What Makes Joseph Kennedy A Tragic Hero

Dear Kennedy Family,

Hello! I am writing to inform you all that I believe that you are all tragic heroes. A tragic hero is one who has high social status or nobility and meets his or her downfall because of a fatal mistake. You fit with the qualities of all tragic heroes: social status, hamartia, and a downfall.

One trait that makes you all a tragic hero is your high social status. Your father, Joseph Kennedy was an essential person. He was a U.S. Ambassador to England and was “said to have amassed a $180 million fortune by 1935 with enterprises running the gamut from Wall Street…” (Finn). Not only was he an important person, but he was also rich. He had money, wealth, and fame. In other words, he pretty much achieved the American dream. One

All of you have a harmful hamartia: doing risky actions that could destroy your life. One unfortunate event that you Kennedys encountered is your sister, Rosemary’s downfall. Your father attempted to have Rosemary to undergo a prefrontal lobotomy in the hopes of curing her from her mental retardation. Prefrontal lobotomy was a risky surgery in which some patients had died. Despite all this, your father arranged her to undergo the operation without consulting you nor your mother. During the surgery, Rosemary was asked to sing songs and tell stories when she suddenly went quiet and everyone “knew right away that it wasn’t successful” (Hapsis). It was so traumatizing that one nurse quitted her profession after that tragedy. As a result of that surgery, your sister is now unable to walk and speak. She is sent to an institution where she stays there for the rest of her life. Another tragedy in your family is the death of your brother, Joseph Kennedy Jr. Three years after Rosemary’s surgery, “Joseph Kennedy Jr, died in a plane crash while on a bombing mission over the Channel during the second world war” (Tran et al.). Your father hoped that Joseph would one day become the president of the United States of America. Joseph also had completed enough combat missions to return home but decided to stay throughout the war. As a result, he died when the explosives in his plane detonated before its destination. If Joseph

While your family did become famous, it was honestly not worth it due to the numerous tragedies you all faced. One way people in your family suffered is how you all dealt with a lot of tragedies. One of your family members, “Edward Kennedy may have lived to the age of 77- escaping the so-called Kennedy curse that stalked his family- but his life was still marked by loss, scandal, and tragedy” (Tran et al.). He was the only child who survived the tragedies throughout his life. Even so, Edward almost died in a plane accident that killed the pilot of and of one of his aides. The rest of you had unfortunate deaths or tragedies. I cannot imagine how much pain you all went through when going to a funeral of your loved ones. Another way people around you all have suffered is that your family is branded with the Kennedy Curse. In a book about the Kennedy Curse, “Les Williams argues that all the terrible events were the direct result of the patriarch’s own actions and ambitions” (Kyriazis). Some examples of this were Rosemary, Joe Junior, Kathleen, John F. Kennedy, Robert, Ted, and John Junior. There were so many tragedies in your family that it became known as the Kennedy Curse. The curse was so well known, that there are books that are based on the Kennedy Curse. Finally, your family is a lot more afraid of doing risky actions. When asked why Ted Kennedy would not run for the presidency, Ted replied, “Because I know I am