Santiago as a Tragic Hero with reference to Aristotle’s poetics(Hamartia)

Name: Dodiya Meghana JRoll no: 11Paper Name: The American LiteratureEmail ID: mdodiya26@gmail.comSubmitted To: Department Of English

Characteristics of Tragic Hero

• A hero who suffers from a tragic flaw that eventually causes his downfall.”

• A Tragic hero is the protagonist of a tragedy• Aristotle says that the ideal tragic hero must

be an intermediate kind of person,a man not preeminently virtuous and just yet whose misfortune is brought upon him not by vice or depravity but by some error of judgment.

What is Hamartia?

This word is first used by Aristotle in his work “Poetics”. Aristotle described Hamartia is an error of judgment or a mistake that was made by a character in a theatrical tragedy.

By Aristotle’s definition, the Hamartia, or mistake, could have been the result by any character. Often the character was ignorant of the eventual outcome of the decision.

One of the classical Hamartia examples is where a hero wants to achieve something but ,while doing so, he commits an intentional error and he ends up achieving exactly the opposite with disastrous results.

Hamartia

Tragic-flaw

Fact or circumstances

Hubris : Excessive Pride

An error of judgment

Hamartia of Santiago• Santiago as a Tragic Hero• His Hamartia : 1.) Not to change with time2.) Self-pride ; Hubris• He is not able to modernize

himself.• If you don’t change with

time, you are bound to be defeated.

Continue…..

• He goes alone to catch an 18 feet long fish Marlin all alone just to prove his pride.

• “You did not kill the fish only to keep alive or sell for food, he thought. You killed him for pride and because you are a fisherman.”

Continue…..• Most of the characters in the

plays of Shakespeare has some kind of Hamartia in them.

Hamlet: he thinks a lot before acting

Othello : Acts without thinking

The old man is the perfect embodiment of tragic hero.

He can be compared with these characters.

Conclusion

Like Every tragic Hero Santiago also has “Hamartia”. Santiago has two flaws which leads him to his downfall.

Being an legendary man, he must be content with fame but he is battling with his Reputation. This self-pride leads him to his defeat.

“Man can be destroyed but not defeated.” But if look Santiago as a tragic hero, then his hamartia

is the reason for his downfall.

Reference

• Google Images• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamartia• Vaidehi Hariyani FB Post:https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=208698592890470&id=100012509911324

Thank You