A connection is a logical relation or the link between two ideas, many pieces of literature we read and watch all have common components that we can associate to each other.We mainly do this through their genre.The genre of tragedy is one that has many different plots but one things remains in common, the tragic hero.The tragic hero is the character arc that we commonly see across old and modern day novels, plays and films allowing us to connect the texts together and experience catharsis and see a reflection of human nature.King Lear by William Shakespeare is a play that has used this classic character arc as well as Gladiator,Citizen Kane and Death of a salesman.Through these texts we can see how one style of character can be adapted and bridge through many different stories.

King Lear by William Shakespeare follows the story of the king Lear who makes an executive decision to divide his kingdom to his daughters and in doing so brings on his own downward spiral to the bottom of the food chain. His request for his daughters to feed his ego worked well in favour of the two fake daughters but the Cordelia who truely loved him and refused to over embellish her love was the one banished.Shakespeare presents his audience with Lear’s hubris and Hamartia early in the play to make us the audience invested into Lear.His need for praise when stating “Which of you shall we say doth love us most” draws attention to his want for worship cause its all he has known being king and is food for his ego.Lear’s treatment of Kent showed us his hubris once again when he compared himself to a dragon “come not between the dragon and his wrath” Shakespeare uses this to show that Lear believes himself to be almighty and powerful dragon showing he thinks very highly of himself and is very hubristic.The Hamartia and hubris go hand in hand in Lear’s case and these two components combined establish a bond between the audience and reflects the imperfect nature of us as human beings.We all make mistakes and have flaws this is how we as an audience can relate to Lear at the time he was making his decisions he was blind to what his daughters were doing and could only see the fact that they would fuel his ego. Shakespeare also gives us insight into the fact that hubris and into how stupid we can be as a race when we are blind to our need for praise and ego boosts and that it can lead to being taken advantage of us and others seeing us as a joke.

The film Gladiator by Ridley Scott follows the journey of Maximus a roman soldier and commander who has a fatal flaw that ultimately leads to his downfall much like Lear.Scott has used the typical tragic hero structure as well as roman tragedy and adapted it to a modern day film through his portrayal of Gladiator.Early in the film we learn that Maximus’s hamartia is his hubris just like Lear , he is a very prideful man and his pride influences the decisions he makes.Scott makes Maximus’s pride obvious to us when he decides to say no to serve Commodus because he doesn’t believe Commodus will be a good leader of Rome. Maximus’s pride exceeds his intelligence in this moment.Instead of saying yes and making Rome great he gives into his pride and out right declines.The death of his family later comes but Maximus is so driven by his pride he keeps going in a bid to take down Commodus even though he is nothing anymore, while also gives the audience their first cathartic experience.”My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next” this quote shows the pride he has in his self listing everything he once had and was and also shows his quest for revenge will never die until Commodus does.Another example of Maximus’s pride showing through strongly “What we do in life echoes in eternity.” this shows that Maximus perceives himself as very important to Rome and that what he does will always be remembered . Ultimately like Lear Maximus’s hubris leads to his death but in Maximus’s case he dies for his pride of Rome and taking down Commodus.In Lear’s case he dies because of his pride for himself.Scotts adaptation of the tragic hero allows us to experience multiple moments of catharsis through out and all actions that lead to these cathartic moments were driven by his hubris. Gladiator gives us an insight into how powerful a humans pride truly can be and the idea of regret and revenge.Its in our human nature to get frustrated, annoyed and disagree with what happens in our life.We can either be smart about it or give into our feelings and be prideful and seek our revenge.Gladiator shows this by letting us the audience aware of the fragility of the human race and by making us aware of ourselves.

Citizen Kane by Orson Welles is yet another example of tragedy with a more modern approach than the classic greek and romans.Citizen Kane shows how people can be driven by greed and shows the emptiness of the American dream that was such a prevalent goal in that time period.Charles Foster Kane began as a poor child who inherited millions through a dead relative , making him apart of the upper class.However that wasn’t enough for Kane he was always driven by his hubris which was his Hamartia much like Maximus.Kanes biggest conflict was his greed and how he was perceived which was purely driven by his hubris.”I’m an authority on what the papers will say, Signor Matiste, because I own eight of them between here and San Francisco.” this shows how big his hubris had become he not only was greedy for money but also control of people and how they thought, no one else could be right only him and his eight papers.For Kane nothing was ever enough.When he was rich and successful with multiple industries he pursued the newspaper and kept wanting his shares.When he had financial power he needed political power to satisfy his hubris.When he had a family who loved and cared about him it wasn’t enough he needed to have his mistress to keep him satisfied.By doing all of this he ultimately lost everything .Much like Maximus ,Kanes pride influences all the decisions he makes and it exceeds his intelligence.His materialistic drive made him form this fake life as his second wife Susan soon realised “No matter how much it cost you—your time, your money—that’s what you’ve done with everybody you’ve ever known. Tried to bribe them!”This shows how committed he was to living this falsified american dream and that his pride drove him to the point where he had completely faked everything, he has so much pride that he doesn’t even understand the concept of loving people anymore human connection.He is deeply flawed by his idea of success , he categorised it as his materialistic things he possessed.Citizen Kane gives us an insight into our human nature, sometimes we as humans can loose sight of what is important to be happy and successful in life.We get consumed by materialism and loose important human connections with people such as our family or friends .Orson Wells adaptation of the tragic heroes hubris was used as a reflection of the society at the time and warning.

The final text I believed connects to the tragic hero and especially with Citizen Kane is Death of a salesmen by Arthur Miller.Death of a salesman is a later interpretation of the genre of tragedy and is specifically an american tragedy.Much like Citizen Kane it shows how being driven by greed and the empty promise of the American dream can lead you losing sight of what is important in life and loosing valuable human connections.The Film takes place in New York and follows a salesman Willy and a montage of his memories , dreams ,arguments and confrontations before he ultimately commits suicide.Much like Kane Willys hubris was his hamartia , his pride to make his way into the upper class and chase after the dream takes him away from his family because he isn’t content with what he already has.He is deeply flawed by his idea of success and like Kane believes his success is determined by materialistic things and status.He is embarrassed by whole is and makes up a facade to appear as more “They laugh at me, heh? Go to Filene’s, go to the Hub, go to Slattery’s. Boston. Call out the name Willy Loman and see what happens! Big shot!” this reflects Willy’s pride and his increasing blindness to the reality of his situation and refuses to accept who he is and what he has he needs the american dream.In this process he looses sight of what is important, mainly his family because he is all consumed.Then ultimately leads to his death.Thirty years after the release of this film this is still very prevalent in todays society, many parents are out constantly working so they can conform to a certain kind of life for their children.This life being filled with materialistic things like technology and things that they think will make there kids and people love them but ultimately it just distances themselves from them.Arthur millers adaptation of the hubris of a tragic hero is put in place as a lesson to value what you have instead of always hunting for more, ultimately companionship is the key happiness.He shows us the danger of our human nature and how imperfect we truly are.

The main purpose and connecting feature of King Lear, Gladiator,Citizen Kane and Death of a salesmen is their portrayal of the trait hubris through their protaginists.While they are all presented in different ways and portray different ideas and time periods they ultimately reflect the imperfect nature of a human being ad how we sometimes let our pride guide us dangerously.The trait of hubris can lead us to greater things such as a poor perception of reality, revenge and the idea of success.All four of the creators of these texts aimed to show us traits that we can recognise in ourselves through these tragic heroes and their journeys.