Tragic Hero

A Tragic Hero (or Tragic Heroine, if a woman) is the protagonist of a tragedy.

Description
The tragic hero is usually the spiteful and rebellious underdog figure who knows all the while his passions and aspirations are dangerous or futile and will lead to severe punishment but go's ahead and does it anyway.

Since tragedy involves the "fall" of a tragic hero, one theory is that one must have a lofty position to fall from, or else there is no tragedy (just pathos). Another explanation of this characteristic is that tragedies involving people of stature affect the lives of others. In the case of a king, the tragedy would not only involve the individual and his family, it would also involve the whole society.

The tragedy is usually caused through the actions of the Tragic Hero, usually of their own free-will.

Folklore/Mythology

 * Prometheus (Greco-Roman Mythology)

Literature

 * Satan (Paradise Lost)
 * Victor Frankenstein (Frankenstein)