Aristotelian Hero: A Study in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

Abstract

The present research work basically focuses on presenting Okonkwo, the protagonist of the novel as an Aristotelian Hero. Throughout the novel we can see Okonkwo

guided

by

the

ambition

to

succeed

in everything.

He

is

so

obsessed by success that he finds his father a complete failure in his life. He wants to win laurels in whatever tasks that he gets involved in. Like the protagonist of a Greek tragedy, however, Okonkwo carries within himself the seeds of his own destruction. He is secretly plagued by the fear of failure and of weakness. He is desperate to prove that he is better than his father, Unoka. Okonkwo, therefore, strives to e everything his father was not: strong, manly, prosperous and respected. This obsession to succeed in life takes him on the path of ultimate downfall which ends with his suicide.