Alexander The Great Archetype

Before he was even born, Alexander the Great was destined for “great”ness. His mother “dreamed a thunderbolt fell upon her body,” kindling a great fire. His father dreamt that he “sealed up is wife’s body with a seal whose impression…was the figure of a lion.” One of their many soothsayers divined this as meaning the queen would give birth to a son, a boy who would “prove as stout and courageous as a lion” (Plutarch, 2001, p. 140). Truly an archetypal hero, Alexander came into the world both favored and feared by the gods, for when he came into the world, the soothsayers “ran about town…crying that this day had brought forth something that would prove fatal and destructive to all of Asia” (Plutarch, 2001, p. 141). Alexander’s first

Although noted above as an archetypal hero, Alexander did share an important trait with the tragic hero – that of hamartia, or the tragic flaw or weakness. Like many great and powerful men, the Greek trait of hubris could have been Alexander’s hamartia; however, perhaps a more “interesting” answer could be his weakness for the drink. All but “excusing” Alexander’s drinking in the beginning his section, Plutarch mentions Alexander’s fair and light complexion and fragrant odor. Theophrastus suggests that such pleasant human smells are “produced by the concoction of moist humours” and in warm climates the “heat of the sun exhausts the moisture” in these bodies (Plutarch, 2001, p. 141). This is why, Plutarch suggests, Alexander may have been addicted to drinking (as well as being so hot-tempered). Under great pressure to perform from a young age, Alexander was overly passionate and often extreme, incredibly domineering but also possibly insecure and remorseful; he can fit the mold as someone reliant on alcohol. Although disputed, alcohol may have played a part in some of Alexander’s fiascos and more importantly in his death. Before Alexander died, Plutarch describes him as again “giving way to fears of supernatural influence,” disturbed he “fell again to sacrificing and drinking” before bed. The next day, he drank all day, and then was “attacked with a fever” after he had drunk of the bowl of Hercules. In “the rage of his fever and a violent thirst, he took a draught of wine, upon which he fell into delirium” (Plutarch, 2001, p. 198). Alexander died the next