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Discover LudwigThe word "hamartia" is correct and usable in written English
It is a Greek term that refers to a tragic flaw or error in judgment that leads to the downfall of a tragic hero in a literary work. It can also be used to describe a fatal weakness or mistake in a person's character that ultimately leads to their downfall. Example: In William Shakespeare's play "Hamlet," the protagonist's hamartia is his indecisiveness and obsession with seeking revenge, which ultimately leads to his tragic downfall.
Dictionary
hamartia
noun
The tragic flaw of the protagonist in a literary tragedy.
synonyms
Exact(15)
But Hamlet, in a comment on the nature of hamartia, is a fatalist when he broods on the "mole of nature," the "one defect" that some men are born with, "wherein they are not guilty," and that brings them to disaster (Act I, scene 4).
Aristotle says that a tragic destiny is precipitated by the hero's tragic fault, his "error or frailty" (hamartia), but Aristotle also calls this turn of events a change of "fortune".
As a tragedy, the play adroitly exemplifies the traditional Classical model of a good man brought to misfortune by hamartia, or tragic flaw; as Othello grieves, he is one who has "loved not wisely, but too well" (Act V, scene 2, line 354).
Aristotle introduced the term casually in the Poetics in describing the tragic hero as a man of noble rank and nature whose misfortune is not brought about by villainy but by some "error of judgment" (hamartia).
The search for an Aristotelian hamartia has led all too often to the trite argument that Hamlet suffers from melancholia and a tragic inability to act, whereas a more plausible reading of the play argues that finding the right course of action is highly problematic for him and for everyone.
Susan Sontag suffers from the same hamartia, according to Mendelsohn, who is endlessly fascinated by how the lack of self-knowledge makes self-betrayal inevitable.
If you're unfamiliar with hamartia, it may sound like the sort of medication your family doctor would prescribe to ward off a series of colds or a massive coronary.
Do forgive the remote diagnosis but it is clear by now that Maria Sharapova has tested positive for hamartia.
I don't care if we're tricked into empathising, even sympathising with her, just so long as we get hamartia, hubris and anagnorisis as well.
Pretty much ever since, critics have spent a lot of time arguing whether hamartia means a moral flaw or a tragic error.
Similar(1)
The tragic hero must be neither a villain nor a virtuous man but a "character between these two extremes,…a man who is not eminently good and just, yet whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty [hamartia]." The effect on the audience will be similarly ambiguous.
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Since I tried Ludwig back in 2017, I have been constantly using it in both editing and translation. Ever since, I suggest it to my translators at ProSciEditing.

Justyna Jupowicz-Kozak
CEO of Professional Science Editing for Scientists @ prosciediting.com