What characteristics make a tragic hero? Aristotle once defined the tragic hero as a person of noble or influential birth, who has a moral personality. The tragic hero also must have a hamartia, which is a fatal flaw. This fatal flaw is the cause of the person's downfall. In Julius Caesar, the famous play by William Shakespeare, there are numerous examples of tragic heroes. The character the play was named after, Julius Caesar, is a perfect example of a tragic hero. He possesses all of the characteristics that Aristotle named to be a tragic hero. Brutus, perhaps the main character, is also a terrific example of a tragic hero. Brutus' wife, Portia, who committed suicide, is another tragic hero. All of these characters follow Aristotle's "rules" to be a tragic hero wonderfully.

Julius Caesar, the great general whom the peasants worshipped in the beginning of the play, is...