These traits make the hero attractive and compelling, and gain the audience's sympathy. 'heroic'), and also feel responsible to the rules of honor and morality that guided Greek culture. It also meant that the character should be both capable and powerful (i.e. Be virtuous: In Aristotle's time, this meant that the character should be a noble.According to Aristotle, a tragic hero must: As Aristotle puts it, when the tragic hero meets his demise, 'pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune, fear by the misfortune of a man like ourselves.'Īristotle strictly defined the characteristics that a tragic hero must have in order to evoke these feelings in an audience. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle was the first to define a 'tragic hero.' He believed that a good tragedy must evoke feelings of fear and pity in the audience, since he saw these two emotions as being fundamental to the experience of catharsis (the process of releasing strong or pent-up emotions through art). That said, the idea of the characteristics that make a tragic hero have changed over time. Tragic heroes are the key ingredient that make tragedies, well, tragic. Here's how to pronounce tragic hero: tra-jik hee-roh The Evolution of the Tragic Hero Despite the term 'tragic hero,' it's sometimes the case that tragic heroes are not really heroes at all in the typical sense-and in a few cases, antagonists may even be described as tragic heroes.The idea of the tragic hero was first defined by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle based on his study of Greek drama.Some additional key details about tragic heroes: His reckless passion in love, which makes him a compelling character, also leads directly to the tragedy of his death. In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is a tragic hero.

Tragic heroes typically have heroic traits that earn them the sympathy of the audience, but also have flaws or make mistakes that ultimately lead to their own downfall. What is a tragic hero? Here’s a quick and simple definition:Ī tragic hero is a type of character in a tragedy, and is usually the protagonist.

Hero at the fall