...The True Tragic Hero of Antigone Since early Greek and Roman times, authors havecreated stories following the life of a tragic hero. Tragic heroes, though they are noble, have a hamartia, or a fatal flaw that causes their inevitable downfall. Sophocles utilizes the role of tragic hero to develop the theme of pride in Anitigone. The protagonist of the play is repeatedly misconceived because Sophocles develops the roles of multiple characters into ones that could be interpreted as a tragic hero. Creon is a member of the royal family of Thebes who becomes king. In assuming this role of immense power and responsibility, he faces misfortunes that lead him to tragedy. The often-misunderstood Creon is the true tragic hero in Sophocles’ play...
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...A hero is a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. In most cases this is associated with literary work to refer to a person or main character of a literary work who in the face of danger, combats adversity through impressive feats of ingenuity, bravery or strength, often sacrificing his or her own personal concerns for some greater good. A tragic hero on the other hand is a protagonist of a play whose story elicits fear and empathy from the audience. A good tragedy will evoke pity and fear in its viewers, causing the viewers to experience a feeling of catharsis. In Oedipus's case, he is superior not only because of social standing, but also because he is smart; he is the...
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...that enticing pleasure. With this being said, King Lear can be defined as a tragedy even by Aristotle, one of the most renowned masterminds on tragedies. Based on the Aristotelian principles for a tragedy, the ‘perfect’ tragedy must contain plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle and song. King Lear echo’s Aristotle’s concept of tragedy, as the accepted king with that disastrous flaw in his character and that evokes understanding of the audience. Shakespeare's play sets King Lear to be the ruler of Britain, where he is highly-esteemed by people below him in social status. His reputation corresponds with Aristotle’s definition of the ‘tragic hero’, who must be of noble blood. and considered great amongst their surroundings. The tragic hero, said Aristotle, should not be ‘a virtuous man brought from prosperity to adversity: for this moves neither pity nor fear; it merely shocks us’. Lear is a delusional victim caught in his own self-deception; his desires for power and genuine affection push him from direct order and power into over-the-edge chaos. King Lear shows his first sign of quenching for affection when he requests that his three daughters to express how much they love him before he gives away his rule, and duties of his kingdom so that all the kingdom’s problems shall decimate. "Tell me, my daughters,- / Since now we will divest us[give away] both of rule, / Interest of territory, cares of state,- / Which of you shall we say doth love us [King Lear] most...
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...Christian Lescznske Professor Larkin ELIT2055-B 31 March 2014 The Hero’s Journey: Comparing and Contrasting Heroes Joseph Campbell was an American psychologist and mythological researcher. In his lifelong research, Campbell discovered many common patterns running through hero myths and stories from around the world. Years of research lead Campbell to discover several basic stages that almost every hero-quest goes through (no matter what culture the myth is a part of). He calls this common structure “the monomyth” (Hero’s Journey). The “hero’s journey” appears in drama, storytelling, myth, religious ritual, and psychological development. It describes the typical adventure of The Hero, who goes out and achieves great deeds on behalf of the family, group, tribe, or civilization. There are twelve steps, or stages, of the typical “Hero’s Journey”. The twelve steps are: The ordinary world, the call to adventure, refusal of the call, meeting with the mentor, crossing the threshold, a test, the approach, the ordeal, the reward, the road back, the resurrection, and the return with the elixir, or reward. As I previously stated, Campbell’s monomyth works best with the traditional form of the quest such as in folk and fairy tales, myths, legends, and other fantasies. However, it can be applied to many different genres or types of stories. A quest does not have to include swords and monsters. It can just as easily occur in the real world. The monomyth is ageless and universal...
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...or monster, in which case the depression was, since it was what society had to overcome as nation. The image of Superman was used to uplift society and showing what America should represent. Through the readings, heroes and monsters have general characteristics that are seen in people in modern day society. Looking at superheroes seen in comic books or movies, they have very similar qualities from their upbringing to their adversities as a superhero. Through “The Hero: Man Divided against Himself” it reveals the roles of superheroes and how most of them derive from Greek myths. It begins with showing the heroic pattern that heroes tend to follow, for example Superman or Batman came from a royal family, becoming an orphan, overcomes a near death experience and defeats the villain. These are a few of the many patterns heroes follow. The chapter goes on to acknowledge that these characteristics can be seen in. modern day people, like first responders during a tragedy or soldiers fighting on foreign soil. According to The Hero and Society (sub point), “the hero has unique gifts that allow him to excel at protecting human societies from threats to personal, economic, or cultural survival” (231). This expresses that heroes can be seen from many different perspectives to fit the heroic criteria. Furthermore, as well as heroic characteristics, there are monster characteristics that are seen today. In chapter five “The Hero’s Adventure”, Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers discuss how quotes...
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...“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power,” was once declared by Abraham Lincoln. Adversity, which is an unfortunate event or circumstance, is an essential term is Lincoln's statement. Another important term in Lincoln’s declaration is character, which means the moral or ethical quality of a person. Overall, Lincoln means that a person's true character is revealed when that individual is given power. Additionally, Lincoln implies that not many can stand up to greed and the desire for power. Finally, when Abraham Lincoln’s statement is looked under the lens of William Shakespeare’s tragedy Julius Caesar, it can be proven true through Shakespeare’s development of characterization, which is used in order to show the drastic change in Brutus's morals....
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...Introduction to Masterpieces of the Drama (by Alexander W. Allison, Arthur J. Carr and Arthur M. Eastman) 1. “The implications of such natural playacting are vast, for good and for ill – for good, because individual and social happiness depends on right acting; for ill, because misrepresentations, deceit, mischief, and falsehood can also be learned by imitation.” "Much of what we know we learn by imitation, by acting parts, by practicing what we shall say or do." Language, for example, is taught by making the learner repeat what has been said. Filipino children exposed to English cartoon shows tend to become fluent in the language used. Those who are exposed to violent shows like wrestling become aggressive, as a result of idolizing the characters involved. People tend to "copy" what they observe in their environment. What makes drama vast is the fact that "the essentials of drama not only inhere in social experience; in basic ways they determine it." Materials of drama were used, including music, dancing, and the reenactment of important deeds and occasions. There are five epochs in which drama flourished, namely The Greek Classics, The Middle Ages, The Elizabethan Drama, The Neo-Classical French Drama and The Modern Drama. Looking back at the history of drama, it can be seen that each of these epochs has its own contributions to the modern drama. The Greek Classics was the epoch in which drama has begun. The most influential playwrights were Aeschylus, Euripides...
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...Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Oscar de León, the novel’s tragic hero and helpless romantic, trudges through life as an atypical Dominican—“he wasn’t no home-run hitter or a fly bachatero, not a playboy with a million hots on his jock” (Díaz 11)—until he, contentiously, is the first to beat Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina’s fukú americanus. Two distinctly different caricatures of the true hero have been drawn by society, each sanctified by Hollywood films in its own right: the “superhero” who retains esoteric powers and uses these for the...
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...way. These television shows are a stark contrast from earlier, more problematic examples such as The Detective (1968), because they imply that gay characters are dynamic and even though they do experience low points, they can ultimately overcome adversity. It is important that content creators aim to write more complex and humanistic gay characters that are not just perpetual victims. This must happen so that the real-life martyrdom of gay men on the basis that they deserve punishment becomes less commonplace. Though multiple stereotypes plague gay men, the cultural work that the gay victim stereotype does is particularly harmful. This cultural work includes the normalization of depictions of punishment for being homosexual. In usual cases, the gay victim, disguised as a hero, is either sacrificed by society for rebelling against the norm, or self-sacrificed. According to Dr. Christopher Pullen, a senior lecturer of Media Theory at Bournemouth University, the victim stereotype was originally a solution to the problem of the exaggerated and marginalized gay character (Pullen 400). In his essay, “Heroic Gay Characters In Popular Film: Tragic Determination, And The Everyday”, Pullen also noted, “The problem of over-determining the gay hero as ‘victim’ is that the narrative focuses on the punishment and trial of the central character, rather than on the use, or compatibility, of the character in the larger narrative world” (Pullen 400). Thus, providing a fallacious focus on the stories...
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...television shows are a stark contrast from earlier, more problematic examples such as The Detective (1968), because they imply that gay characters are dynamic and even though they do experience low points, they can ultimately overcome adversity. It is important that content creators aim to write more complex and humanistic gay characters that are not just perpetual victims. This must be done so that the real-life martyrdom of gay men on the basis that they deserve punishment becomes less commonplace. Though multiple stereotypes plague gay men, the cultural work that the gay victim stereotype does is particularly harmful. This cultural work includes the normalization of depictions of punishment for being homosexual. In usual cases, the gay victim is typically disguised as a hero who is either sacrificed by society for rebelling against the norm, or self-sacrificed. According to Dr. Christopher Pullen, a senior lecturer on Media Theory at Bournemouth University, the victim stereotype was originally used as a solution to the problem of the exaggerated and marginalized gay character (Pullen 400). In his essay, “Heroic Gay Characters In Popular Film: Tragic Determination, And The Everyday”, Pullen also noted, “The problem of over-determining the gay hero as ‘victim’ is that the narrative focuses on the punishment and trial of the central character, rather than on the use, or compatibility, of the character in the larger narrative world” (Pullen 400). Thus, providing a fallacious focus...
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...2. Don Quixote de la Mancha The narrator designating these synonymous titles of lunacy to Don Quixote is in sound observation. Throughout the text he repeatedly exhibits his knowledge and research of the figure thus demonstrating his ability to derive to this credible form of judgment. Don Quixote very well can be deemed “a madman” and “crazy,” but the complexity of the character and his story forbids the reader from making a declaration in haste. Quixote’s existence in the socio-economic structure of imperialist Spain is one that draws empathy. Our hero assumes the role of knight errant to assimilate himself in a nostalgic past time: that of idealized collectivity. By doing so he sets to restore old-fashioned values in contemporary society for which he believes has been curdled and immoral in practice. The noble task, a primitive one, is juxtaposed with the modern ideology of the time and it is from the linear relationship between the two that the existential struggle of Don Quixote can be understood in its proper place. An important point to bring up at conception before the analysis goes deeper is the disposition of Don Quixote de la Mancha before he became a knight errant. His name was once Alonso Quijano, a retired respected farmer who was intelligent, decent, and perfectly rational. As an avid reader of books of chivalry he “went so far as to sell acres of arable land in order to buy [these] books of chivalry to read (Chapter 1, pg. 20)” and “when his mind was completely...
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...Who was William Shakespeare? Shakespeare is William Shakespeare, one of the English-speaking world's greatest playwrights and poets, who possessed a great knowledge of human nature and transformed the English theatre. Yet many facts of his life remain a mystery. Some have been acquired from painstaking looks at the records of the time, so that this summary is based on generally agreed facts. It has been said that we only know three things about Shakespeare: that he was born, married and died. He was baptised on April 26, 1564; we do not know his birth date, but many scholars believe it was April 23, 1564. His father was John Shakespeare (who was a glover and leather merchant) and his mother Mary Arden (who was a landed local heiress). John had a remarkable run of success as a merchant, alderman, and high bailiff of Stratford, during William's early childhood. His fortunes declined, however, in the late 1570s. William lived for most of his early life in Stratford-upon-Avon. We do not know exactly when he went to London but he is said to have arrived in 1592. There is great conjecture about Shakespeare's childhood years, especially regarding his education. It is surmised by scholars that Shakespeare attended the free grammar school in Stratford, which at the time had a reputation to rival that of Eton. While there are no records extant to prove this claim, Shakespeare's knowledge of Latin and Classical Greek would tend to support this theory. In addition, Shakespeare's...
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...Name Professor Title Date Paparazzi and Privacy Creeping cautiously through the tall grass in the jungle, she breathes with anxiety and apprehension. With this size and repute, she could stay full for a very long time; the family included. As she waits for the prey to show up its head, she steadies her head up ready for the big catch. A catch, perhaps worth a fortune, at least it will sustain her for some time. Seconds later, it becomes a perfect catch. The paparazzo has got what he wanted, that image, a photo worth thousands of dollars, or even more. Menacingly rude and pushy, these photojournalists earn their living through stealing images of celebrities. They hound and stalk a celebrity for the main purpose of taking their pictures and selling them to the mainstream media for a hefty sum. Just like the lioness hunts, so does the paparazzi. They behave in a similar way in all aspects: from identification of the target, up to the end of the game (death of the prey or photo of the celebrity). In short, they make their living by aggressively pursuing a celebrity for the aim of obtaining candid photographs for sale. The paparazzi are a jigger in the toe. Paparazzi do not care what the celebrities do when taking their photos, in fact, they rejoice when they get a photograph of celebrity in an anomalous circumstance. They plant spies in every joint in cities so that they can get information on their whereabouts.In most cases, waiters and security...
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...Sphinx, his hubris swells to a new level. This leads him to believe that he is capable of solving any puzzle he might face, including the murder of Laius. After Creon tells Oedipus what the Gods require, Oedipus states to what extent he will go to avenge the previous king, Laius, as he proclaims, “No matter who he may be, he is forbidden shelter or intercourse with any man in all this country over which I rule; … Expelled from every house, unclean, accursed, in accordance with the word of the Pythian oracle” (32). This quote develops Oedipus as massively hubristic. It shows this as Oedipus takes this distinct, simple idea that Laius must be avenged and drags it out. He makes a huge presentation in front of the city and blows himself up as this hero that’s avenging the previous king. This also marks the beginning of Oedipus’ journey to discovering his fate and his downfall. Another example of how Oedipus’ pride led to his downfall can be found in the words of the chorus. After recounting the events that led up to Laius’ murder, and after Oedipus realizes that he may be Laius’ killer, the chorus states, “Pride breads the tyrant; swollen with ill-found booty, from castled height Pride tumbles to the pit, all footing lost” (49). Oedipus’ hubris causes him to act tyrannical. Because he didn’t pay any attention to...
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...While most documentary films embrace a view that examines a person more or less from a biographical point of view, Robert Epstein and Richard Schiechen's documentary about the first openly gay elected official in the United States takes a somewhat different approach. The subject of the film, Harvey Milk, was elected to the San Francisco board of city supervisors in 1977, and proceeded to champion for the rights not only of homosexuals, but of underprivileged people in general, gaining popularity by appealing to minorities and working class folks. The story of Milk is one that demonstrates the power of the U.S. election system, one that serves the interest of the public when utilized to its fullest, and ultimately proves that anything is possible through perseverance and determination. Milk's story is truly fascinating. This openly gay man from New York state moved to San Francisco in the 1960s, becoming a figure in the counterculture and peace movements before expressing an interest in public office. While the majority of the public did not agree with some of his more outspoken views on the rights of gays and lesbians, Milk succeeded in winning over large portions of the public through his crusades for better representation in local government, interest in the livelihoods of average people, and dedication toward causes that he believed were in the best interest of all. In examining the legacy left behind by this pioneer of civil rights, Epstein and Schiechen's film...
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