Old man and the sea, santiago
Old man and the sea, santiagoAristotle first discovered the idea of the tragic man and recorded it in The Elements of Drama. Although the characteristics that he drafted were based from his experience with the Greek theater, the tragic man exists in multiple forms of art and literature. For example, many scholars consider Captain Ahab from Moby Dick a tragic man. Ernest Hemingway embraces the idea of a tragic man to show how modern literature portrays heroes. The heroes of this era illustrate that life is a solitary struggle more likely to end in failure or defeat than in victory. Hemingway wrote The Old Man and the Sea in 1952, which has the main character Santiago alone for the majority of the novel. Santiago is a tragic man because of his capacity for suffering, sense of commitment, and refusal to surrender.
The tragic man has a high endurance for anguish. He believes strongly in what he is doing, feels guilt and guiltlessness at the same time and therefore, he suffers. He attempts to justify his behavior but does not convince himself. Santiago believes in killing the giant marlin but he knows the fish is his brother. He struggles over whether he should kill him or not. He decides to kill. " 'I'll kill him though,' he said. 'In all his greatness and his glory.' Although it is unjust, he thought." The tragic man can endure pain and does not fear death. The old man sits in his skiff with the fishing line wrapped around his back. He is in a very uncomfortable position and the moving rope slices his hands. "I must hold his pain where it is, he thought. Mine does not matter. I can control mine. But his pain could drive him mad." Santiago endures all his pain while fighting the fish just like a tragic man would always suppress it.
Another characteristic of the tragic man is his sense of commitment. As soon as a conflict arises, he is in its hold until the resolution of the conflict. Santiago stays on the raft for several days waiting for the fish to tire. He would never give up and head back to Cuba. When the fish bites into the hook, the conflict between the marlin and Santiago begins. The old man remains locked in the battle. He will not waiver until the denouement, even if it means death. " 'Fish,' he said softly aloud, 'I'll stay with you until I am dead.' " The tragic man can change his decision and stop the conflict, but he always asserts his freedom of choose in order to continue the fight. "Fish, I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends." He decides to force an outcome before one would naturally occur. He is so dedicated to the struggle that he is blinded by everything but the end result. Every day he swears to defeat the fish before the day is through, but he never succeeds. "This will kill him, the old man thought. He can't do this forever. But four hours later the fish was still swimming steadily out to sea, towing the skiff." Santiago's desire to catch the fish beguiles him from all of his other functions. He is committed to the capture of the giant marlin.
The tragic man has a powerful belief in his own freedom. The tragic man, like Santiago, makes choices when faced with a decision. He then has faith and courage to face the consequences. If the aftermath is negative, he stands up to it with stoic bravery. Santiago makes a choice to go out far on the sea to look for fish. He says to the fish upon catching it, "His choice had been to stay in the deep dark water far out beyond all snares and traps and treacheries. My choice was to go there to find him beyond all people. Beyond all people in the world. Now we are joined together and have been since noon. And no one to help either of us." Santiago makes a decision to venture far out from shore and later regrets that choice. "I shouldn't have gone out so far." He faces the negative consequences because he has gone to far from shore and thus stays with the marlin until its subsequent demise by the sharks. Santiago ends up on the shore with a skeleton of a giant fish, which is the reason why he regrets his decision to travel far, so he stands and accepts this with courage because he believes in his choice.
Commitment, beliefs, and stamina make Santiago a tragic man. He could have backed down and came back to shore after making his decision, but that choice created a conflict. Santiago is absorbed by conflict like all tragic men and so he was trapped in the battle with the fish. His fight ended with him gaining nothing. Santiago failed because he did not return with the fish after several days fighting the marlin. Hemingway needed to make Santiago a tragic man in order to display the theme that the solitary struggle ends in failure or defeat. Tragic men are all over from the Greek tragedies to the modern novels.