Is Pride Santiago’s Downfall or is it His Heroic Trait?

Santiago is seen sometimes as a tragic hero, and pride is one of his said downfalls. Pride can do a lot to a person. It can make them, or it can break them. In The Old Man and the Sea, I think it does both. Santiago addresses his pride several times in the novel. First he questions it.  “You did not kill the fish only to keep alive and to sell for food, he thought. You killed him for pride and because you are a fisherman. You loved him when he was alive and you loved him after. If you love him, it is not a sin to kill him. Or is it more?” (Hemingway, pg. 105) Pride, he believes, is the real reason that he killed the fish. Because of his bad luck streak, he felt the need to redeem himself, and he did this by traveling far out to sea to catch a fish. When he caught the Marlin, Santiago knew he was huge. In fact, later he found out he was so huge, he was as big as his own boat, making it an almost impossible catch. But it was Santiago’s own pride that drove him to stick it out and attempt to catch the Marlin despite it’s massive size.  His pride in himself was what motivated him to continue chasing after the Marlin. It helped him achieve his goal.  Later on, though, Santiago begins to curse his own pride, and blames it for his undoing and the destruction of his prize Marlin. “Fish that you were. I am sorry that I went too far out. I ruined us both.” (Hemingway, pg. 115) He was so prideful in himself that he believed he could handle going so far out to sea. He believed in his skill as a fisherman and thought that would get him by.Unfortunatly, in the end, going far out was a terrible idea because it separated him from land and from help. He went so far out no other fishermen could come to his aid when the sharks attacked, and he lost his fish. Despite this, his pride helped him beat the sharks too. He took them on, fighting like he’d never fought before, using whatever means necessary. He had pride in his own strength, and believed that it would hold him till the end.  Pride was his motivation, and it made him force himself to fight because he didn’t want to die at the hand of sharks so close to victory. He survived, and his pride DID save him, but it was too late for his fish. Santiago’s pride helped him and undid him. His pride was his motivation and heroic trait, and it was his downfall.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.