It Was Not Just Her Fault

It Was Not Just Her Fault

A tragic hero is defined as “a person who must evoke a sense of pity and fear in the audience. He is considered a man of misfortune that comes to him through error of judgment.”

In the novella Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane, the main character Maggie can be defined as a tragic hero because she falls due to her error of judgement in people.

Maggie grew up in a tenement house with alcoholic parents,  a younger baby brother who died due to being neglected and an older brother who who got into many fights and defied laws. This household set the track for Maggie’s life, and defined her future regardless of who she was. Her parents would constantly be fighting and swearing at each other saying “Go teh hell.” (Crane 15) or be severely intoxicated and tearing up their house and destroying the furniture. This irradical type of behavior became normalized to Maggie, it was all she had known.

Through Maggie’s parents poor examples of how a person should act she saw Pete as “the beau ideal of a man.” (Crane 37) even though it was made clear to the reader he was not. Maggie was captivated by his charming looks, wealthy aristocratic vibe, and his brave heroic stories. On Pete and Maggie’s first date Pete brought her to an orchestra which she thought was a luxurious place, but was actually a hangout for prostitutes. Maggie thought Pete had proper manners when in reality he was very rude to the waiter who he had ordered beers from. When the waiter brought out the beers to the couple, Pete said “Say, what deh hell? Bring deh lady a big glass! What deh hell use is dat pony?”. (Crane 32) Pete’s ignorance towards others is shown when he does this, however “Maggie perceived that Pete brought forth all his elegance and all his knowledge of the high-class customs for her benefits. Her heart warmed as she reflected upon his condescension.” (Crane 32) Based on Pete’s actions, it is clear to the reader that Pete is not a gentleman, yet Maggie does not see this and thinks he stood up for her and was respectful but this is only because her parents had set bad examples about how a person should act. Maggie’s hamartia is shown through her inability to see who the true Pete is. Maggie is unable to understand who Pete really is because she is blinded by her infatuation towards him, and this inability to recognize his faults is what leads to her downfall.

Secondly, Maggie’s other tragic flaw is shown when she completely relies on Pete. Maggie’s downfall first starts when she became raveled in the fun of the dime museum, the Central Park Mengaries, and the Museums of Arts. On nights when the couple would go to plays, Maggie would connect herself to the “heroine who was being rescued from palatial home of her guardian, who is cruelly after her bonds, by the hero with the beautiful sentiments.”. (Crane 40) Maggie preserves Pete as the hero taking her away from her wretched home, and giving her joy. With all this happiness that filled Maggie, she became relient on it and looked to her partner to give her this happiness as “she leaned with a dependent air toward her companion. She was timid, as if fearing his anger or displeasure. She seemed to beseech tenderness of him.”. (Crane 57) Maggie’s inability to see who Pete truly is and her loss of self reliance while with Pete are the reasons for Maggie’s downfall in her story because she loses herself and her ability to not rely on others to survive. However, though the examples of hamartia lead Maggie to be viewed as a tragic hero, her downfall was not completely her fault. Throughout Maggie’s life she was never shown nor taught what a true, loving relationship looked like. Maggie only saw the toxic ones that her parents had, or the sex based relationships that her brother Jimmie had. These relationships that Maggie witnessed did not have love or enjoyable, fun dates to the Central Park Mengarine. Maggie’s parents and her brother Jimmy’s relationships created the image of a relationship for her. But, when Pete offered her a type of relationship where he took her on dates, and told her he loved her Maggie believed that she had found something very special and became completely reliant on him because he showed her joy in life outside of the tenement house which she had never known before: “So long as Pete adored her as he now said he did. She did not feel like a bad woman. To her knowledge she had never seen any better.” (Crane 58) Maggie’s parents and Jimmie can be blamed for part of Maggies downfall by setting bad examples of relationships. On the other hand, Pete is also to blame because he used Maggie for sex and was only fascinated by her looks and not building a loving relationship. Pete only made compliments to Maggie about the way her body looked: “Mag, yer a bloomin’ good-looker, he remarked, studying her face through the haze.”(Crane 58) and never about how he enjoyed going on the dates with her. During the dates the narrator describes Pete to not being interested in being out with Maggie, “ Pete did not appear particularly interested in what he saw. He stood around looking heavy, while Maggie giggled in glee.” (Crane 37) Yet, when it comes time for kissing Maggie, Pete immediately gains interests and tries to smooch her. The compliments only about her body and the lack of interest Pete had on his dates with Maggie are prime examples of Pete’s bad intentions. When he expected a kiss from Maggie this showed the reader that Pete was really trying to get in the bed with Maggie, and would even tell her he loved her to do it. Pete’s bad intentions in his relationship with Maggie is what makes partly responsible for Maggie’s downfall.

Though Maggie is considered a tragic hero because of her lack of judgement in people, her downfall is not entirely her fault because she was never taught what a loving relationship was and because Pete was a manipulative man who was in the wrong for tricking and using Maggie by saying he loved her.