Tragic flaw, derived from the Greek word hamartia, which is also translated in religious works (i.e. the Bible) as sin. The term comes from Aristotle's Poetics.

A tragic flaw in literature is a series of actions the neither thoroughly good nor evil protagonist (often called the tragic hero) takes, that eventually brings him down in the end. The concept was created in ancient Greek tragedy. More often than not, the tragic flaw is hubris, such as in the works Antigone and Oedipus Rex. Another famous tragic hero is Shakespeare's King Lear. An example of a protagonist with a tragic flaw in modern literature would be Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman. A more subtle example would be the fictionalized Antonio Salieri in Peter Shaffer's Amadeus.

However, there is some debate in academic circles as to exactly what hamartia is, and what Aristotle meant by the word. The word literally means something like "missing the mark", and it has been suggested by some that the modern idea of the "tragic flaw" is a mistranslation of the Greek. Some argue that a number of the Greek Tragedies (like Oedipus Rex) actually contain no clearly identifiable tragic flaws, but have been interpreted subjectively to fit Aristotle's theory. Regardless of what Aristotle actually meant, though, the term "tragic flaw" and the idea behind it are firmly ensconced within literary criticism.

See also

• tragic hero
• Victory disease