Troy Maxson, a Tragic Hero

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TROY MAXSON, A TRAGIC HERO

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Concept of a tragic hero has been evolved through time as many authors have weaved
their own modes of tragic hero in their tragedies. Tragic hero generally refers to a type of
protagonist or a character who demonstrates courage at the edge of danger or the one who
deservingly or undeservingly faces downfall in the end (Wise 119). This study revolves around
the character analysis of Troy Maxson, the protagonist of ‘Fences’ by Wilson. For that reason,
the study has examined the character of Troy Maxson as a tragic hero in the light of Aristotle’s
and Arthur Miller’s concepts of tragic hero. Moreover, the study has aimed at establishing that
Troy Maxson can be termed as a tragic hero by comparing his journey in the play with the
characteristics of a tragic hero as stated by the above mentioned authors.
As per the plot of the ‘Fences’, Troy Maxson has been portrayed as a man who has both
negative and positive sides. For example, the character of Troy has been portrayed as a
controlling man who used to have an authority in the beginning of the play (Jabboury 9). In order
to be more specific, Troy has been seen to reject his son’s idea of joining football team of a
college. On the other hand, he did so because he was sure that his son would get an unequal
treatment because he was black. This is so because Troy has been seen to tell Bono, his friend,
about how he never got a chance to participate in the baseball team in his childhood because of
being a colored person. So, it can be said that he has been trying to protect Cory from getting the
same experience. In opinion of Akwanya (41), one of the most important features in Aristotelian
tragic hero is that the tragic hero is powerful, brave and sometimes virtuous. In this regard, this
can be said that Troy has been portrayed as a powerful man who is respected because he has
never denied his responsibility towards his family.
There is an instance where Rose, his wife, asks him the reason behind his involvement in
the trouble when he replies that his involvement is nothing uncommon for a man. According to
Queiroz (339), Aristotle sees tragic hero as a person who is the victim of some kind of
misfortune that evokes pity for that person when the tragic hero comes closer to own downfall or
nemesis. In this context, this can be mentioned that Troy has faced a lot of struggle in his
childhood as his father was not as responsible as he was to his family. On the contrary, he got
neither emotional nor materialistic support from his father and thus lived a terrible childhood
(Nindita, Prita and Much 31). One of the heroic sides in his character is that he never followed
the path of his father and rather always proved himself to be a good father.