Brief plot overview
The movie follows the life of Charles Foster Kane, and the movie starts off with the death of the main character Charles, and his final dying words “Rosebud” The movie does not the normal chronological order, but instead takes place after the death of the main character, and follows a reporter investigating his life, but features flashbacks to his life as the reporter speaks to the people that were close to him. One of the defining moments of his character was when he was starting out in the newspaper industry when he put on the front cover that he would pledge to only say the truth in his newspaper. However, throughout the play he slowly spirals into corruption, losing his core values, losing his close friends and people close to him. At the end of the movie, it is discovered that the word “rosebud” was what his sled from his home was called before he was taken away to inherit all of the wealth. The meaning of “rosebud” was that he realised the only time he truly felt loved and at home was when he was still with his family.
How is Kane characterised as the tragic hero
Kane is characterised as the tragic hero of the movie by the use of the usual traits or experiences a tragic hero goes through in their journey. One of these is his hubris, his fatal flaw, his fatal flaw is his arrogance and his belief that whatever he says is true, and that he can sway and influence what people think. He is an ordinary person that is no better or worse morally than the average person. The audience begins to realise this as they see how the mistakes he makes affect the overall outcome of his life. This then leads into his peripeteia, also known as his reversal of fortune. This occurs when it is discovered that he is having an affair with a woman that would then end up becoming his second wife. When this fact is discovered he is disgraced, and forced out of the race to become the governor of the state, essentially ending his political career. Kane’s final word “rosebud” shows his anagnorisis, his realisation that he was the cause of his own suffering. And that he never knew what is like to love or to be loved, seeing as he was taken away from his family at such a young age because they thought that would provide him with a better life, instead all he was given was a richer life, although it was empty because he was missing out on the things that most take for granted, friendship and love. Although he had all the money a man could ever need as soon as he lost his companionship he effectively had nothing, and he only realises this as he takes his final breaths.
The narrative structure is manipulated so that the audience experiences a heightened cathartic experience
The movie begins with the death of the main character Kane, meaning that immediately