Every hero has a flaw. As the dictionary states, a “tragic flaw is a literary device that can be defined as a trait of a character that leads to his downfall, and the character is often the hero of the literary work. This characteristic could be lack of self-knowledge, lack of judgment and is often arrogance.” That said, every form of literature needs a tragic hero with a flaw to fuel the conflict. Tragic flaws add depth, realism, and drama to a fictional story. If we look at Macbeth from Macbeth, the grandmother from “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, and Peter Pan from Peter Man, we will see that they all have common elements, which make them vulnerable and have a tendency to create mistakes. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Within the play Macbeth, Shakespeare develops the concept of a tragic hero as the story progresses. Macbeth has multiple characteristics that demonstrate that his downfall was the result of tragic hero qualities. All tragic heroes have a fatal flaw or error in judgment that causes them to act in ways that bring about a reversal of fortune. Macbeth's fatal flaw would be his ambition. He would do anything for the throne. It is this mentality that drives him crazy and drives him to madness. It is not entirely his responsibility as it is the three witches who plant the seed of desire in his mind telling him that one day he will become king. Macbeth is convinced by his wife that for this to happen he must commit the murder of the current king of Scotland, King Duncan. He feels guilty after doing it, but then something inside him changes. Macbeth becomes anxious and decides that he must also kill anyone who may pose a threat to his kingship, this includes his good friend Banquo and the Thane of Fife, Macduff's family. Participation in these actions leads Macduff himself to raise an army against Macbeth, where they kill him and take the throne. Macbeth began as a noble soldier and Thane, but quickly became power-hungry and let his ambition get the better of him. Another example of a tragic hero is the grandmother in the story "A Good Man is Hard to Find." Like a normal tragic hero, Grandma is a formal and respectable old lady who still possesses a tragic flaw. From the beginning we see that the grandmother is quite self-centered and likes to consider herself above everyone else. She still has an old mentality that makes her almost live in the past and not understand what her life is like in the present. The grandmother's tragic flaw is her manipulativeness and her ability to think not to make mistakes. This is seen when the family is trying to discuss the family vacation they want to take in Florida. Grandma doesn't like the idea because she would rather go to Tennessee, so she tries all the time to convince the family that Florida is a bad idea. Once they're on the road, she spends all her time thinking about how put together and correct she needs to be. He then leads the family down the wrong path, but is too afraid to admit that he is wrong, which ends up causing the family to get into a car accident. The first person to come to the family is a wanted criminal known as the Misfit. The grandmother recognizes him and spends the whole time trying to convince him not to kill her while he takes her beloved family and has them shot. This demonstrates the grandmother's fatal flaw of self-centeredness as it led to her entire family, including herself, being killed. Finally, an example of a pop culture tragic hero would be Peter Pan from Peter Pan. Unlike most tragic heroes, Peter Pan is not dead, but.
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