The concept of the tragic hero is a cornerstone of literary analysis, originating from ancient Greek drama and persisting through to contemporary literature. This archetype reflects a character who possesses inherent flaws or makes critical errors in judgment, leading to their inevitable downfall. Tragic heroes are typically individuals of high ...Read More
The concept of the tragic hero is a cornerstone of literary analysis, originating from ancient Greek drama and persisting through to contemporary literature. This archetype reflects a character who possesses inherent flaws or makes critical errors in judgment, leading to their inevitable downfall. Tragic heroes are typically individuals of high status or noble birth who are pitted against an insurmountable fate or a critical moral decision, which ultimately leads to a tragic end. This essay topic invites an exploration of how the tragic hero has evolved over centuries, from the strictures of Aristotle’s definitions in ancient Greek tragedies, through the complexities of Shakespeare’s protagonists, to the nuanced figures in modern literature.
Writing an essay on the evolution of the tragic hero is significant for several reasons:
It offers insights into how societal values and philosophical perceptions of heroism, morality, and fate have shifted over time.
This theme provides a rich field for literary analysis, allowing for a deep dive into various literary devices, character development, and narrative techniques used by authors to depict tragic heroes.
It encourages a nuanced understanding of human strengths and weaknesses and the consequences of our choices, underscoring the timeless relevance of classical themes in the modern context.
The evolution of the tragic hero offers a lens through which to examine different cultural attitudes towards fate, free will, and the divine.
By exploring the tragedies of these heroes, readers and writers alike are prompted to reflect on their own lives and the human condition, fostering empathy for others.
Literature Review Essay Topics
The Evolution of the Tragic Hero in Literature: From Ancient Greece to Modern Times
Feminism in Literature: The Waves from the 19th Century to the Present
The Portrayal of Family Dynamics in 20th-Century American Literature
Post-Colonial Narratives and Identity: A Literature Review
The narratives presented by both writers in “Prison Studies” and “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” both describe each author’s pursuit of literacy given different circumstances. In Sedaris’s account, he is illiterate in the French language, where Malcolm X struggles to learn English. Both are learning...
Childhood directly affects adult life as shown by brilliant psychologists such as Piget and his studies on developmental stages. Though childhood is a phase that all adults must go through, some which to stay carefree and young as does the narrator in Maxine Clair’s “Cherry...
Is the con artist entirely at fault? The artist only paints a picture that may well be very desirable, but the choice is up to the observer to blindly follow the artist in the need for a pleasing fantasy or not. In the John Gower’s...
“Six Characters in Search of an Author” is a play written by Luigi Pirandello (1921). When I read this play I felt that it does not have a well constructed theme or story. It is all about six characters who themselves calls as characters in...
The basic fundamental reasoning behind why anthropologist do what they do has not changed over the course of history. When we examine The Sparrow and Yanomamo we can see two separate cases in where anthropologist and Jesuits describe their first contact on field work. The...
When assigning the value of a piece of literature, what qualifies literature as being viewed upon as good literature would be its ability to appeal to the reader on a personal level. What further causes literature to be viewed as great is how that piece...
Alexander McQueen has grown to be one of the most popular designers this world has seen and his collections are still fascinating to the world today. His bizarre designs can easily intrigue or disgust any person but are the people who are seeing his work...
No matter who you are, there is always evil within everyone. In the fictional novel Lord of the Flies written by William Golding, a group of boys are stranded on an island without supervision. They try to survive on the island without any adult authority...
Introduction This novel is based on the experiences lived by Conrad as captain of a vapor Belgian ship, he is one of the most important writers of the finals of the XIX, and beginning of the XX. Conrad was Polish and he learned to speak...
The first sentence of the very informative and persuasive document know as Common Sense, Thomas Paine says, that just because there isn’t anything wrong does not make anything right. He also starts to explain how America will be an example for the universe and how...
Japan’s Cuisines: Food, Place and Identity by Eric C. Rath is a scholarly book that reveals the great diversity of Japanese cuisine and explains how Japan’s modern food culture arose through the direction of private and public institutions. Rath argues that by focusing on ceremonial...
Introduction Pandiyan et al, (2016) stated that literature review is a classification and evaluation of what the accredited scholars and researchers have written on a topic, organized according to a guiding concept such as research questions or research objective, thesis, or the problem/issues that are...
In the Tyrone family, they have been shown to argue with each other all day and night. We have seen how Edmund reacts to his father, James, when they discuss moving him into a sanatorium. James wants to bring his son to a local sanatorium,...
Zora Neale Hurston was an American folklorist and writer associated with the Harlem Renaissance that was born January 7, 1891, and died January 28, 1960, she was revolutionary in helping protect the rights of African Americans. She is known for ‘How it Feels to be...
Introduction A good childhood experience reflects greatly upon how you act as you get older, school life for a child should be memorable and should be able to apply the teachings to their own lives, but unfortunately, that’s not what Saul Indian Horse can relate...
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself has been broadcasted as the greatest slave tale to come from the pen of a freed black man. Douglass chronicles his life from his earliest recollections onward. Considering the manner in which...
Edward Estlin Cummings, also known as “e.e. cummings,” was born October 14, 1894 in Cambridge Massachusetts where his father was a noted Congressional minister and a professor who taught sociology at Harvard University. From early age his parents encouraged Cummings to devote himself to poetry,...
Through Bartleby the Scrivener Story, Melville has successfully portrayed an eccentric but also extremely pitiful Bartleby character. A character goes against everything normal just because he ‘prefers’. Made-to-order essay as fast as you need it Each essay is customized to cater to your unique preferences...
In 1892, feminist author Charlotte Perkins Gilman published her short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” describing an intense summer vacation for a woman recovering from mental illness. The story takes the reader through the narrator’s erratic journal entries of a three month stay in a rented...
In Shakespeare’s Othello, Othello is presented as a man of stature and distinction, so much so that others oft precede his name with the word “valiant” (1.3.50). He is someone who, despite prejudices attached to his skin, is found worthy of love from the fair...
Our society revolves around the question of what is good and what is evil. We usually characterize humans as essentially malevolent or benevolent. The world contains, however, a minority of people characterized by ambiguity, a unique emotional equilibrium that lets them be both good and...
Coco Fusco and Guillermo G?mez-Pe?a’s Two Undiscovered Amerindians is a bold experiment of a performance whose successes and failures stem from the same aspect of the show: its tendency to blur the lines between the audience and the performers. When Two Undiscovered Amerindians succeeds, its...
Human beings do not thrive in solitude. Every hero has a supporting team, and every protagonist must maintain a close group of allies in order to ever truly succeed. George Eliot’s Silas Marner furthers this idea that, although there is evil in the world, intimate...
Government is the basis of all modern civilization. If living under oppressive governmental rule was our only given option, would we be better off living in daily fear and distress, or would it be more beneficial to have no government at all? In James A....
The English Restoration significantly impacted the work of the artists of the day. As England moved from a monarchy under Charles I, to a commonwealth under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell, and then back again to a monarchy with Charles II on the throne, artists,...
Amy Tan’s “A Pair of Tickets” and Judith Ortiz Cofer’s “Volar” both use symbolism and distinct settings to portray the lives and feelings of two young girls that originate from a different cultural background. Although these girls are different in the way they lead their...
The beautiful Pacific Northwest serves as a perfect backdrop for Raymond Carver’s stories, full of recurring symbolism, underlying themes, and significant motifs, most importantly the repeated theme of water. Just as water plays such a significant role in the identity, culture, and nature of the...
Caryl Churchill’s play Top Girls, which appeared in 1982, depicts key themes such as feminism and oppression throughout history. Through the main character, Marlene, we are able to see aspects of individualism, as Marlene abandons her own daughter, Angie, due to her own career aspirations....
In western culture, it is taboo to be covered head to toe, excluding the face, in the middle of the summer heat, but this is a reality that Muslim women are quite familiar with in their everyday lives. The Muslim religion is very strict and...
Federico Garcia Lorca titled his “un-performable” play that “belonged to the future” El Publico. This name could mean two things: el publico, the audience, or el publico, he who is public. Both meanings are two sides of the same coin, the beating heart of Lorca’s...