— A
tragic hero meets his or her downfall through a combination of hubris,
tragic flaw, fate, a miscalculation, and the will of the gods.
— Hubris,
in modern terms, is exaggerated self pride or self-confidence, often resulting
in fatal retribution.
— Tragic
flaw (“hamartia“) includes accidents and mistakes, wrongdoing, error, or sin.
— The
tragic hero should be of noble birth—a ranking politician, military
figure, prince, king, etc. This produces the feeling of fear; if it can happen
to someone of noble birth, it can happen to us.
— The
hero should not be morally better than an average person. This produces
"fear" because the hero is imperfect like us, and we can identify
with him. It also produces "pity" because if the hero were
perfect or totally good, we would be outraged by his fate. If he were
completely evil, we would feel like he had gotten what he deserved.
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