I'm not sure that he has one. In order to have a tragic flaw, you have to be a tragic hero, and in order to be a tragic hero you need to be a fundamentally good character who is brought low by a flaw. One of the oldest debates concerning Paradise Lost relates to whether or not Satan can be regarded as a hero. I would argue that he can't be; the simple reason being that he degenerates morally as the poem progresses. There's nothing remotely heroic about someone who deliberately sets out to corrupt humankind through sin.
However, if after reading Paradise Lost you arrive at the conclusion that Satan really is a tragic hero after all, then you could argue that his tragic flaw is that he becomes too easily misguided. In turn, this is related to his hubris, or overweening pride, inflamed at being cast down from Heaven. But even if you sympathize with Satan, even if you think he has a legitimate grievance against God, it's hard to accept that he goes about seeking justice in the right way, by introducing sin and evil into a previously pure and innocent world.
Monday, February 8, 2016
what is satans tragic flaw
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Summarize the major research findings of "Toward an experimental ecology of human development."
Based on findings of prior research, the author, Bronfenbrenner proposes that methods for natural observation research have been applied in ...
-
The Awakening is told from a third-person omniscient point of view. It is tempting to say that it is limited omniscient because the narrator...
-
Roger is referred to as the "dark boy." He is a natural sadist who becomes the "official" torturer and executioner of Ja...
-
One way to support this thesis is to explain how these great men changed the world. Indeed, Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) was the quintes...
-
After the inciting incident, where Daniel meets his childhood acquaintance Joel in the mountains outside the village, the rising action begi...
-
The major difference that presented itself between American and British Romantic works was their treatment of the nation and its history. Th...
-
The Southern economy was heavily dependent upon slave labor. The Southern economy was agrarian; agriculture was its lifeblood, and being abl...
-
The first step in answering the question is to note that it conflates two different issues, sensation-seeking behavior and risk. One good ap...
No comments:
Post a Comment