The Anti-Hero

The lecture on tragic heroes was both inspiring and motivating. Anyone can memorize and regurgitate the definition of  a tragic hero. However,  for me, a true understanding came through examples that I was  able to connect to everyday life. During this lecture, we were asked to think of current day tragic heroes, and as a class we came up with Jay Gatsby, Robin Williams, Caitlyn Jenner, etc. While studying a playwright like Antigone, which was written in 441 B.C., it was interesting to note the similarities between characters in the play and people that I am more familiar with today. Overall, I was able to understand that a tragic hero is doomed to make a serious error in judgment, eventually leading to his or her own downfall.  It is also important to note that tragic heroes affect the audience by making them feel pity or fear.  By creating parallels to current day, I was also able to understand that tragic heroes still exist today even in the postmodern era.