Open Prompt Blog (9/22)

2003: According to critic Northrop Frye, "Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divisive lightening." Select a novel or play in which a tragic figure functions as an instrument of the suffering of others. Then write an essay in which you explain how the suffering brought upon others by that figure contributes to the tragic vision of the work as a whole.

Essay LLLL does a good job sticking to the question asked and uses specific examples to illustrate how Jay Gatsby is a tragic hero in The Great Gatsby. By talking about Gatsby’s flaws and his beliefs that he is better than his station and that money can bring him happiness, Gatsby is clearly shown to be a tragic hero by the writer of the essay. Also by talking about Gatsby’s flaws, mainly his love for Daisy, the essay writer shows the audience how Gatsby also contributed to the tragic nature of the book, especially the downfall and demise of those around him. In another depiction of the tragic hero, the essay writer connected the character of Jay Gatsby to the time period in which he lives, even going on to show how his downfall was symbolic of his era’s downfall. The writer of the Gatsby essay did well addressing all aspects of the question, both the tragic nature of the character and how they led to the tragic nature of the story, and even went a step further and answered a question not asked: how the tragic hero’s nature related to the world around him.

Essay C does a mediocre job of addressing the question. While on a surface level the question, in its most basic form, is addressed, there is no real development of the argument in the essay. The writer seemed to just list off the tragic aspects of the play King Lear and King Lear’s “idiotic plan”, but never really went into a reason for the way Lear acted. In a way, it seemed that there really was no one tragic hero the essay focused around and really dived into; it was more like a few characters had some of the characteristics of a tragic hero, and any that did were had their moment within the essay (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but as there was no main tragic hero discussed in the essay, it detracted from essay’s quality). Because of the recognition of several “tragic heroes”, it was hard to see how the second part of the question was answered, how the tragic hero brought suffering upon the others and that contribution to the story’s tragic nature. After reading this essay, it can be seen that many of the things talked about were related to the character of King Lear, and if the essay had stuck with King Lear, it would have been more focused and could have been better developed. Overall, not a bad essay, but a bit unfocused and material, as the writer never really developed the argument.

Essay FF very weakly answered the question asked, barely even touching it at its most basic level. This essay, weakly, pegged Patrick Randle McMurphy, from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, as the tragic hero in the story and then barely explained why he was the tragic hero. Merely stating that a character had a flaw and a downfall does not exactly make a character a tragic hero. Despite a weak attempt at classifying a tragic hero, the writer continued on to list everyone who suffered because of McMurphy. The main problem with this argument was that in every example of suffering given, the writer also (most likely unintentionally) illustrated how McMurphy was also bringing joy to those leading dismal lives. One could possibly even argue that McMurphy didn’t really cause any suffering; all of the characters had a choice in whether or not to go along with his plan, but in the end they had all brought the suffering upon themselves. There was no development of any argument in this essay and one key part of the essay, the mentioning of the combine (and probably the best part of the essay), was thrown in at the end and barely touched upon. While it is possible that McMurphy could be illustrated and shown to be a tragic hero, the writer of the Cuckoo essay approached it the wrong way and so produced a weak essay that barely addresses the question asked.