Okonkwo, a Tragic Hero

Hi

 

Today I will be discussing why Chinua Achebe considered using the tragic hero archetype in Okonkwo’s characterization.  

To begin, a tragic hero is the type of hero who faces a downfall, which is also the case of Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart. One of the main reasons why Achebe chose to characterize Okonkwo this way could be to show what would happen when a person fails to maintain a balance in his or her life. According to the Igbo culture, people were expected to maintain a balance not only in their religious life, having a good relationship with the gods, but also in their social life, having good relationships with other members of the society. Okonkwo as opposed to other characters such as his friend Obierika is not a representative figure of the Igbo culture, being an extremist who does not try to achieve a balance in his life but to have a hyper masculine appearance, eliminating emotions, affection and compassion from his life.

Achebe might have tried as well to show that when one is living by one’s own rules, ignoring the cultural beliefs the consequences can be severe and even tragic. Some examples include Okonkwo being proud of his kills in war, drinking palm wine from his first human head, killing Ikemefuna and even beating his wife during the week of peace. It can be said about Okonkwo that he lives in his own world, a world of excessive masculinity, severity and violence. These, along with the previously mentioned deeds of Okonkwo are not part of the cultural beliefs of the Igbo people. In their culture, one would not brag about killing a person, neither about cutting one’s head off since all of these were considered terrible sins against the earth goddess. Same applies to violence during celebrations such as the week of peace.

                Okonkwo’s death in the end of Things Fall Apart emphasizes these two potential intentions as it could be considered the severe and tragic consequence of his extreme actions and behaviour. In conclusion, Achebe’s overall purpose in characterizing Okonkwo as a tragic hero was to offer the audience an example of negative behaviour along with its consequences since this generates a more powerful impact on the audience than a simple advice on how not to behave.