THE AESTHETICS OF TRAGIC ICONOCLASM IN THE NIGERIAN NOVEL: EXAMPLES OF OKONKWO AND EZEULU

Abstract

Tragic characters are the ones who remain with us long after we have encountered them in literature. Comedy might have its uses, but tragedy, with its grave actions which culminate in a catastrophic end for the central character, proposes by its very nature manifold representations of suffering and pain that catenate with our perceptions of the fallibility of humanity, a tragic narrative that substantiates human mortality. Albeit over the centuries the aesthetics of the tragic mode has received several modifications, from its origin in Greek drama to its crystalization in other literary manifestations, its core elements seem little affected. The purpose of this study is to examine the nature of tragedy in the Nigerian novel. Starting the evaluation from the scrutiny of what undergirds the tragic discourse,the basic procedure of this paper examines the aesthetics of tragedy in Nigerian fiction, using the central characters in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God. The paper particularly analyses how the author treats the tropes of tragic "herohood" in the African context.One of the principal conclusions of this study is the discovery that the actions and inactions of the central figures are motivated by narcissistic orientations, and the crises in their tragic narratives are engendered by their attempts to mould societal history in a direction the community does not wish to go. In the ensuing crisis between the individual and the society, the individual invariably loses because "no man is greater than his community." The study discovers that though some aspects of the misfortune and anguish experienced by these tragic protagonists parallel those of classic Western literature, they introduce different contextual dynamics and characterological complexities to the architectonics of tragedy. The study concludes with the realisation that these dynamics and complexities have helped to create a new paradigm for tragedy in African literature.