Tyler Franklin
Sylvia Bennett
English 12 AP pd.3
December 23, 2015
Analysis of Kurtz and Okonkwo as Tragic Heros Aristotle’s Poetics defines a "tragic hero" as a good man of high status who displays a tragic flaw (―hamartia‖) and experiences a dramatic reversal ―peripeteia‖, as well as an intense moment of recognition ―anagnorisis‖ and Okonkwo and Kurtz, both of them are regarded as as a tragic hero. In"hubris"colonial setting but each with a different, unique style. In fact,-the same postm to the these two characters not only define the said term, they take the the path of doom and centered, desirous actions-elf next level through their actions, and each one takes is different.
Okonkwo is “a man of action, a man of war” and a member of high status in the Igbo village. He holds the prominent position of village clansman due to the fact that he had “shown incredible prowess in two intertribal wars”. Okonkwo’s hard work had made him a “wealthy farmer” and a recognized individual amongst the nine villages of Umuofia and beyond. Okonkwo’s tragic flaw isn’t that he was afraid of work, but rather his fear of weakness and failure which stems from his father’s, Unoka, unproductive life and disgraceful death. “Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness….It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.” Okonkwo’s father was a lazy, carefree man whom had a reputation of being “poor and his wife and children had just barely enough to eat... they swore never to lend him any more money because he never paid back.” Unoka had never taught Okonkwo what was right and wrong, and as a result Okonkwo had to interpret how to be a “good man”. Okonkwo’s self-interpretation leads him to conclude that a “good man” was