Aug 23 2008
heavy is the head that wears a dramatic crown
Throughout the history of drama the one major aspect has always been the tragic hero. A tragic hero has to be of nobility or royalty and has to be a virtuous person with a tragic flaw. During this semester we have read about four of these characters: Oedipus in Oedipus Rex, Antigone and Creon in Antigone, and Hamlet in Hamlet.
In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus’s fate is caused by the sin of huberous, which is feeling that you are as powerful as the gods. When the country of Thebes is plagued because the former king’s death has not been avenged Oedipus, the current king, says that the murderer will be caught and exiled because he believes his word is the word of the gods. He is not aware however that he is the murderer and that his wife is his mother and the king was his father. Upon hearing this, the queen kills herself and Oedipus is exiled.
In Antigone, Creon, who was Oedipus’ brother in law and has taken over as king, also is guilty of huberous. He doesn’t listen to anyone who tries to warn him that putting Antigone to death is wrong. He considers himself above all others and the result is the death of his wife, son, and niece. Antigone’s downfall comes from her defiance of Creon and her wish to be a martyr. In the beginning she simply wants to burry her dead brother, which Creon said nobody can do, but we soon learn of her ulterior motives.
In Hamlet, Hamlet’s procrastination is the cause of his death as well as the deaths of several other characters. The ghost of Hamlet’s dead father asks him to kill Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle and the current king, because he killed him. However Hamlet puts off performing this act until the very end of the play and as a result seven other characters- Polonius, Ophilia, Rosencratz, Guildenstern, The Queen, Laetes, and Hamlet himself- also lose there lives.
