Who Is Winston Smith A Tragic Hero

Significant changes of a man’s character are evident in where something’s wrong with the world and the society in where he lives. In the novel, “1984”, written by George Orwell writes a book which creates an outlook of an ordinary man named Winston Smith, the central character of “1984”. Winston is a kind of innocent in a world has gone wrong, and it is through him that the reader attempts to understand and feel the mix challenges of a man’s inner struggle to follow the rules in a world in which realistic optimism is impossible. Through this ordinary middle –aged man’s journey to change the world around him, the audience will see Winston’s failing acts and efforts throughout the course of the novel. Orwell illustrates a tragic hero whose passive rebellion character is withered and weakened by his own destructive downfall; struggles against his external reality and his failing efforts to rise above. At the beginning of the book, Winston Smith is portrayed as a passive character who strays from conformity and separates himself from the government; who exhibits dominance over all the citizens of Oceania. Winston works in the records department in the Ministry of Truth where he rewrites history according to the Party’s truth. Winston may exhibit rebellion acts outwardly towards the
Party he says he despises, but inwardly the author exhibits Winston as a man who is not true to his own principles as he willingly changes history according to the Party’s truth. His rebellion is evident as he repeatedly hides the illegally purchased diary from the watchful eye of Big Brother, “He had carried it guiltily home in his briefcase. Even with nothing written in it, it was a compromising possession” (Orwell, 6). The author shows Winston’s purchased the diary out of rebellion, not as a hero to preserve history since nothing of importance was written but useless words hidden in a diary, “His pen a slid voluptuously over the smooth paper, printing in large neat capitals, DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” (Orwell, 33). Winston has a love affair with Julia, a woman who he barely knows, “I hate purity, I hate goodness! I don’t want any virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones” (Orwell, 209). The author shows Winston no different than any other man as he exhibits his hate for purity and goodness when he fulfills his sexual acts merely out of rebellion. Winston’s character starts to display weaknesses as his own personal flaws are destined for downfall. Later in the chapter, Winston’s weak-willed broken spirit is clearly evident in his actions towards the end of the novel when the author lets the reader witness his betrayal towards the one who he vowed to love forever and in turn proclaims his love for Big Brother. The author reveals Winston’s powerlessness as he gives in to his fears when sent to Room 101, the Ministry of Love. Winston shouts out, "Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don’t care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones. Not me! Julia! Not me!" (Orwell, 481). The reader witnesses Winston as less of a hero when he saves himself by begging the authorities to let Julia suffer the torture instead of him. Winston, a man who once proclaimed his hate for Big Brother finally loses his will to fight back, surrenders and finds himself confessing his true love for Big Brother, “He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark mustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother” (Orwell, 500). Winston’s struggle with his thoughts to betray the party proved to be unnecessary considering he betrayed himself in the end. The novel concludes Winston as a broken protagonist who true character reveals a flawed human being who gives in when faced with the reality of his own fears. The author illustrates throughout the novel, Winston as a man who is weak in character rather a man who exhibits heroism. Even though Winston exhibits acts of rebellion and concern for the society he lives, his compliant state is best shown when under pressure he followed the crowd and conforms to the Party’s control even though contrary to his thinking, “Of course he chanted with the rest; it was impossible to do otherwise, To dissemble your feelings, to control your face, to do what everyone else was doing, was an instinctive reaction” (Orwell, 30). The reader views Winston’s characteristics nothing more than an ordinary human being who cowards in fear who does not stay true to his own convictions. Through the changes in Winston, Orwell conveys his character flaws outweighed any chance of calling him heroic.
The author shows Winston to be the opposite of a true hero since a real hero under pressure and moral convictions will set themselves apart and be true to themselves to the very end. Winston did not display any of these qualities even though Winston’s thinking is far from the Party’s. The author portrays Winston is nothing more than broken man through his own thoughts and behavior, and who does not embody the traditional characteristics of a heroic hero, but more of a passive weakened man who struggles against his external reality and his failing efforts to rise
above.