In "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald and "The Stone Angel" by Margaret Laurence both main characters are tragic heroes.

Essay by johncooldudeHigh School, 12th gradeA-, May 2006

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Argumentative Essay

In "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald and "The Stone Angel" by Margaret Laurence both main characters are tragic heroes and have a strong sense of dignity (pride) . You may ask yourself what is a tragic hero? A tragic hero is someone who has the potential for greatness but yet he or she is doomed to fail because of a certain situation they are put in. Tragic heroes become tragic heroes by decision he or she have made in bad judgment. Because of this judgment they are forced to live their life's with it. A great example of a tragic hero is Hamlet, he has the potential to be great but chooses revenge and in return dies because of it. Another strong component of both novels is dignity, they both have the same flaw (which is another characteristic of a tragic hero, a tragic flaw).

Dignity can be looked as a good quality in most cases but in the case in these two novels it is not. The pride and dignity allowed them the inability to display any type of emotion. Gatsby was not able to display his love for Daisy and Hagar was unable to display her emotions towards anyone in her family (primarily Ben) . People are drawn to tragic heroes because of pity, it begs the question what if? What if they were to make a different decision, would their life be that different? This essay will examine why Gatsby and Hagar are tragic heroes and what makes them similar and different.

"The Great Gatsby", what a great name. The name plays a important role in the novel as well as in this report. "Great" Gatsby it is such a epic name, much like Gatsby himself. He...