Okonkwo's Tragic Flaw

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Written in the 1959, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, explores modern day feminist and postcolonial topics, as well as Aristotle’s ancient tragic flaw theory. Achebe expresses structuralism through Okonkwo’s tragic flaw. A tragic hero possesses a tragic flaw, holds a position of prestige and power, chooses his course of action, and gains awareness of circumstances that lead to his fall. Tragedy depicts the downfall of a basically good person through some fatal error or misjudgment, producing suffering and insight on the part of the protagonist and arousing pity and fear on the part of the audience. Okonkwo's tragic flaw is his fear of weakness and failure. As a renowned as a wrestler and a fierce warrior, Okonkwo has three wives and many children who live on his compound. Throughout his life, he wages a never-ending battle for status, while his life is dominated by the fear of failure and weakness. He is quick to anger, especially when dealing with men who are weak, or lazy debtors similar …show more content…
hubris denotes overconfident pride combined with arrogance. Hubris is often associated with excessive pride a lack of humility or knowledge. The accusation of hubris often implies that suffering or punishment will follow, an essential element in a tragic flaw and is often referred to as “pride that binds”. The hubris often causes a person engage in misconduct in order to fulfill their basic desire to be superior to others. In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo turns to anger and aggressiveness, exposing his hubris. Okonkwo believes that he should beat members of his Nwoye, Ikemefuna, Ojiugo, and his wives and that he should ridicule men who remind him of his father, even for slight annoyances. Okonkwo does not even enjoy the leisurely ceremonial feast as others do. His impatience with the festivities is so great that he erupts. He converts his feelings, to avoid showing weakness. Daphne Rose Kingma
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