Descriptive term or word

[Emily Ball]

Does anyone know the term or word, possibly of Latin or Greek derivation, used to describe the fatal flaw in a person's character which leads to their eventual downfall?

[kempie]

Perhaps Achilles� heel

[Emily Ball]

Thanks for that  kempie-it's what I had on the tip of my tongue- but I have just been informed by my niece that the word is' hamartia' (Greek) which is a new one for me I must say.

[kempie]

According to Aristotle, the tragic hero must fall through his or her own error, or hamartia. This term is also interpreted as "tragic flaw" and usually applied to overweening pride, or hubris, which causes fatal error.

Recent scholarship has suggested that the interpretation of hamartia as a fatal flaw is itself flawed, and that the word more properly means any disproportion in the character's makeup that leads to downfall; thus an excess of a valuable or virtuous quality can in some circumstances be seen as hamartia.

[Emily Ball]

Now that's what I call answering a question!

[Emily Ball]

p.s. excellent!

[jno]

kempie, doesn't the term fatal flaw just mean that it's fatal to the character who has it? Tragic heroes do tend to die (comic heroes marry), so their 'flaws' become fatal ones. Hamlet's thoughtfulness marks him out as a renaissance intellectual; unfortunately he's caught up in a medieval revenge drama where being an intellectual is no use at all, he's just supposed to get out there and kill someone. However admirable thoughtfulness may be, Hamlet's is a flaw because it means he's not responding appropriately to his situation. [erm, you'll see I'm agreeing with you here; just that I think the traditional translation of hamartia is correct.]

[kempie]

jno - you are correct inasmuch as tragic heroes tend to die but there is always the exception that proves the rule (oh, how I hate that phrase).

The classic example of Aristotelian principles is Sophocles' Oedipus the King, where Oedipus merely mutilates himself on discovering his crimes (hardly fatal), whereas another play in this mould, such as Othello, follows a similar pattern of pride, error, and self-destruction culminating in his suicide.

[jno]

yup, fair enough kempie, I was thinking more of English tragedy than Greek. Never quite been convinced that Oedipus has such a flaw - he's ordered the person who brought the plague to be exiled, as I recall, without realising that it's himself; but I've always thought he was rather hard done by.

[Emily Ball]

My niece has her English  Literature A level today and as she has been studying Ibsen's work  I think she's hoping to apply it to the character of Hedda Gabler.

[kempie]

My best wishes to your niece.

[Emily Ball]

And it's her 18th birthday today too! Thank you for the best wishes.

[blink_babe13]

hamartia is a term used in the bible to define sin, it is an archery term which means "to miss the mark"