A hero in tragic literature differs from typical heroes in legends and myths. While a hero is defined by dictionary.com as "a person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life," the requirements for a tragic hero are quite dissimilar. In order for a character to be qualified as a tragic hero, he must have a high status in society and possess hamartia, or a tragic flaw, which, initiates the tragedy. The fall of the tragic hero is not felt by him alone but creates a chain reaction, which affects everyone around him. Also, the tragic hero must experience suffering and calamity slowly, which would contrast his happier times. The suffering and calamity instantaneously causes chaos in the tragic hero's life and eventually leads to his demise. Finally, the sense of fear and pity to the tragic hero must appear in the tragic work as well. This makes men scared of blindness to truths, which prevents them from knowing when fortune or something else would happen on them (brainstorm.com, 14 Nov. 2003).
             King Lear meets these requirements of a tragic hero. As king, he held the highest position in his society (at the beginning of the play anyway). Lear's hamartia, his stubborn pride and anger, supersedes his judgment and prevents him from seeing the true faces of those around him. When testing his daughter's love for him, Lear values Reagan and Goneril's fawning over Cordelia's sincere sense of filial duty. Because of his pride and the need Lear feels to have his ego stroked, he initiates the tragedy by dividing up his power to the two daughters who don't love him, and banishes his loyalist servant and most devoted daughter. As a result of this tragic mistake, the rest of the play deals with the process of Lear attaining self-knowledge, or a true vision of himself and the world. The change is slow and takes place over four acts,...