Hamartia:Tragic Flaw or Tragic Mistake in Ennis' case -- by jayantmay

[TOoP/Bruce]

Hamartia:Tragic Flaw or Tragic Mistake in Ennis' case
UPDATED Fri May 4 2007 23:20:09
by - jayantmay (Wed Apr 19 2006 01:36:31 )   

Since there is debate over the interpretation of hamartia, is it an innate tragic flaw in Ennis' character (he is compelled to abide by conformity and thus cannot express his love for Jack), or tragic mistake (he allowed himself to accept that love momenterily and then recognize he couldn't let himself acknowledge it).


Ennis exhibits most of the traits that Aristotle would consider defining characteristics of a tragic hero:


He has to suffer a lot more than he deserves.
He must be doomed from the start, but bear no responsibility for possessing his flaw.
He must be noble in nature, but imperfect so that the audience can see themselves in him.
He must have discovered his fate by his own actions, not by things happening to him.
He must see and understand his doom, as well as the fact that his fate was discovered by his own actions.
His story should arouse fear and empathy.
Physically or spiritually wounded by his experience

I have no idea to whom i should contribute this, but c'mon isn't that Ennis?


Re: just a thought: Hamartia: Tragic Flaw or Tragic Mistake in Ennis' ca
by - kudzudaddy (Wed Apr 19 2006 05:30:39 )   

Indeed it is. I have said from the beginning that Brokeback is a classic tragedy. (I wonder if Ms. Proulx has ever addressed this in print or interviews.) My memory fades so I'm not sure the relation between hamartia and hubris (Wikipedia is down at the moment.) Are they the same thing? It would seem to me that Ennis's Hubris is his insistence that he/Jack can't "fix" it.

Then again, I sometimes think I may be freighting the story with too much cargo. Perhaps it's just sui generis, it's own perfect world...

Anyway... thought-provoking thread... I'll post more when Wikipedia is back up.


Re: just a thought: Hamartia: Tragic Flaw or Tragic Mistake in Ennis' ca

by - oilgun (Wed Apr 19 2006 06:00:45 )   [/b]

I had to check both words: Hamartia is a tragic flaw and hubris is overbearing pride or arrogance as per yourdictionary.com.

Ennis fits the Tragic Hero description to a T.

"Jesus Christ, quit hammerin and get over here. Bedroll's big enough." -BBM

Re: just a thought: Hamartia: Tragic Flaw or Tragic Mistake in Ennis' case
by - kula17 (Thu Apr 20 2006 22:40:15 )   

UPDATED Thu Apr 20 2006 23:23:51
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragic_heroes

"In the Modernist era, a new kind of tragic hero was synthesized as a reaction to the English Renaissance, The Age of Enlightenment, and Romanticism. The idea was that the hero, rather than falling calamitously from a high position, is actually a person less worthy of consideration. Not only that, the protagonist may not even have the needed catharsis to bring the story to a close. He may die without an epiphany of his destiny, or suffer without the ability to change events that are happening to him. The story may end without closure and even without the death of the hero. This new tragic hero of Modernism is the anti-hero."

In can see Ennis fitting in some of those different categories of a "tragic hero" (i.e. not entirely). Still, I'm not sure about the "hero" part, but the protagonist was definitely a tragic one.

EDIT: Well he could be viewed as a hero when it came to his little girls. He loved them dearly, spent as much time with them as possible, took extra work to not miss any child support payments... and the way Alma Jr. fawned over her daddy when he was telling them about his saddle-bronc career. She really looked up to her cowboy daddy.
____________________________
"Straight" Guide to BBM: http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~psyc/personal/brokeback.htm

[TOoP/Bruce]

Re: just a thought: Hamartia: Tragic Flaw or Tragic Mistake in Ennis' case   
by - Lee_Holloway (Thu Apr 20 2006 22:50:14 )   

Nice insights/discussion.....but I have an issue with this phrase in particular:

"The idea was that the hero, rather than falling calamitously from a high position, is actually a person less worthy of consideration."

Utter nonsense, imo.

A character doesn't have to be in a 'high position' (and fall from that) to be a worthwhile 'tragic hero' in my opinion. The most mundane characters can be incredibly moving tragic figures ~ and just as 'important' as those who 'fall from great heights'....

Read Carson McCullers' 'Ballad of the Sad Cafe' sometime....these aren't 'grand' characters, but they inspire just as much intense/meaningful pathos as King Lear.


'I'm in my tree, I'm talking to the Dixie Chicks and they're making me feel better.'

Re: just a thought: Hamartia: Tragic Flaw or Tragic Mistake in Ennis' case   
]by - kula17 (Thu Apr 20 2006 22:57:52 )   

A character doesn't have to be in a 'high position' (and fall from that) to be a worthwhile 'tragic hero' in my opinion. The most mundane characters can be incredibly moving tragic figures ~ and just as 'important' as those who 'fall from great heights'....
I couldn't find that part agreeable with me either, Lee_Holloway, which is why I bolded the parts that I did think fit his character. There are many different kinds of tragic heros, and I couldn't find one that fit Ennis 100% But I was just throwing some of those thoughts out there.

The OP's version came the closest so far, imo.
_______________________________
"Straight" Guide to BBM: http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~psyc/personal/brokeback.htm

Re: just a thought: Hamartia: Tragic Flaw or Tragic Mistake in Ennis' case   
by - Lee_Holloway (Thu Apr 20 2006 23:57:31 )   

'I couldn't find that part agreeable with me either, Lee_Holloway, which is why I bolded the parts that I did think fit his character.'

I think you were bang on with those btw


One of the many things I found admirable about BBM was the elevation of the struggles/tragedy of the 'common man'.




'I'm in my tree, I'm talking to the Dixie Chicks and they're making me feel better.'

Re: just a thought: Hamartia: Tragic Flaw or Tragic Mistake in Ennis' ca   
by - kudzudaddy (Fri Apr 21 2006 06:25:46 )   

I think we're in a semantic sinkhole here...

Theatrically speaking the terms, "hero" and "protagonist" are interchangeable, though in a purely literary sense there are distinctions to be made.

Classical tragedy, i.e., Greek tragedy, requires that the hero/protagonist be a person of stature... to give them a more precipitous fall.

Kula pointed out that since the Modernist era, we have broadened our definition of tragedy to include the "little guy." Probably an inevitable result of the rise of popular democracy.

In this new definition of tragedy, Ennis clearly qualifies as a protagonist, and, by extension, a "hero."

Re: just a thought: Hamartia: Tragic Flaw or Tragic Mistake in Ennis' case   
by - monimm18 (Sat May 6 2006 22:39:07 )   
Ignore this User | Report Abuse   
UPDATED Sat May 6 2006 22:41:35
<<"In the Modernist era, a new kind of tragic hero was synthesized as a reaction to the English Renaissance, The Age of Enlightenment, and Romanticism. The idea was that the hero, rather than falling calamitously from a high position, is actually a person less worthy of consideration. Not only that, the protagonist may not even have the needed catharsis to bring the story to a close. He may die without an epiphany of his destiny, or suffer without the ability to change events that are happening to him. The story may end without closure and even without the death of the hero. This new tragic hero of Modernism is the anti-hero." >>

Hmmm... for some reason, to me, the anti-hero description fits Jack even better than Ennis.

I thought Ennis fit the character of a classical tragedy hero pretty well - his tragic flaw was the fact that he was unable to accept his destiny, or his true nature, and paid for it by losing the only one with whom he could have been true to himself.


"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
Oscar Wilde