What is the difference between tragic flaw and hamartia

Oedipus has long offered the classic example of hamartia. At first glance the story seems to argue that we are all bound to an inescapable fate, a destiny beyond our control , and that it is folly to try to escape it, but a deeper reading reveals that it is the very same elements of Oedipus' personality that have made him a hero to the people of Thebes that will ultimately lead to his downfall; in other words, he has led himself to his own undoing.

Consider Romeo and Juliet as "star-cross'd lovers" ultimately undone by their own hamartia; although they are somewhat "doomed" by the bigoted Veronese social order, ultimately their own, impatient adolescent passions rush them toward death. If Romeo And Juliet were a medieval Christian play, or if it took place in Hebrew scriptures, we'd probably interpret their hamartia as "sin"; they have not honored the will of their parents and they have violated their communities' morals, so clearly they've been punished by God.

But Shakespeare's Renaissance view of tragedy is principally Greek, not Judeo-Christian, and we are left seeing their destructive passions, their youthful, idealistic, impatient love, as tragically beautiful. It is a painful beauty, but it is beauty none-the-less. And this is how we should approach Oedipus; fate, the will of the gods is a metaphor for the workings of both those social and natural forces beyond our personal control and the inescapable elements of our own psyches -- our own selves that both make us heroic and tragic, and thus make us beautiful.

At this point you've probably guessed the close link between hamartia and hubris, for what makes us great often leads to our own downfall when it is excessive. Youthful passion is a good thing , until it's excessive, and then it can destroy Romeo and Juliet.

So too Oedipus' intelligence and obsession with justice and finding the truth -- these are good qualities and they make him a good king, but too much of a good thing is going to lead to some mighty bad stuff. Tragedy is always ironic because, if you think about it, hubris is itself inherently ironic: our strengths may cause our downfall; our greatest strengths can be our greatest weaknesses.

Further, it is found in stories from the time of the ancient Greeks to the most modern narratives. Hamartia is used in tragic literature to propel the plot, deepen character, and make thought-provoking stories.

In the classic novel Frankenstein , the protagonist Dr. Victor Frankenstein succeeds in engineering a new form of intelligent life, usurping the role of God and nature.

Frankenstein's own creation rebels against him, however, after Frankenstein fails in his role as creator by rejecting and abandoning the monster. Hamartia in Frankenstein can be interpreted in a few related ways:. In The Great Gatsby , the self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby's misguided priorities and dreams drive him toward a violent death. When Gatsby chooses to protect the love of his life, Daisy, after she kills a woman one night in a hit-and-run, it is his devotion to Daisy which leads directly to his own death at the hands of the woman's husband.

It can be argued that Gatsby's hamartia consists of several qualities, all of which play a role in guiding Gatsby to his tragic end. Here are some:. As in literature, hamartia frequently appears in film, working to complicate characters and drive plots. In the musical Moulin Rouge! The film tells the story of a cabaret performer, Satine, whose talent and ambition to succeed as an actress are so all-consuming that she neglects to seek treatment for the illness that eventually kills her: tuberculosis.

So the tragic flaw that blinds her and leads to her death is the very thing that made her a great performer: her intense drive , her desire for fame , and her passion for performance. In the Mexican-Spanish film Biutiful , the protagonist Uxbal is a layered hero, sympathetic despite some ugly behavior.

Uxbal is a criminal; he arranges work in a sweatshop for a large group of undocumented Chinese immigrants. The workers sleep on the floor of a cold warehouse, so the good-hearted Uxbal decides to buy them gas heaters, opting for cheap ones since he has little money. When the heaters malfunction and cause a gas leak, most of the workers die overnight.

The fatalities are discovered by the police, leading to a raid on Uxbal's operation and the deportation of one of his vendors, Ekweme. Ekweme's deportation leaves his wife and child destitute, obligating Uxbal to provide for them. It could be argued that the tragic error was Uxbal's ignorance about the malfunctioning gas heaters, or that his frugality when buying the heaters is what leads to the lethal gas leak.

It might also be interpreted that it was Uxbal's concern for others , despite his moral failures, that brought about the tragic turn, in which case the "flaw" is in fact a positive quality. In any case, the repercussions are disproportionately larger than the flaw or error. In literature, drama, and film, hamartia is what creates tragic heroes. Further, it can lead to a critical discovery on the hero's part, and works to create complicated and relatable characters.

Hamartia is the ingredient that makes tragic heroes tragic. When defining tragedy in Poetics , Aristotle claimed that tragedy involves a reversal of fortune—specifically, misfortune brought about not by external causes, but by the protagonist's own flaw or error. The protagonists in such texts are tragic heroes , and hamartia is the flaw or error that sets into motion the actions or plot developments that ultimately lead to the hero's demise.

Without hamartia, Oedipus might not have rashly murdered his father or unknowingly married his mother and Western literature would be missing one of its most influential texts. Hamartia can bring about an important discovery for the story's hero. In tragedies, the term for this type of discovery is anagnorisis , or the shift from ignorance to knowledge. They spend time with the wrong people. The Greeks had another word for such a character failing, which was hamartia, literally "fault," failure," or "guilt.

In Antigone , the central character believes that her flaw is her strength, though it is actually her stubborn loyalty. Antigone's overarching flaw gives her strength to follow her convictions. She is loyal to her family and her moral convictions. The conflict is any kind of opposition against the protagonist's primary goals or desires.

Internal conflict is primarily within the protagonist: the main character could be torn between conflicting desires. External conflict involves some outside force coming between the protagonist and his or her desires. What is the difference between tragic flaw and Hamartia? Category: family and relationships bereavement. What is the purpose of Hamartia? Hamartia Definition. How do you use Hamartia in a sentence? How does Oedipus find out the truth?

What is Hamlet's tragic flaw? What is the root meaning of Hamartia? What is the difference between hubris and Hamartia? As nouns the difference between hamartia and hubris. One famous case is Lucifer from the epic poem Paradise Lost. John Milton uses elements of the tragic hero to depict Lucifer as a flawed, humanlike character who allows his jealousy and pride to get the better of him, causing his fall from grace.

But, he is still clearly an antagonist. As Aristotle argued, tragic flaws give characters relatability. These flaws allow writers to develop characters on various levels, create complexity in the story, lead characters toward a path of self-discovery, and cause readers to feel sympathy toward the characters. Readers may identify with the character on a more personal level, allowing them to care about the character or even fear that they are on the same destructive path.

As a key element of tragedy since ancient times, tragic flaws make an appearance in television and film. Using tragic flaws in different media has similar effects to its use in literature—story development, character depth, and relatability.

An example of a tragic flaw in film is Moulin Rouge! In the film, the leading heroine Satine is so passionate about her aspirations to become an actress that she hides her illness and pushes herself to the brink for the sake of her dreams, causing her untimely death at the end.