Things Fall Apart: A Tragedy

The thoughts of the great mathematician Aristotle, where recorded in writing The Poetics circa 330 B.C. He sought to analyze the structure of Athenian tragedy using the example of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. Aristotle believed that the classic tragedy must contain a character who plays the role of the tragic hero. Chinua Achebe plays out the plot of a tragedy in his book Things Fall Apart. The story deals with the country of Nigeria in the 1890s. The most prominent character, Okonkwo, follows in the characteristics of an Aristotelian tragic hero.
Okonkwo’s status in the tribe of Umofia, is that of a tragic hero. Aristotle believed that the tragic hero was to be of noble birth. This provides the story with dignity because the tragedy of commoners was not of interest to most. It also generates the feeling in the audience that if tragedy can happen to the advantaged, it can happen to anyone, therefore, producing fear. This is one of the few ways that Okonkwo differs from the ...