Titanic Reflection

While watching the Titanic I began to see all parts of the tragic hero journey play out. What makes the captain of the Titanic a tragic hero is his initial arrogance and overconfidence. He believes that he can conquer anything and in the process he puts other lives in danger. Because of his high status others did not question his risky decisions, at least not directly that is. That fuelled his ego even more and he began to push the abilities of the ship to their breaking point. In this way he is selfish because he realizes if he makes the ship go as fast as possible he will become even more famous and well known. This unity of action is what the audience begins to pick up on, cause and effect chain of events.
 The peripeteia or reversal of intention comes when others realize that the ship isn't supposed to be going so fast but they light up another engine anyway. The captain's hubris gets in the way of reality and others safety. Anagnorisis comes when the crew members see a iceberg in the distance and the captain and his co-workers understand the effects of the lighting of the extra engine. The scene of chaos then comes into play when many on the ship come to a survival or death conclusion. Due to the limited life boats on the ship the majority of people will die, some people except that fact and others do not and fight for hopeless survival. Lastly the cartharsis is shown when the boat is finally sinking and many lives are brought to a close. Also the captain is shown in his quarters going down with the rest of the ship peacefully as he realizes the effect that his small decision has had on the rest of the people on the ship.