What makes a solid tragic character?

Yes M.A.S.H. was never the same after Harry Morgan left.

 

The first that comes to mind is Dido from book 4 of the Aeneid. It was just the way her character changed, from a strong indepedent queen and founder of a city to her descent into insanity.

The part that really got to me was her final dying speech where she has a clear mind, after days of madness, and she accepts death talking about how she founded a city, and saw her towers rise. And of course that famous line "we shall die unavenged, but let us die" made me cry.

I think the tragic elements often coms at the end in reflection. Obviously Im basing this completely off of Dido though. Although even characters like Scarlett O'Hara are like that.

 

Although not my favourite tragic character, but I think one that deserves a mention due to this works astounding popularity at the moment, is Jaime Lannister in 'A Song of Ice and Fire'. Although George R R Martin builds a very vivid world, I think his writing sometimes suffers in that his characters are not particularly developed and are often only there to offer a perspective on a more interesting character (an example would be the way that through Sansa we see what Littlefinger is up to). In my opinion, Jaime is Martin's greatest creation as he goes from being a detestable villain with no redeeming features, to a nuanced arguably heroic character.

SPOILERS BEGIN HERE. Basically he starts the books being called the "Kingslayer" and despised by all the nobles that live for honour and justice as Jaime broke his vows and killed the old king, Aerys, in a previous rebellion. In the first half of the first book, he pushes a seven year old out of a window, crippling him for life, and is also revealed to be sleeping with the Queen (his own twin sister) and is the father of her children, who everyone thinks are the children of her husband. He then generally goes around being an idiot, killing people and getting taken captive and being snarky and rude to lots of people. However, you get to see him almost entirely from his enemies perspective. The only one redeeming view you get is from his brother, who doesn't seem to think he is so bad.

Role forward to book three, you suddenly get chapters from his perspective, and you start to see the motivations for what he has been doing. Firstly, he killed King Aerys because Aerys was mad and was going to commit genocide on the whole capital city and kill Jaime's dad, so Jaime seemingly did it for the greater good. His enemies then framed him as the "Kingslayer" and because he couldn't break out of this image, decides to live up to it. You then start to see that he does genuinely love his sister, and although this love might be misdirected, in his mind there is nothing wrong with it. Then he goes and makes friends with a female knight called Brienne, and he realises that she is all the things he wanted to be as a child - honourable, brave, noble etc. As he grows closer to Brienne, you see him drifting away from his sister and starting to almost redeem himself. Then BOOM, he goes and gets his sword hand cut off, and he has to re-evaluate his whole life and he gradually, gradually starts regretting all the bad things he's done, and with the help of Brienne, starts to become a better person. The series is not yet finished, but I suspect that Jaime is going to do some final big noble deed to finally make him a hero in everyone's eyes. SPOILERS END HERE.

It is this transition that makes him, in my eyes at least, tragic, because it is his constant pursuit of chivalry that ultimately forces him to make tough decisions, and because society views him as a monster, he plays to type.

Another character who is maybe not tragic, but certainly in that vein (and previously mentioned) is Scarlett O'Hara. I read 'Gone with the Wind' in the summer and fell in love with the book, but god, Scarlett is infuriating. It's blatantly obvious to everyone bar her that she loves (and is more compatible with) Rhett, but she insists she loves Ashley and goes out of her way to get him. She does some horrible things (marries for money to get back at Ashley's sister, is horrible to Ashley's wife, Melanie, even though Melanie is a supportive friend, and steals her sister's fiancee to get money) as well as some morally questionable things (very unloving towards her children, murders in self defence, is physically violent), and in the end, it's her own stupidity and recklessness that costs her Rhett's love, even though he has been devoted to her for years. But, the book ends with the sense that she will think up some other scheme to win Rhett back, with "tomorrow is another day!"