Write a story about a tragic hero.

Posted in Dramatic on Jun 28, 2024

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✍️ 57 stories

“Reluctant Happiness, Resilient Joy” by ♡ Tana ♡

Submitted to Contest #257

I didn’t want to save you, Papa, I hope you know that. On that beautiful summer day, August bursting into September with all the fanfare of goldenrod, I was truly happy. I ran up your cracked steps, skipping the silver lines like a child mindful of my mother’s back, feeling lighter than I had in years.I was about to tell you that you were going to be a grandfather, that Julian and I were going to move to your neighborhood, that you would be able to come over for barbecues and pool days and first toddling steps. I was about to tell you t...

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“A Tragic Hero?” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #257

It was time in town for the election of the mayor and the regional representatives. The mayor had significant power over the elected underlings in this town. One main reason for that was that the family that owned by far the largest factory in town, the Montagues, who employed over 150 people, also pretty much owned the mayor as well. They had a method of doing this which had long been foolproof. They would sponsor a meeting in the largest room in their factory, in which those wanting to be elected to the position, would ...

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“The Honor of Death” by Brandon Cox

Submitted to Contest #257

Kai emerged into the stifling heat to a reluctant applause from what he guessed was a middling crowd, but when he spared a sour glance up into the rows of stone seating, he found the colosseum brimming with patrons. He pulled on his tattered gear, peering up to the top levels to find tiny figures of men milling about in a rush beneath the crimson royal banners. “Damn them and the king’s bloody games,” he muttered into his shaggy beard, already growing tired of the festivities. His head slumped back down to study the sands shifting beneath hi...

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“A Drop of Sunshine, A Tear of Sadness” by Maunikha Rasineni

Submitted to Contest #257

Joy. Cheer, jolliness, delight, enjoyment. So many words to describe one feeling. Happiness. Yet none of those describe what I’m feeling now. I sit in the back of the carriage, feeling lonely and claustrophobic, with the carriage's natural darkness doing nothing to stop it. Theo, my brother, snuggles close to me for warmth from the winter air - he’s probably terrified too. I hear his small voice echo in the crowded carriage, “Valley, why are we going to Windsglen?” Windsglen, the capital of the country: the most populated, the plac...

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“Not an Accident” by Nyla Porter

Submitted to Contest #257

CONTENT WARNING: This story contains themes of sexual violence, bullying, mental health, racism, and physical violence in varying levels of detail. Please continue at your own risk. Living here, in this small, ignorant town, going to my small, naive high school, looking like I do, loving who I do, sucks. And that’s to say the least. For some background, I live in a small town in the countryside of Tennessee called Greentown. I go to a high school called Cookie-Cutter, which is ironic because it is much like a high school you would see on T...

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“Cyanide Apples” by Perseus Patroclus

Submitted to Contest #257

We were schoolboys, oblivious to the outside world. Children, pure and uncorrupted. Best friends. Star-crossed lovers. Romeo and Juliet, every fiber of the world trying to tear us apart. At least that’s how it was in my mind, hoping one day he’d realize how much he actually adored me and I wouldn’t have to wait any longer. Perhaps it was more like Helena and Demetrius, me lapping at his heels and begging for affection, him unaware of my feelings. It seemed he was my one true love, even if he wasn’t fully aware of it. I tried not to lust afte...

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“Tale of the Horse Rescuer” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #257

A nightmare took over the mind of Harold Thumperton on September 15, 1818 and caused him to toss and turn all night in a restless sweat. His dream recalled in much too vivid detail the tumultuous sail across the Atlantic that had brought him from England five years before to seek his fortune as a wheat farmer in the rich fields of Maryland’s Lower Eastern Shore. Over the course of the eight-week journey the ship carrying Harold and his family had run into seas so ro...

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“Bone Eaters” by Rob Garth

Submitted to Contest #257

Castus was deep in the ancient wood, it had been a long, difficult journey, but now it was close to done. He smiled. It quickly turned to a grimace as pain shot through his face. He may never be able to see out of his left eye again, a dirty white handkerchief serving as an eye patch, wrapped roughly around his head, but as he might not live past lunch it seemed of little consequence. At least Castus thought it was morning, and from the hunger pains he felt, probably close to lunch. It seemed oddly cruel that his last meal might have been mo...

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“The Fall of a Hero” by Emily :)

Submitted to Contest #257

Achilles was a hero. All of Greece would know it when he went to war against the Trojans and killed their most valued warrior, Hector, son of Priam. Prior to that, Achilles was merely a boy. A boy, favoured by Phthia's people, who played the lyre and spent time on Mount Pelion with the wise mentor Chiron, learning music and hunting. He would grow up to be a somebody. Patroclus was none of that. Unlike Achilles, Patroclus couldn't play the lyre and wasn't liked by his father's men. He only spent time with the centaur because of Achilles. He w...

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“Honor Killing” by Cedric Herman

Submitted to Contest #257

Sensitive content note: implied sexual abuse, violence & gore, mental disability. Inside a cell encased by four-inch thick walls, housing one narrow bed and a toilet, locked behind a heavy, iron door with a narrow slit window of fortified glass, sits a man humming. His face has no hair, only scars littering his skin like an infection—none bigger than a needle but more numerous than a flock of locusts. His left eyelid is permanently swollen, swallowing half of his sight. Inmates call him ‘The Cyclops’. His nose has a dent in the middle, c...

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“The Bullet That Changed Forever” by Eva Reyes

Submitted to Contest #257

I don’t think he knew I noticed him. After all, he was the shy kid, never speaking and hardly breathing. I wished I could’ve talked to him more than I did. I thought of all the times my friends had pushed me into him and we all laughed heartlessly. I remember one day, in class when my friends had purposefully dumped glue all over his seat. He sat in it without realizing it was there. The whole class burst out laughing. Even after they stopped I still heard it. I could see his cheeks redden and his eyes glisten with tears. A single tear...

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“Tears in Space” by M B

Submitted to Contest #257

The alarms were blaring as the ship drew closer to the wormhole. Systems were failing and the vessel shuddered like it was having a seizure. Theodore Sphinx was floating in the chaos along with various other objects that had either broken loose or were never secured before the gravity drive failed. Using a crate to propel himself to the other side of the wall, he moved like the experienced spaceman he was: He hadn’t made it so far up the ranks of the patrol just for looking good in uniform. How had this all gone wrong, The blonde...

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“The Noble Heart” by Jane Andrews

Submitted to Contest #257

Author's note: Technically, a tragic hero in Shakespeare's plays is someone of noble birth whose fatal flaw ultimately leads to their demise. My story is written in the vein of a traditional Persian fairy tale (think of The Thousand and One Nights) but with a tragic hero of lowly birth. You could argue that her noble heart is her fatal flaw, much like the richer Timon of Athens in Shakespeare's play of the same name. There was once a young girl and her name was Nousha. When Nousha was born, her mother breathed her last, and so it was that No...

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“Waves of Betrayal” by Stefan Sofiski

Submitted to Contest #257

“Our next speaker is Mihail… Ehm, I’m pretty sure I’m going to get this wrong. Ion… Ionesco?” The session moderator turned to Mihail with an exaggerated puzzled expression.“Ah, yes… That’s right”, Mihail said.“I am sorry, I don’t do well with names from…” The woman looked down at her program. “Moldova? I am sorry. I must admit I don’t know where this is.” The moderator turned to face the audience, raising her hands in a mock gesture of surrender. A stifled chuckle ran through the lecture room.Mihail felt a rush of blood to the head. His tie ...

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“Making Mountains” by Carol Stewart

Submitted to Contest #257

Matt couldn’t remember his father, but he could recall the slippers – boats with no sail, no means of manoeuvre from Port Hearth to Chair, other than that which he conjured up in his four-year-old brain, and which, when his mother was busy elsewhere, as was often the case, he physically effected, steering the choppy tides of Carpet by the power of his own two hands; a whizz across the ocean bright, safe docking in the harbour, and then the passengers would come - all the way down the slippery slopes of Footrest; soldiers with their guns...

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Write a story about a tragic hero.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 57 stories

“Reluctant Happiness, Resilient Joy” by ♡ Tana ♡

“A Tragic Hero?” by John Steckley

“The Honor of Death” by Brandon Cox

“A Drop of Sunshine, A Tear of Sadness” by Maunikha Rasineni

“Not an Accident” by Nyla Porter

“Cyanide Apples” by Perseus Patroclus

“Tale of the Horse Rescuer” by Bob Faszczewski

“Bone Eaters” by Rob Garth

“The Fall of a Hero” by Emily :)

“Honor Killing” by Cedric Herman

“The Bullet That Changed Forever” by Eva Reyes

“Tears in Space” by M B

“The Noble Heart” by Jane Andrews

“Waves of Betrayal” by Stefan Sofiski

“Making Mountains” by Carol Stewart

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story named after, and inspired by, one of Shakespeare's plays. Think modern retellings, metanarratives, subversions, etc.

Write your story in the form of a script, complete with stage directions.

Write a story in which a case of mistaken identity plays a pivotal role.

Set your story during rehearsals for a production of a Shakespeare play.

Contest #257

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

215

Contest entries

79

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: