It's no surprise by now that Star Wars fans everywhere were stunned to learn that The Galaxy Far, Far Away didn't sustain the happy ending of Return of the Jedi. The Force Awakens showed us that... Han and Leia are separated, their son went rogue and turned to the dark side, the Empire is gone but The First Order has risen, the New Republic didn't turn out the way everyone hoped and, most importantly, Luke bolted. That ain't good.
Perhaps it's the hardest lesson to learn in life; we experience and witness more tragedy than triumphs. We endure more loss than gain. To paraphrase an old adage; Life is a sad grind, punctuated by brief burst of elation and illuminancy. Boy, those are happy thoughts. However, we wouldn't appreciate the highest of highs if we haven't dabbled in the lowest of lows. Maybe that should be our take away with Round 1 of the Sequel Trilogy. In the Star Wars universe it is tragedy that rules the day.
Over the years, I've taught my students about tragic heroes. We've discussed many of the usual suspects: Hamlet, Oedipus, Antigone, Othello, Macbeth, Willy Loman... We've even discussed true life tragic heroes: Malcolm X, LBJ, Nixon, Timothy Treadwell. Students have even shared their own examples: Mufasa, The Sandman, Albous Dumbledore... Yet, some of the best examples of Aristotle's "tragic hero" come from Star Wars. While Anakin Skywalker tops the list, ROTS showes us that Obi-Wan Kenobi deserves consideration. Then along comes TFA and now we have to add Han Solo and Luke Skywalker to that list. Who would have ever thought George Lucas and Joseph Campbell's posterboy example of the Hero Journey (Luke) could also fit Aristotle's tragic pattern?
I will examine how these characters fit Aristotle's criteria in future blogs. Please share your ideas and stay tuned!
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