Comparison to Shakespeare

*"What a Catch, Donnie" by Fall Out Boy off of their album Folie à Deux*

Looking for Alaska, like Shakespeare, includes a tragic hero. As said before, Alaska is a tragic hero who can’t stop blaming herself for everything that goes wrong and can never forgive herself. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by Shakespeare, Brutus can be considered a tragic hero who puts honor above all else.

Alaska didn’t do anything truly heroic throughout the book, but neither did Julius Caesar in The Tragedy of Julius Ceasar- who can be arguably called one. While she wasn’t identified as particularly rich or royal blood, in Miles’ eyes she could be seen as something to that extent: “but I barely heard him because the hottest girl in all human history was standing before me in cutoff jeans and a peach tank top” (Green,14). In fact the Colonel says she from Vine Station, Alabama- a small irrelevant town. However in Miles eyes she’s interesting and great, just as Caesar was to the plebeians.

Another element of a tragic hero is audience pathos. Alaska is blamed by herself and her father for her mother’s death, depressed and believes she messes everything up. While her and her friends are smoking she points out the difference between her and them: “She smiled with all the delight of a kid on Christmas morning and said, ‘Y’all smoke to enjoy it. I smoke to die’” (Green, 44). Not only does the audience her questionable motives, but they also fear of what she’ll do to herself. She’s clearly unpredictable and the audience is scared of leaving her alone.

Her huge error in judgement is believing she is responsible that she is responsible for not only her mother’s death but anything that goes wrong in her life.

Her tragic death is that she was extremely drunk and driving while a car was coming at her and also she could’ve taken her life. After her death, Takumi, the Colonel and Miles try to figure out if it was suicide or drunk driving.

Her irreversible mistake was driving drunk which led to her death. She was an emotional wreck, questionably the alcohol, drunk and in no shape to go driving but felt she had to visit her mother.

One of the biggest elements of a tragic hero is their tragic flaw that leads to their downfall. Alaska’s tragic flaw is being unable to forgive herself and constantly blaming herself. Throughout the book, she’s very guarded and only a couple days before her life is over is when she reveals to her friends that she holds responsibility for her mother’s death: “‘Well you were a little kid,’ Takumi argued… ‘Yeah I was a little kid. Little kids can dial 911, the do it all the time’” (119, Green). Everyone but herself knows that her mother’s death wasn’t her fault. Soon after Miles and Alaska cheat on their boy/girl-friends, Alaska starts screaming about how much she messes everything up. The audience later learns that she forgot to visit her mother’s grave and in an attempt to put flowers on it she crashes and dies. She blames everything on herself and can’t see there are some things that cannot be controlled.

In Caesar, Brutus admits that, “‘The name of honor,  I fear more than death ’” (1.2.96).From this point on, Cassius knows exactly knows how to use and manipulate Brutus and use his tragic flaw to his own benefit. By putting honor above all else,Brutus allowed Marc Antony to sway the people of Rome to drive out the conspirators, kill his friend and kill himself. Brutus is too blinded by honor to see what else is inside people. For example, he believed Cassius had motives for the good of Rome while plotting Caesar’s murder yet he didn’t stop to question Cassius beyond that. With Marc Antony, he believed Antony was a harmless man who just wanted to give their friend a funeral but didn’t bother to stay and watch but rather hope he would follow his rules.

Brutus is nobility- his family created the Roman Republic. One of the many times Cassius attempts to manipulate Brutus, he tries to get Brutus become ruler of Rome: “‘Brutus’ and ‘Caesar’- what should be in that / ‘Caesar’? / Why should that name be sounded more than / yours?” (1.2.149-52).

The audience feels bad for Brutus because he is being manipulated and making all the wrong choices because he believes its the honorable and best thing for Rome. He believes that he and Cassius are working in Rome’s best interest and that Marc Antony is harmless. He doesn’t realize until his last words that he shouldn’t have killed Caesar: “Caesar, now be still./  I killed thee with not so half good a will” (Shakespeare, 5.5. 56-7).  Also, he will never see Cassius, the man who manipulated him and hurt him the most, as a bad, untrustworthy and manipulative person.

Brutus makes the irreversible mistake of killing Caesar. He decided that it was the best for Rome and that Caesar would be a bad ruler and trusts the disloyal plebeians to stand by him and see it was for the good of Rome. After the citizens turn on him and the conspirators, he’s goes into a battle with Antony in Philippi where he and Cassius kill themselves. His irreversible mistake not only led to his downfall but also to his death.  

Alaska and Brutus both are tragic heroes. Both have their tragic flaw which leads to their downfall, but in their case, death. While the two are very contrasting in their personalities, they are both still tragic heroes. john Green did a very good job of making Alaska’s heroicness buried deep inside the plot- however both Green and Shakespeare had tragic heroes.