This past week finished reading Oedipus Rex and began talking about tragic heroes. Oedipus Rex was quite an intense play. It was very dark and illustrated hubris very well. The refusal to see the truth can prevent you from discovering who you are, for better of for worse. The whole play was a very tragic story. Once we finished Oedipus Rex we moved on to our tragic hero project. I think this project is going to be very interesting because there are very many tragic heroes (in movies, for example) who nobody thinks of as a hero because of the dark tone that normally accompanies them. I've been in thought about who could be an outstanding example of a tragic hero for the project, and it came to me that Professor Snape from the Harry Potter movies would do the job justice. He is a very complex character, but he fills in all the aspects of what it takes to be a tragic hero. I think this time that we spend on tragic heroes is going to be a really good lesson to teach us all; everybody has flaws.
Severus Snape's call to action begins when it is learned that Voldemort is coming back, and he needs to help Harry help stop him for Lily's sake. He's arrogant in the way that he thinks he can care for Harry without actually caring about him, but his hatred for James is greater than that of his hatred for Voldemort. He displays hubris because he believes magical people to be better than ordinary humans, even though he is a half-blood himself. His story is quite tragic: he goes further and deeper than anybody else to protect Lily's son, Harry, and Harry isn't able to realize their connection until Snape is dying before his eyes. In my opinion, Snape is one of the most heroic characters, with one of the most tragic deaths.
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