frailty (hamartia)..." (Aristotle). As defined in Poetic...

The Greek drama Oedipus Rex is a tragedy. It meets the five main criteria for a tragedy: a tragic hero of noble birth, a tragic flaw, a fall from grace, a moment of remorse, and catharsis. Oedipus Rex meets the first of these five criteria. Oedipus is the son of Laius, who was king of Thebes. Even a...

A Comparison of a Tragic Hero from Euripides's Medea and Aeschylus's Agamemnon Tragic heroes from Greek tragedies almost always share similar characteristics. Medea from Euripides's play Medea and Clytemnestra from Aeschylus's play Agamemnon display and share traits common to...

Five years go Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller had its fiftieth anniversary. After fifty years it is still being discussed if Death of a Salesman is a true tragedy. Some people disagree with this thought and some believe that this is a tragedy. In a critical overview of this play, it states tha...

Over 2,300 years ago, Aristotle wrote his famous manual for contemporary authors. This guide, entitled Poetics, covered what aspects a tragedy should contain. Of these aspects, one of the most important points in Poetics made by Aristotle is what characteristics a tragic hero, the protagonist of ...

For many centuries people have found theater to be an excellent form of entertainment. The public's appreciation for such entertainment is based upon different theatrical themes. Whether it is a lighthearted comedy, that is most certain to lift anyone's spirits, a passionate romance, that stirs ou...

Iago and Macbeth Comparison and Contrast Tragic heroes are identified in many of Shakespeare's plays. In The Tragedy of Macbeth and The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice, a character is developed as the tragic hero. In Shakespearean literature, the tragic hero must possess a tragic f...

Things Fall Apart Tragedies are the basis for drama in the Western society. A tragedy is a dramatic narrative where a series of actions turn into disaster for the protagonist, or tragic hero. Aristotelian tragedies give the audience a feeling of catharsis--or a cleansed, happy feeling--in the conc...

Oedipus is a prime example of a tragidy, according to Aristotle's definition in the "poetics". Aristotle's Poetics is considered the first work of literary criticism in our tradition. The couple of pages in the book mainly describe tragedy from Aristotle's point of view....

Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is a tragedy whose theme is the tarnishing of the American Dream. We, as Americans, have been conditioned to believe that beauty and charisma constitute necessary virtues rather than traits, and that appearances guarantee success. But mos...

A Tragic Mistake Many elements are compiled to create a tragedy. These increments of drama consist of everything from the murderous villain to the fallen hero. One element that who significance may have often been overlooked is that of the "tragic mistake." In the other words, that o...