Definition
Tragic heroes are people whose common, ordinary human weaknesses lead to their demise.
Difference cultures across different time periods may have different understandings about what a tragic hero is. In ancient Greek drama, as Aristotle defines in Chapter XIII of his manuscript The Poetics(335 B.C.), a tragic hero is a literary character of noble birth who, at the beginning of the tragedy, is highly renowned and well-respected for his virtuous and heroic qualities. Due to hamartia, ignorance, an error of judgment, or a misstep, the tragic hero falls to his/her destruction, experiences peripeteia, a reversal of fortune from prosperity to adversity, and goes through anagnorisis (a discovery or recognition of one’s erroneous judgment or mistakes). While tortured by immense pain and suffering, the tragic hero must show courage, dignity, and a nobility of spirit in the face of his/her defeat and accept...
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Tso, W.B.A. (2023). Tragic Heroes. In: Encyclopedia of Heroism Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17125-3_449-1
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