A hero does more than just a “normal person.” A hero stands up to defend his beliefs. Not only does a hero protect himself, but he protects other people as well. A hero will go to any length to fight for his beliefs, even if the odds are against him. Four examples of tragic heroes are Achilles, Hector, Beowulf, and Hamlet. Many characteristics define these four heroes; however, four characteristics are most evident as defining them as tragic heroes. These four heroes are intelligent and learn from their mistakes. Each hero suffers more than he deserves. These heroes are faced with a very serious decision they have to make. Lastly, the most heroic characteristic, that the hero must be physically or spiritually wounded by his experiences, often …show more content…
Hector realized the mistake he made and learned this when Achilles came into battle. Hector had fate to die at Achilles hand, so when Achilles came into battle, Hector realized the mistake he had made. Although Hector knew he would get killed by Achilles, he still remained the fearless leader of the Trojans fought Achilles bravely.("Hector") Hamlet makes the mistake of not killing his uncle, King Claudius, when he had the chance to. King Claudius murdered Hamlet’s father in order to be king. Hamlet had just discovered this and now needed to avenge his father’s death by killing Claudius. Hamlet had the perfect chance to kill Claudius because Claudius kneeled in the chapel and did not see Hamlet. Hamlet put aside the thought of killing Claudius at that moment because Hamlet thought Claudius had been praying and confessing his sins. Hamlet did not want to kill Claudius while he had been confessing his sins because that meant that Claudius would go to heaven, so Hamlet decided he would wait until Claudius sinned again and then he would kill him. However, Claudius actually did not confess his sins, so Hamlet could have killed him. Since Hamlet did not kill Claudius at that moment, he ended up killing Polonius because Hamlet thought that he had seen Claudius. After