Passage Analysis - Characterization of Said Mahran

This passage depicts elements of the tragic hero archetype within the protagonist of Said Mahran. It reveals his feelings towards his betrayers whilst in the act of satisfying his desire for revenge, which creates a psychotic mood. In doing so, the passage characterizes the protagonist further.

The tragic hero archetype is reflected through the portrayal of Said's hamartia and pride. His tragic flaw is his inability to adapt to change. He felt betrayed by Ilish, and how his wife left him to marry Ilish. This change included losing his daughter to rejection. Said's tragic flaw lead his mind to become saturated with the thought of revenge, and his focus changed from being on his daughter to purely getting revenge on his betrayers. This ultimately lead to his downfall as he became so obsessed with revenge that murder made him a wanted man, then he was eventually found and killed. Another aspect of the tragic hero is pride, which is clearly noticeable in Said. In this passage, Said says "Your turn will come! There's no escape from me! I'm the devil himself!" This use of dialogue depicts Said to be a confident person, who thinks he is great, even referring to himself as "the devil". He describes himself as the type of person who is one step ahead of everyone else, therefore filling himself with pride.

The stream of consciousness technique within this passage also reflects the tragic hero archetype, but also helps to characterize the protagonist. Within his interior monologue, Said says "You are now one of those who commit murder; you have a new identity now and a new destiny! You used to take precious goods--now you take worthless lives!" Not only do these sentences demonstrate that Said is uncaring about being a murderer, they show how inhumane Said has become. He does not show sad emotion that he killed somebody, he instead exclaims it without concern. Then, by referring to Ilish as a "worthless" life, it characterizes Said as an uncaring person who does not have concern for other's life. Even though he despises Ilish, he seems to link hatred with worthlessness. He also says "There's no escape from me", which reinforces the pride within himself.

For the reader, these aspects force them to see Said in a negative light. His overconfidence and referral to the devil characterizes Said into a psychotic person. Yet, the reader also still feels sympathy towards Said in the way that he is still feeling the rejection of his daughter, and he spares in ex-wife's life in order to have somebody to look after Sana.