How to Play the Tragic Hero: A Guide to Falling From Grace With Style

The tragic hero is a type of stock character—usually an ethical, relatable person who experiences a fall from grace due to tragic circumstances and a fatal flaw. Contemporary examples may be more layered and push back against stereotypes, but the tragic hero at its core is a sympathetic character who is flawed in some way, leading to their downfall.

The origins of the tragic hero are traced back to the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, who defined the concept in his “Poetics” in the 4th century B.C. The phrase itself was first recorded in the 18th century, and the rest is (not-so-ancient) history.

Characteristics of the tragic hero

• Sorrowful circumstances: This character is made to suffer, often experiencing a reversal of fortune so devastating it makes the audience lament with righteous indignation.
• A tragic flaw: While usually a personality flaw (like Orpheus’ inability to trust in both the Greek myth and Anaïs Mitchell’s modern musical adaptation “Hadestown”), this tragic hero trait can sometimes be a literal physical flaw (like Achilles’ actual heel). The ancient Greeks depicted so many tragic heroes in their myths that they even created a word for this flaw: “hamartia.”
• Easy to root for: As the name suggests, the tragic hero is usually the protagonist of the story, likable, and motivated by good intentions. 
• An untimely death: Unfortunately for the tragic hero, their survival rate is not great. This is also what makes them more popular in theater, film, and literature than on TV, since the tragic hero would have to continue on over a multi-episode arc without succumbing to weakness or learning from it.

Oedipus from “Oedipus Rex” by Sophocles

While it would be hard to know exactly who the first tragic hero was, Oedipus would certainly be a contender, as Sophocles’ play was first performed around the year 429 B.C. After being told by an oracle that he is destined to kill his father and marry his mother, Oedipus flees to Thebes to avoid harming his parents; unfortunately, he’s unaware that the people who raised him are not his real parents. In Thebes, he ends up unknowingly murdering and marrying his actual father and mother, respectively. When he realizes what he has done, Oedipus is so disgusted and ashamed with himself that he gouges out his own eyes.

Oedipus’ tragic flaw is his hubris, which leads him to believe that he can change or outrun his fate (though some may argue he was given impossible circumstances). His disastrous fate continues to capture our imagination, with variations on his story explored regularly to this day.

Willy Loman from “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller

As the protagonist in the famous 1949 play, Willy is the quintessential American tragic hero. The plot unfolds in a nonlinear fashion, giving viewers a glimpse at both the present-day Willy, who is disillusioned, obsessed with his own relevance, and living in the past; and the Willy of days gone by, who is optimistic, hardworking, and hopeful.

Willy’s tragic flaw is multifaceted, but it can be boiled down to his self-delusion and growing irrelevance, as well as his inability to come to terms with either. While the present-day version may not look like a hero to the audience, it’s his tragic descent (which culminates in him taking his own life) that makes him a worthy addition to this list.

Watch Dustin Hoffman’s Emmy-winning performance deftly capturing the inherent tragedy of Willy’s many contradictions in Volker Schlöndorff’s 1985 TV movie adaptation.

Jay Gatsby from “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The titular character of the 1925 novel, multiple film adaptations, and now two musicals, Gatsby is another classic American tragic hero. Initially just a mysterious socialite known for throwing lavish parties, it’s later revealed that Gatsby is only motivated by his desire to win back Daisy Buchanan, his one-time lover who lives across the bay.

Gatsby’s tragic flaw is his idealism coupled with an inability to let go of the past. He puts Daisy on a pedestal long past the point where it becomes clear that she will never leave her husband for him, even going so far as to take the blame for a hit-and-run accident, resulting in his murder. Tragic, indeed!

In this clip from Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 film, Leonardo DiCaprio depicts both the beauty and painful delusion of Gatsby’s romanticism.

Sweeney Todd from “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (book by Hugh Wheeler, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim)

The 1979 musical “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (and the 1970 play by Christopher Bond) takes Sweeney Todd from his one-note villainous depiction in the 1846 penny dreadful “The String of Pearls” to full-fledged tragic hero, no matter how unlikely at first glance. Sure, Sweeney Todd does many morally questionable things (murdering people and subsequently having them baked them into pies, for one thing), but he is ultimately motivated by the desire to save his daughter and punish the people he believes to be responsible for her capture and his wife’s death. Despite this, he’s met with nothing but tragedy in the end, killing his long-lost wife and dying himself.

Sweeney Todd’s fatal flaw is his one-track mind. He’s so relentless in his pursuit of Judge Turpin that he misses the opportunity to reunite with his wife and daughter, though he comes face-to-face with both of them.

This scene from Tim Burton’s 2007 adaptation in which Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp) comes to terms with everything he’s lost will get you all up in your feels.

Elphaba from “Wicked” (book by Winnie Holzman, music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz)

Women are generally underrepresented as tragic heroes, but Elphaba gives a feminine crack at the stock character. In the 2003 musical loosely based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel (itself based on “The Wizard of Oz”), Elphaba can’t outrun people’s perception of the color of her skin. While she becomes more radical and brash as the events of the musical unfold, she never relents in her pursuit of doing the right thing.

Like more ancient examples, Elphaba’s tragic flaw is not a moral failing, but rather a physical trait: the fact that she is green. She gets a tiny touch of relief from the normal plight of a tragic hero in that she doesn’t actually die at the end of the musical, but she must go into hiding, rendering her dead to everyone she knows.

Here, Elphaba (Idina Menzel) and Glinda (Kristin Chenoweth) bid each other farewell in the poignant “For Good.” 

Fleabag from “Fleabag” by Phoebe Waller-Bridge

The fourth wall–breaking Fleabag from Waller-Bridge’s 2013 one-woman play and Emmy-winning 2016 TV series is deeply flawed yet highly relatable (not to mention hilarious!). Her struggles with grief and recklessness mean she’s constantly just missing out on true happiness—whether because she’s stealing, sleeping with her best friend’s boyfriend, or getting into agonizing arguments with her family.

Fleabag’s tragic flaw is self-sabotage and unhealthy coping mechanisms, which cause her fall from grace (insert joke about Hot Priest here). While she doesn’t die within the course of the show, Fleabag’s story ends in a self-realization that effectively kills off a more problematic version of herself.

Here’s the cathartic yet tragic conclusion to Fleabag’s journey. 

Ready to take on a doomed tragic character? Here’s how to make sure tragedy doesn’t strike your performance.

• Figure out your character’s why. Unless the flaw is physical, it’s important for you as an actor to explore why your character might have this key character trait in the first place. Does it stem from unrealistic idealism, like Gatsby? Semi-repressed grief, like Fleabag? A deep understanding of your character is necessary to create a well-rounded performance.

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• Demonstrate vulnerability. The tragic hero is someone everyone roots for (even if their success seems unlikely), so be sure to craft a charismatic, captivating character whose vulnerability makes them sympathetic.  
• Embrace contradiction. Lean into your character’s inner conflicts and inconsistencies. Sweeney Todd wouldn’t be quite so tragic if he didn’t allow his vengeful bloodlust to contradict his love for his wife and child—nor would Elphaba, without the clash between her desire to hide from prejudice and her wish to start “defying gravity.”
• Make it your own. Study notable depictions of the character type, including previous variations on your specific role if applicable, and then consider how you can bring your own spin to it. You might create unique character mannerisms, such as DiCaprio’s iconic toast-turned-meme as Gatsby, or subvert expectations for the archetype, like Waller-Bridge does with Fleabag’s metafictional self-reflexivity. You could even draw from your own life experiences to construct your character, like Cynthia Erivo, who said that she “thought of us, the ones who often feel like they’re on the outside,” to portray Elphaba in Jon M. Chu’s upcoming “Wicked” film adaptation.
• Don’t (over)play the ending. Rarely will the tragic hero know they are destined to be their own undoing, so try not to telegraph that. The story of the tragic hero may ultimately be bleak, but the hero’s perception of themselves is anything but in their pursuit of their goals. Allow for moments of self-awareness, but remember that the primary quality of this character type is their inability to stop their collision course with tragedy.