VLVL2(3): Hector's fall

[Tim Strzechowski]

Dave Monroe sayeth:
>
> And, of course, in general, capital-T Tragedy involves
> not only a fall, but a fall from a height sufficient
> to render it capital-T Tragic. (The question posed
> by/about Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, is Willy
> Lohman's fall "Tragic"?  What are the possibilities
> of/for Tragedy these days?)  Hector mythologizing his
> fall, himself, as properly Tragic?  Let me know ...
>

About the only thing demonstrated by Willy Loman's fall that makes it
significantly different from a Tragic fall (in the classical sense) is the
fact that Willy is a working-class, average man, literally a "low man" on
the corporate ladder.  While in the classical and Elizabethan senses a
tragic fall can only happen to a person of noble birth (a King of Thebes, a
Prince of Denmark, etc.), Miller proves that the average man can have grand
aspirations and hubris, experience anagnorisis and peripetia, battle the
powers of fate, etc.

Most importantly, however, a truly tragic individual must possess some
quality of *goodness* within him, yet permit his hamertia to consume him
and, thus, subvert his goodness at the crucial moment of his tragic fall.
Remember: to truly feel pity and fear, the audience/reader must recognize
the positive qualities of the tragic figure, thus making his fall all the
more painful to witness when it does occur!  Catharsis, baby!!

I ask the following, because I genuinely don't know the answers:

Do we know enough about Hector's background to be able to make these
assessments of his character at this time?

Is his "fall" "mythologized"?  By whom?  Hector?  Pynchon?

How did Hector become involved with the government?

Does he possess a hamertia?  Is it hubris (the quintessential tragic flaw, I
suppose)?

Does he exhibit any positive qualities that might offset his tragic flaw?
If so, what are they?