Jesus Christ as a Tragic Hero

Hero? One who demonstrates courage in the face of danger or one who faces adversity. 
When a tragic hero is faced with downfall, he becomes the tragic hero. 

There are some major ways to describe a tragic hero:
1. Noble birth: a tragic hero must be of noble birth. This means born of a king or in the case of Jesus, a supernatural birth.

2. Hubris(pride): Jesus christ depicts pride when he had the opportunity to denounce his fortune and call it quit. Oedipus Rex

3. Peripeteia : this is the reversal of fortune that the tragic hero faces. Jesus christ after so many miracles was killed on a cross.
4. Harmatia: this is an error or a flaw on the part of the hero. Jesus with his perfections still picked one wrong disciple. He disposed two men and sent the demons into the pig that drowned. The pigs were people's source of livelihood.
5. Nemesis: the saying that you reap what you sow. Jesus death on the cross.
6. Catharsis: the felling of pity or fear that what befalls the tragic hero can befall us. This is likened to the threats of hell in modern day christianity.

A tragic hero's downfall can also be determined by two factors: his fault or that from the gods. Jesus was sent from God to endure these sufferings. 


The most common tragic hero of all time is Oedipus Rex. This is the story of the boy foretold to kill his father and marry his mother. In this book you'll find almost all the characters likened to Jesus.

This article was written as an excerpt of my then master proposal using Aristotle's poetics as a blind man's Labrador. 

This article is simplified for general reading.