Is Falder a conventional tragic hero?

Aristotle, the great Greek philosopher in his famous book, "Poetics" deduces the qualities of a tragic hero. From his point of view, ideal tragic hero "must be an intermediate kind of person, a man not pre-eminently virtuous and just, whose misfortune, however, is bought upon him not by vice or depravity but by some error of judgement." This "error of judgement" is termed as 'hamartia'. He also asserts, the tragic hero must occupy a position of lofty eminence in society. According to him, "Higher the state the greater the fall that follows." This fall evokes the pity and fear in the mind of the audience.


            "Justice", a notable problem play and social tragedy by Galsworthy is the result of Galsworthy's grim experience after visiting the convict prison of Dartmoor in September, 1907. In this play, Folder is the tragic hero, but he is not conventional. In some places, he distinguishes from the conventional or Aristotlian tragic hero.


             Falder, the tragic protagonist of the play, is a clerk in the firm form of solicitors. Whereas the heroes of the Greek or the Shakespearean are grand, sublime in conception, Titanic and superhuman in vigour and force, gigantic and mammoth in dimensions, Falder belongs to the common rank of humanity. He does not occupy any eminent place. Here he deviates from the concept of conventional tragic hero like Oedipus, Macbeth, Hamlet.


              Falder is not a person who is too good or too bad. He is an intermediate kind of person. And he does not face his tragedy because of some 'hamartia' or 'tragic flaw' or 'error of judgement'. He only makes the offence of forgery from nine to ninety. But he has done it not because of any bad intention,  but because he wants to save Ruth from the torture of her brutal husband. But before his flight with Ruth, his crime is discovered and he is arrested. From this point of time, his tragedy begins as Mr. Frome, the defence counsel says in the Trial Scene, "The rolling of the chariot wheels of justice over this boy began when it was decided to prosecute him."


             Galsworthy is a realistic writer and he shows the problems of society and law through the tragedy of Falder. In the Trial Scene, Mr. Frome considers Falder as 'a patient' and not a criminal and compares 'justice' to a "machine that when someone has once given it the starting push rolls on of itself." He also considers 'justice' as a 'chariot' and the "chariot wheels of justice" finish the life of Falder. According to him, "Men, like the prisoners are destroyed daily under our law for want of that human insight."


             A conventional tragic hero suffers from his "tragic flaw". But in the case of Falder, he is not dominated by any flaws. He does not work in a "momentary solace", in a "moment of aberration." Falder is a weak-willed character as Mr. Frome says to the Judge, "bred and born with a weak character." He is a victim of the maligned force of society. Though Mr. Frome pleads to judge him from the humanitarian point of view, Mr. Cleaver considers it as "one of the most serious known to our law" and the Judge asserts, "The crime you have committed is a very serious one." And finally he is sentenced to imprisonment.


              Through the "Mute Scene", Galsworthy shows the deep rooted agony of a prisoner during the time of his solitary confinement. Though the scene is without any dialogue, it is capable enough to arouse pity for Falder Calder and fear for the system of prison administration. However, after two years he has been released from the prison, but he is ordered to report in the police station regularly. But he does not do this. So he is again found by the Detective Sergeant Wister. And finally he "throwd up his head and goes out through the outer office" and surrenders to death and a "dead silence" swallows the situation.


         Thus though Falder does not occupy any eminent place or higher state, his death occurs pity and fear in the mind of of us and helps in bringing out the catharsis of these emotions. Falder is not a conventional tragic hero, but he is an impo8