Martin Luther King as a Tragic Hero

Martin Luther King: A Tragic Hero

“Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way,” Martin Luther King, Jr. once said this concerning one’s morals against the laws of society and government. King was an American clergyman, activist and key leader of the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He believed in using nonviolent civil disobedience in order to advance the movement. King‘s intentions were upright and he had his people’s best interests in mind. At 6:01 p.m., on April 4, 1968, a shot rang out and a bullet entered through King’s right cheek. He was pronounced dead at the mere age of 39, and yet it is said he “had the heart of a 60 year old.” Martin Luther King, because of the changes he made for society, is a hero to many in the United States today. The great Greek philosopher and polymath, Aristotle wrote out the characteristics he believed made a tragic hero. King’s life meets many of Aristotle’s criterions shown through his moral righteousness, his change in becoming more radical and his undeserved death.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was neither good nor evil in extreme, just an average man, however King’s moral beliefs and actions through his life made him better than most. According to Aristotle’s criteria, a tragic hero is “neither good nor evil in the extreme but a man like any of us, though the effect will be stronger if he is rather better than most of us.” King was an intelligent, hard-working young man who by the age of 15 completed high school; had graduated from college with a Bachelors’ of Sociology at 19; at 22 became an ordained Baptist minister; and received his doctorate by 27. Dr. King had a determined sense of justice and he strongly advocated for the belief that all men are created equal