Okonkwo A Tragic Hero in Things Fall Apart According to Aristotle " a tragic hero is a character who is noble in nature, has a tragic flaw and discovers his fate by his own actions". By definition Okonkwo meets all the criteria of a tragic hero and although written thousands of years apart and in a different culture Okonkwo is comparatively similar to Oedipus in Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King”. Oedipus Rex is the ideal tragic hero of Aristotle (Barstow,1912). Additional criteria are provided by Aristotle to identify a proper hero for tragedy and descriptions of a tragedy; it is serious, complex, imitates good men, it must imitate feelings of pity and fear, appeals to the human feelings in us, the heroes’ misfortune must be brought upon by error
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Having not been born of noble blood, Okonkwo was the son of a lazy and wasteful sharecropper that left him without titles or inheritance. Known by Umuofia and its surrounding 9 villages as a noble man with high status (Achebe, 1958). Okonkwo gained his status by his actions and personal achievements, such as wrestling and defeating Amalinze the Cat and bringing honor to his village (Achebe, 1958). Through his hard work as a farmer, he is also able to acquire his status of wealth, by having a full barn of yams and three wives. In addition, he is chosen by the village to represent them in a conflict with the Mbaino village where he is sent after they murder a girl from Umuofia. He brings back a young boy and a virgin as reparation and he ends the conflict without bloodshed. In comparison Oedipus is noble by birth but becomes king by answering the riddle of the Sphinx and saving the city. In the first scene of “Oedipus the King” his noble and caring actions for his kingdom is demonstrated by his concern for the welfare of his people when he calls them children. He tells them “What do you fear or want, that you sit here10 suppliant? Indeed, I’m willing to give all that you may need” (Sophocles, n.d.). Oedipus is basically a good man attempting to fight against and avoid evil and fears doing
Having not been born of noble blood, Okonkwo was the son of a lazy and wasteful sharecropper that left him without titles or inheritance. Known by Umuofia and its surrounding 9 villages as a noble man with high status (Achebe, 1958). Okonkwo gained his status by his actions and personal achievements, such as wrestling and defeating Amalinze the Cat and bringing honor to his village (Achebe, 1958). Through his hard work as a farmer, he is also able to acquire his status of wealth, by having a full barn of yams and three wives. In addition, he is chosen by the village to represent them in a conflict with the Mbaino village where he is sent after they murder a girl from Umuofia. He brings back a young boy and a virgin as reparation and he ends the conflict without bloodshed. In comparison Oedipus is noble by birth but becomes king by answering the riddle of the Sphinx and saving the city. In the first scene of “Oedipus the King” his noble and caring actions for his kingdom is demonstrated by his concern for the welfare of his people when he calls them children. He tells them “What do you fear or want, that you sit here10 suppliant? Indeed, I’m willing to give all that you may need” (Sophocles, n.d.). Oedipus is basically a good man attempting to fight against and avoid evil and fears doing