The world of postcolonial literature revamped the concept of the Greek Hero in its appearance, work and place in the story. Probably because of the evolution in shape, style and narrative of politics, rather than poetics, the traditional Hero was replaced with the person, man or woman, who seemingly leads the story. Even one account may have several leaders and the reader may perceive who possibly is the one about and around whom the narrative revolves.
The hero in the Greek ages and later in the Elizabethan age were persons of grandeur but would be punished for their error of judgment of circumstances or abuse of some inherent flaw. Ge really, these heroes would be people of high status in society. For instance, Oedipus, Macbeth, Hamlet, Lear, or Marlowe were either generals, princes, or eminent scholars. It was believed that when such a person falls from prosperity and greatness because of his error of judgment, the feeling of pity is better aroused for cathartic effect. These heroes were mostly a one-man show, equipped with superhuman characteristics to set the world right or were used by the writer to solve one issue with their sacrifice. Hamlet could only set sin aside with his death, and King Lear could understand the truth only with his death. Oedipus discovered the reality with his death only.
At least in tragedies, that was the case which took a different position in comedies. For example, in Shakespearean comedies, the hero was a Nobel person but did not suffer or fall down from grace because of fate; instead, it was mostly a woman for whom he struggled to win her favour. The heroes of comedies were mostly a social struggle for love and romance rather than a fight for justice, which paved the way for the hero of the novel and Romantic stories.
With the rise of novels in the Victorian age, the hero further evolved and was more akin to the hero of Elizabethan comedies than the hero of tragedies. This hero, however, was a much more suitable one to the tale to be told lightly, less for cathartic effect and more for entertainment. Take, for instance, Darcy, Joseph, Tom, Clyme, Aziz, Pip, Sydney and Ramsay. In certain cases, women seem to lead the story, for example, Maggie Tulliver and Mrs Ramsay.
However, the postcolonial novel made the story more important than the person because it generated the message, and the men and women were made to fit in regardless of their social status, moral goodness, or consciousness of human suffering. They turned out to be more involved in their personal images and gains. That is why they are Sen as protagonists. Similarly, one story may have more than one protagonist, and women could handle the same position comfortably. For example, the protagonists in Mohsin Hamid writings, like Daru and Changez, are the persons who possess neither the characteristics of a Greek nor Elizabethan hero. They are ordinary men or women with their own ideologies and plans to make their world. They face and compete with the world around them. For example, Daru, initially a banker, becomes a robber and drug seller because he was left with no way out. But he was determined to succeed even at the cost of morality. Similarly, Changez attempted to create his new world in Pakistan after his American world was lost to him. Protagonists in the stories of Mohammad Hanif, like, Ali and Elie, are trapped in the common issues of humanity and attempt to come out of these in normal common ways. The same is the case with Okonkwo, Balram and Marlow, in some cases, the female protagonists lead the story more significantly. For example, please, Hyroko, Anika, and Vivian all make the world of their own and daringly eliminate the need of any male hero with them.
So, in general, the protagonists of the 20th and 21st centuries are the men and women attempting to run their life in the pervasively changing world around them and want to achieve their targets which they think is right and justified. They are compromises sometimes but mostly keep their point of view persistently essential for them to achieve their peace of mind by defeating the opponents or getting defeated at their hands. They seemingly pursue an agenda at the national level, representing their people and aspirations. These protagonists are the world’s citizens and know the power of the technologies around them. They are part of movements run for the benefit of the whole of humanity. And consequently, the heroes of past did have their own places, yet the protagonists of the contemporary ages are more nearer to the average men and women today who are waging constant efforts to make their life successful in the corporately global world.
The writer is a professor of English at Government Emerson University, Multan. He can be reached at [email protected] and Tweets at @Profzee