To What Extent Can Bosola Be Considered a Tragic Hero?

To what extent tidy sum Bosola be considered a tragic electric ray? Let worthy minds neer stagger in distrust/ to suffer death or shame for what is just. / Mine is a nonher voyage. Thus the dying Bosola concludes his last patois and, in doing so, ends the life of a char recreateer whose very nature is at odds with the others and with himself.For Bosola is a paradox as a malcontent, he delivers eviscerate after line of poisonous verse insults old women sneers at the carmine and Ferdinand, whom he sees (justifiably so) as having realityipulated him and maintains an almost universal apathy towards the rest of the percentages in the words of Brian Gibbons, a stance of disgust inclining towards the misanthropic1 and yet, for every his shortcomings, Bosola begins to exhibit a change of heart that we would not otherwise throw away expected from such an odious char moer.He begins to redeem himself, some(prenominal) by revealing a more sympathetic side to his persona and by ulti mately sacrificing himself in order to kill Ferdinand. This inherent duality within Bosola a duality which proves to be both his down rent root and his salvation is virtually linked with the authorized notion of the tragic electric ray that he should uncomplete be wholly good, nor wholly evil, and that at that place remains a consider between these two extremes which the tragic pigboat is meant to occupy2. epoch the Duchess is marked from the set-back as the protagonist and, arguably, a tragic heroine in her own skillful it is left to Bosola, when all the others claim been killed, to avenge her. Moreoer, Bosolas final act his cleanup spot of the chief antagonist, Ferdinand serves partly to reconcile him with the audience by end point his life with a good deed, Bosola redeems himself in our eyes and we finish the gip with a renewed respect and gentleness for him.By no means, however, does he necessarily satisfy all the classical criteria for the role of tragic hero he is of a relatively low brotherly standing the classical tragic hero was typically a man of high social ranking whose fatal flaw, or hamartia, resulted in an inevitable fall from grace and power. Bosolas role as a malcontent a notion which implies a restless, disillusioned spirit is necessary to the part he has to play as an antagonist to the Duchess and Antonio. As soon as he enters in Act I, scene , this bitterness is instantly revealed in his wrap up to the Cardinal I do haunt you still, I pitch done you better than to be slighted and then. We are shown a man who, while perfectly willing to carry out orders, is unwilling to be snubbed. This reveals an independence of character in Bosola, which, unlike the character of Iago in Othello (whose sadism and abrasiveness place him firmly as the lead antagonist of the play) lends itself to a bearing of spirit that will ultimately lead him to rebel against his employers and avenge the Duchess.This difference in what he allows Ferdinand to instruct him to do and what he eventually does could be taken to be a tragic flaw one which leads to his downfall. This essential dichotomy in Bosolas character that his cynical nature would suck up the Duchess fail, but his unexpressed empathy would have her survive3 leads us, unavoidably, to pity him his contempt leads to the Duchess death, but his gentleness leads to the death of her enemies.The notion of the tragic hero as a passkey and a victim is also intrinsically linked with the concept of the tragic hero. Were we to implore that Bosolas role as a tragic hero is a convincing one, necessity predicates that he would need to have suffered each immense physical or mental strain and have exceed it to the extent that humanitys innate strength of will and character is reaffirmed or that by sacrificing himself, Bosola roughhow achieves salvation for others in the play as Raymond Williams puts it, others are made whole while he is broken4.While it i s a moot point as to whether he undergoes any woefulness, we whitethorn safely say that his death is not entirely a sacrifice, and thus his role as victim is almost entirely negligible his motives for killing Ferdinand are not limited to the avenging of the Duchess. As we have seen before, Bosola despises the two brothers he and his brother are like plum trees that grow crooked over standing pools and so does not kill them entirely out of some affection for the Duchess like the opportunist he is, he leaps at the materialize to wound Ferdinand (now my revenge is perfect sink, thou main make believe of my undoing ). Thus, Bosolas apparently selfless act has a novelty of incentives, ranging from the desire to take revenge on the Duchess murderers (for, although it is he who actually kills her, it is Ferdinand who instructs him to do so) to the final chance to dispatch of his masters. Although this scene is typically Jacobean in its goriness three characters die in quick successi on the dramatic tint of Bosolas death upon the audience is immense.Whether he dies a tragic heros death is questionable, but the scene shocks us enough Websters orchestration of the climactic fight allows a form of catharsis to take place, so that the audience is left with a sense of relief the antagonists have been punished and justice has been served. It is Bosolas questionable moral standards, however, that ultimately veto him from macrocosm designated a tragic hero.Drawing from other plays, it is possible to argue that there are characters whose integrity is called into question King Lear in his selfishness and small town in his rejection of Ophelia and yet these qualities are always balanced (if not outmatched) by their respective characters greatness of character. Bosolas contempt for an ethical approach, his perverse bow to the two brothers and utter aloofness in the face of human suffering all mark him out as a character whose flaws outweigh his virtues.At his death , therefore, we are left not only with a pity for a character whose downfall is tragically inevitable, but also with a sense of satisfaction that the antagonists received appropriate retribution, and that Bosolas last act was not one of altruism, but of personal vendetta. The notion of the tragic hero, both in the classical and the contemporary school is one which is constantly being questioned and redefined our concept of the tragic hero today is vastly different to that of the Grecian and, to an extent, that of the Elizabethan and Jacobean playwrights.The characters of Oedipus, Hamlet and Willy Loman (in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman) are all undoubtedly tragic heroes in their own right, but the criteria which make them tragic heroes are invariably different. To that end, therefore, our consideration of Bosola will neer be a comprehensive one. One thing, however, is obvious he is not a tragic hero in the traditional sense of the word. Although there are some tragic element s to his portrayal, there are others which run so contrary to any concept of the tragic hero that it is impossible for us to claim him worthy of the title.We may safely say, however, that while he may not wholly be a tragic hero, he is uncomplete wholly an antagonist he is only a misguided everyman who proves to us that even ordinary people can overcome their subjugators and triumph in the end. 1 Brian Gibbons, An Introduction to John Websters The Duchess of Malfi (1964) 2 Aristotle, Poetics XIII (350 B. C. E. ) 3 Zena Goldberg, Between worlds a field of honor of the plays of John Webster (1987) 4 Raymond Williams, Modern Tragedy (2006)