Hamartia in Effiong Johnson's The Stolen Manuscript

The artist striving for truth or sincerity had to guard his spontaneous vision against distortion or alteration by aesthetic conventions or preoccupations” Linda Nochlin (2006). A perpetrator of evil spends time and energy plotting how to pull his or her prey down, unknown to the target victim; life goes on normally with him or her. It is easier to do good than bad, and even much more beneficial. This research work disabuses the minds of the readers against evil acts which are often natural and justifiable by the standard of vices such as hatred, nepotism, envy, jealousy, and lack of growth mindset as seen in the character of Dr Martin and his accomplice, Mr Bayo. These weaknesses have been pointed out elsewhere, especially in the play of Sophocles ‘Oedipus Rex’ but not in Effiong’s The Stolen Manuscript which is peculiar to the Nigeria and Africa society. Realism as the lens through which the paper sponges and communicate the good and bad tendencies of characters in the play is deliberate. This allows the reader to make a choice, hence both sides are laid bare, though the paper is tilted towards good, and evil is punished leading to the hamartia of Dr Martin and Mr. Bayo. 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 (Aristotle). Tragedy does happen but not without a cause, there is always a prompter in this case: jealousy. This research shows the outcome of hard work, through Ukeme and retribution of evil jealousy through Martins. The ladder of academic prowess is accessible for willing and intending academics both in and out of educational institutions.