Maesie Marischen Ms. Jozwiak Honors English 1: P5 08 March 2024 Working Title In a tragedy, a tragic hero is defined as a literary character of noble birth that makes a judgment error which leads to their own tragic demise. Despite the protagonist’s defeat, humanity is validated and the audience is taught valuable lessons. Three main theories of the tragic hero are the Aristotelian model, the Shakespearean model, and the modern tragic hero. Each model has five defining characteristics which are nobility, hamartia, downfall, anagnosis, and suffering. In the Shakespearean model of Romeo and Juliet, the best mode is the tragic hero, for instance, nobility is characterized by being upper class and having elevated character. Romeo satisfies both …show more content…
To begin, Marilyn Monroe was born to Gladys Baker on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles, California (Richardson 3). Before reaching elevated status as the ‘‘Blonde Bombshell’’ Monroe lived with her mother, Gladys Baker, who was often in the mental institution as she suffered from manic depression. When Marilyn Monroe was young, her mother paid a couple to board her at their home for twenty five dollars per week. Her mother was a threat to not only Monroe but herself, so Marilyn Monroe was in and out of foster care and orphanages. At the age of eight she had been sexually assaulted several times and by eleven she had been raped. Being exposed to these traumatic situations at such a young age, she attended school until the age of fifteen and dropped out in preparation for her acting career (B., P. J. 2 ). At the age of sixteen, Marilyn Monroe married Los Angeles policeman, James Dougherty. The text states, “She was married three times; first, when she was 16, to merchant marine and later Los Angeles policeman James Dougherty.” (“Marilyn Monroe” 2). They would later separate, so Monroe’s acting career could flourish. All in all, Monroe rose above her impoverished youth to become a social elite. To continue, Marilyn Monroe’s life develops as a Shakespearean tragedy because she possessed the fatal flaw of insecurity. Her hamartia is that she acted out of jealousy, without thinking about the effect it had on her. In Monroe's life, she experienced some very unfortunate events that caused her to be overly insecure. Back when Marilyn Monroe was famous, the standards of beauty were extremely difficult to keep up with, so she not only put pressure on herself to conform to those standards, but so did her coworkers. According to “Marilyn Monroe”, Monroe was chronically insecure about her acting abilities, making her known for being tardy on set. This angered