Examining Troy Maxson's Tragic Hero Status in August Wilson's 'Fences'

This essay provides a comprehensive character analysis of Troy Maxson, the protagonist of August Wilson's play 'Fences', examining him through the lens of a tragic hero. The study explores Troy's character in light of Aristotle's and Arthur Miller's concepts of a tragic hero, highlighting both his heroic qualities and tragic flaws. It delves into Troy's complexities, including his controlling nature, his motivations for protecting his son, and his struggles with societal limitations. The essay compares Troy's journey with the characteristics of a tragic hero, focusing on his hamartia, self-centeredness, and stubbornness. The analysis further discusses the impact of his actions on his family and the ultimate tragedy of his life, considering the play's themes of race, family, and the pursuit of dreams. The essay concludes by emphasizing the complexity of Troy's character, which evokes both pity and anger from the audience, and his representation of the struggles faced by a common man of color.

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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.

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Apart from the heroic qualities, Troy has done some mistakes that can make the readers
see him as a tragic hero. In this context, this can be mentioned that unlike Aristotle, Arthur
Miller is one of the writers who viewed tragic heroes in a different light. He supports Aristotelian
view of tragic hero when he shares the thought that tragic heroes are worthy of greatness but for
him, a person does not have to be a prince or a kind in order to be a tragic hero. According to
MacLellan (49), Miller’s tragic hero can be found in any common man who lives his ordinary
life with grandeur through his heroic qualities. In the light of this argument, it can be stated that
Troy is a mixture of both the concepts of tragic hero. This is so because he is s common man
with a common profession who inherits some tragic flaw which ultimately drags him down
towards his downfall.
The hamartia of the Aristotelian tragic hero can be traced in the self centeredness and
stubbornness of Troy. For example, he did not allow Cory to join in the football team despite
knowing that the old world has been changed and that Cory would not face what he faced in his
childhood. The play describes him as a good man but with a cruel outlook who does not know
how to show love. The tragedy lies in the fact that his family get to know about the goodness in
him after he dies. Difference between a hero and a tragic hero lies on the fact that a tragic hero is
a more complex character whom the reader cannot decide whether to admire or to hate. As
mentioned by Zamunaro (27), this complexity generates catharsis for which the readers feel pity
for the character in the end. Troy Maxson has been crafted as a character for which the readers
feel both pity and anger at the same time. The resistance of Troy to change with the passing time
has made him cruel and self centered.
It is obvious that, unlike lives of princes or kings, life of a common man has another kind
of tragedy that does not involve any physical war. In the case of Troy, there is a battle going on
inside his psyche that he fails to win. Troy’s life is a miniature of any contemporary man of color
who had dreams like every regular person but had faced with adversity on the way of the
fulfillment of his dreams (Yaşayan 131). It is true that he lived a delusional life and never
believed the people around him. On the other hand, it is also true that he has followed a
misguided path because he had a misguided journey throughout his life because of being born as
a colored man. Thus, the ‘fence’ that he has built has separated him not only from seeing the
reality but also from his own son. Moreover, his good motives have been blended with his cruel

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actions in such a complicated way that he never got to live a happy life and never let anybody
see the hero in him.

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