Tragic Hero Unit

We recently finished the tragic hero unit in literature. A tragic hero is a hero who falls from a great height because of a major, usually secret, flaw. Although we don't recognize people in society as "tragic hero's" that doesn't mean they aren't there.  After cycling great Lance Armstrong won 7 Tour De France titles, he was diagnosed with cancer. Even though cancer is not a controllable flaw, it let to his downfall.  Many people disagree as to what happened after his treatment and whether his blood doping was because of the chemotherapy treatment, or for the illegal use in cycling. For the sake of argument, we'll say that it was used illegally. Even after he had climbed back to the height of his old cycling days, the accusations of drug use ripped him back down. In this case, blood doping was his flaw. Here Lance demonstrates an excess of confidence. By returning to ride again, he regained his heroism, but in untraditional hero form, rose only to fall again. This rises the controversy of fate. Was Lance and every other Tragic hero destined for failure from the start? We saw that even a man who could overcome the tragic fall and returned to be a hero was only struck down. Was it lances fate to not be a hero forever? Personally i think he had a good run. Winning 8 tour de frances is a great place to end ones heroism. If that is the best fate can do to hold down a hero, i think that proves just how powerful fate is. The human will will always be stronger than fate.