Can Ahab be called a tragic hero? Comment.

Captain Ahab (a character from Melville's Moby
Dick), according to the definition of the Tragic Hero as provided by
Aristotle, weakly fits into the definition of a tragic
hero.

According to Aristotle, the tragic hero is defined by
five main characteristics.

1. A tragic hero is born of
nobility.

2. A tragic hero possesses hamartia (a tragic
flaw) which leads to his downfall.

3. A tragic hero
experiences peripeteia (reversal of fortune forced because of the tragic
flaw).

4. The actions of the tragic hero result in an
increased self-awareness and knowledge.

5. The audience
must feel pity, sympathy, or fear for the
character.

According to this, Captain Ahab is not the
typical tragic hero. He was not born of nobility. Instead, readers simply know he was
orphaned.

Captain Ahab does possess a tragic flaw--the
inability to give up on the hunt of the whale.

Captain Ahab
never possesses increased self-awareness. Instead, his hamartia leads to his
death.

The last characteristic of the tragic hero is for
the reader, or audience, to feel pity, sympathy, or fear for the hero. This is the
tricky aspect of naming Captain Ahab a tragic hero. Some readers may feel these feelings
for him, and other readers will not.

In the end, Captain
Ahab only qualifies as a tragic hero under one, maybe two, of Aristotle's
characteristics. Therefore, one could easily state that Captain Ahab is not a tragic
hero.