3.8 Connections

As humans we are inherently flawed, our flaws may cause us to make mistakes along the way that can change the course of our future. We see this experience in Orsen Welles “Citizen Kane”, Shakespeare’s “King Lear”, Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” and Luhrmann’s “Gatsby”. These texts warn us of the dangers of human error. They force us to reflect on how blindness to human imperfection leads to their downfall. We as the audience can relate to the tragic hero as we reflect on our flaws, this creates a cathartic experience. Tragic Hero’s reflect human nature, they show us elements of ourselves. We gain awareness of ourselves and the mental fragility of our race. Through the tragic hero’s downfall, we often feel pity for our protagonist creating a cathartic experience. Each text is significantly connected through their tragic heroes, Kane, Lear, Maximus and Gatsby. Each of these characters are all flawed by their excessive pride which leads to their downfall and all end up lonely. Aristotle believes that there are 5 key points to a tragedy, hamartia, hubris, anagnorisis, and nemesis. Through these characteristics and experiences of the tragic hero the audience experiences catharsis, this is the purpose of a tragedy. As the audience, through the tragic heroes in these texts, we feel pity towards them through their downfall as the cathartic experience makes us reflect on our own lives and that our flaws could be the downfall of us. 

A great American tragedy is Citizen Kane, by Orsen Welles. Kane’s excessive pride and arrogance leads to his downfall and makes it hard to deny his role as the tragic hero in this story. This story begins at the end and shows the result of Kane’s downfall. We flashback to Kane as a young child and as the story progresses through the rising action the audience believes Kane will make himself into something great. Kane declares “You know, Mr. Thatcher, at the rate of a million dollars a year, I’ll have to close this place in… 60 years.” this quote sets the foundation for Kane’s hubris. It is through this quote that we begin to see Kane’s excessive pride. The trait of hubris is a key characteristic of a tragic hero. Excessive pride clouds Kane’s judgement in which he only thinks about his short term happiness. Kane’s hubris is his fatal flaw and will also be his downfall. His turning point is when he chooses his mistress over his wife and political career, demonstrating his inability to see past the short term material happiness his mistress offers. As Kane drives his wife away he recognizes in one moment that he has to face loneliness. The missing piece to his puzzle is what “rosebud” represents. Kane’s hubris leads to his downfall, once he recognizes what he has lost it is too late and he must face that he has lost his family and genuine human connection. His long-standing popularity and status through the rising action and his downfall as a suffering protagonist leave the audience feeling sorry for Kane thus creating a cathartic experience for the audience. His final fate is loneliness. Much like Citizen Kane, Gatsby is fueled by pride, arrogance, and naivety which clouds their judgment often causing them to make a crucial mistake. Gatsby’s hubris is also his excessive pride and love for Daisy. His pride clouds his judgment and causes him to make Daisy upset, this only pushes Daisy away. Both Kane and Gatsby try and buy their ideal of a perfect reality however, they both realize that they can’t buy genuine human connection and love and both end up lonely. Gatsby creates catharsis as when Gatsby dies he’s seen as a good man. Daisy never showed up to his funeral even though Gatsby dedicated most of his life to her, this makes the audience feel pity towards him. Both Gatsby and Kane are set in the same time period, many wealthy people during this time period were guilty of the same hubris. 

One of the most renowned tragedies is Shakespear’s, King Lear. Lear’s excessive pride and selfish decisions making eventually leads to his self-destruction and makes it hard to deny Lear as a tragic hero in this text. Lear’s hubris is set in this text as he declares “come not between the dragon and his wrath”. The characteristic of hubris is one we see in many tragic heroes such as Citizen Kane, Gatsby and Gladiator. Lear exerts his excessive pride in a crucial scene where he tests his love for his daughter “Which of you shall we say doth love us most?” this shows that Lear values Goneril and Regan’s declarations, he then divides up his kingdom to them, banishing Cordelia for her lack to declare her love. This is a clear example of Lear’s hubris causing him to make a mistake. Because of his pride, Lear feels the need to have his ego stroked, thus initiating the tragedy. As Lear is blind to the truth he can’t see that Cordelia is most devoted to him. Lear frequently struggles to see the true intentions of people and because of his excessive pride always believes he is right and doesn’t listen to those around him. When he comes to realize his daughter was plotting against him and the truth that Cordelia truly loves him he is too late. A guard has already been sent to kill Cordelia and is too late to save her life. Heartbroken Lear dies. The audience feels pity that Lear realizes his mistakes but won’t be given a chance to do better. Charles Foster Kane’s selfishness and inability to see past his short term happiness leads him to choose his mistress over his wife and political career. Lear makes a similar crucial mistake as his selfishness and blindness cause him to only see his short term happiness this leads him to bestow his wealth and power to his daughters based solely on how well they could flatter him with words. These decisions these tragic heroes make directly impact how the audience feels. Lear’s decision making based on his pride and love of flattery causes him to lose the daughter which cares most about. His final fate is to be lonely with no family before his death. Kane has the same final fate due to his pride and trouble to see past his short term happiness. Both of these tragic heroes have a fatal flaw which leads to their downfall and ultimately their loneliness and death. 

The clouding of judgment due to his excessive pride is also seen in Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator”. Maximus is fuelled by his pride to take power from Commodus as he seeks revenge against him which forces him to make reckless decisions that make the audience feel fearful. Like many other tragic heroes, Maximas possess the characteristic of hubris, his pride and stubbornness would not let him stand to see someone corrupt the empire he once loved. Maximum’s choice to set aside his morality to save his own life and his family is his fatal flaw and is what drives him not to join the side of Commodus. Lear also becomes fuelled by his pride and stubbornness when he decides to ask his daughters to declare their love for him, he is clouded by his judgement much like Maximus. “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the armies of the north, general of the Felix legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance in this life or the next”, this is much the way Lear becomes reckless when Cordelia rebels against him. How these tragic heroes act and the decisions they make leave an impact and influence emotions from the audience. Lear’s betrayal of his daughters and irrational decision making makes it easy for the audience to disagree with him. The audience has a cathartic experience towards the end as we feel pity at the loss of Lear’s loved ones and his realization that it is his fault. The text follows the experiences of Lear and the audience who begin with disliking Lear end feeling pity for him. Both King Lear and Gladiator establish feelings from the audience throughout the text, as this is their purpose. The audience must experience catharsis to have an emotional cleansing. We feel pity for both Lear and Maximus as they realize that the loss of their family is ultimately their fault, as their pride took over their decision making and were too late to save them.  

Luhrmann’s “Gatsby” Gatsby’s hubris is his fatal flaw which leads to his downfall. Gatsby’s hubris is his excessive arrogance and pride. He believes that he can go back in time and be with Daisy, despite not being of the same ‘old money’ and social class. “Her voice is full of money,” Gatsby returns to her with the wealth which he believes he will win back Daisy with. Gatsby’s hubris is his fatal flaw which clouds his judgement. As Gatsby returns to America with popularity and status he believes he will be able to win back Daisy. His flaw is his naivety, pride, and arrogance that he can go back in time to be with Daisy despite not being of the same ‘old money’ and social class. His love for Daisy clouds his judgement and essentially causes him to make a mistake which leads to his downfall. His original intentions were reversed when he began to argue with Tom, making Daisy very upset. Jay lost Daisy and caused her to become very flustered and upset, which is the opposite of his original intentions. He, therefore, realize that Daisy isn’t ever going to leave Tom to be with him, he can’t understand or accept this as he never worried about this he just assumed she would. The audience feels catharsis when Gatsby dies as ultimately he’s seen as a good man and the fact that Daisy doesn’t go to his funeral when he dedicated most of his life to her makes the audience feel pity towards Gatsby. Gatsby’s final fate is that he is lonely with no genuine human connection. Like Gatsby, Lear makes his decisions that will fulfill his happiness the most. Lear’s pride and arrogance prevent him from seeing the true intentions of the people around him and lead him to make serious mistakes in his judgement. Lear’s pride causes him to ask his daughters to play a foolish game, Goneril and Regan receive equal shares in the kingdom, however Cordelia’s refusal to participate results in Lear disinheriting her. Lear never sees that the sister are only power-hungry and Cordelia was truly the one who loved him. Like Gatsby, Lear and Kane have wealth and power. This causes them to have excessive pride and arrogance. Their mistakes are a result of blindness to the truth. We feel catharsis for Lear as he is unable to save Coredila, heartbroken he dies. The audience feels pity for Kane as he realizes his mistakes much like Lear who is never given a chance to do better the audience feel pity and therefore have a cathartic experience. Lear, Gatsby, and Kane all have the same final fate of the loss of genuine human connection and love leading to their death, as a result of their excessive pride. 

The tragic hero is what makes a tragedy. These characters, Kane, Lear, Gladiator and Gatsby all show the characteristics of a tragic hero. The tragic hero warns us of the dangers of error and forces us to reflect on how blindness to human imperfection leads to grave error. These characters allow the audience to experience catharsis which is the ultimate purpose of a tragedy. The tragic hero allows us to understand the danger that can happen when we have excessive pride.