Tragedy In Things Fall Apart Essay -- essays research papers

select the Aristotelian tragedy. It has yet to go the way of Eddie Bauer. In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe devised a sad African hero in Okonkwo, consistent with the classic stipulations of the figure. Thus, the novel--to its superlative practicable extentinherently existed as a tragedy on all levels to accommodate Okonkwo. To illustrate this, I will dissect and test the many factors that make Things Fall Apart an exemplary model of classical tragedy by Aristotles own towering ideals.First and foremost, the tragic hero must be of noble stature, occupying a high cast within the community, innately embodying virtue and majesty. Okonkwo distinguished himself as an exceptional wrestler, defeating Amalinze the blarewho had not been defeated in seven yearsand winning frankincense a reputation as a manly figure. In his family compound, Okonkwo lives in a chantey of his own, and each of his three wives lives in a hut of her own with her children. The prosperous compound also incl udes an enclosure with stacks of yams, sheds for goats and hens, and a medicine house, where Okonkwo keeps the symbols of his personal god and ancestral spirits and where he offers prayers for his and his family. Though the hero may be great, he may not be perfect. We must be able to identify with him, seeing him mayhap in others or ourselves. Having a notoriously short temper and an infamously uneconomical father rendered Okonkwo imperfect, one wh...