He can be called the anti hero of the epic
if Arjun was the hero
Duryodhan the villain
Karna was the tragic anti hero .
The anti hero always has more grey in him .
But i will not be very harsh with him . Its his mother i blame the most .
If he was born of a tejasvi god
if his natural genes bubbled like volcanic lava and were not satisfied being a mere charioteer
if the craving for archery was in his genes
and yet he was cruelly condemned to lead a stifling life , puzzled at his own oddities when they were but natural reactions , unknown to him
it was more the fault of his mother who put him in a basket and sent him defenceless down the river
then he himself .
It is all very well to say all had some problem or the other but they came out shining but
not one of them led his life ...they were princes who had security as they were born into what was rightfully their state
while he was placed in a state that was lower , rather , left to DIE .
i would not feel this sympathy for him if he was a charoiteer's son and was ambitious .
But he was being true to his genes .
If Eklavya was trying for something ambitiously
Karna was giving in to natural tendencies ...he could NOT be anything else .
2 children were sent in baskets down the river
Moses
Karna .
In the story of Moses the mother did it as it was her best shot at saving her child . He would have been killed anyways by the Pharaoh's soldiers .
In the story of Karna the mother did it to save HER name from stigma . Getting a boon to preserve her virginity , she did away with the baby that was an embarassment and went on to marry and have a life when
instead of sending the innocent baby down the river she could have drowned herself in the river . She didn't do that .
All his life he battled with the caste stigma as he didn't fit in . Why he didn't fit in ? All knew it ...all . Bheeshma and Vidur knew it ...Vyasa had told them . Kunti knew it . Krishna knew it .
If he had the Sun god's tej in his blood he simply couldn't be accused of getting too big for his boots . He was adhering to the truth while others were squashing him is the story .
Where his nobility is unparalleled
in giving Indra the kavach kundalas inspite of recognising him
in telling Kunti that he will NOT be now known as a Kounteya but will always be Radheya
in acknowledging his parents at the skills display competition although recognition would be detrimental for his chances among the caste conscious pundits
in telling Kunti that her 5 sons will forever live
in leaving his brothers but making it ultimately only between him and Arjun
in refusing Krishna's ultimate temptation ...to have the glory of being the eldest Pandava and having Draupadi as his wife ...Draupadi who had only looked down on him .
All was refused by him .
There is character there .
Regarding the point ...was he really a good friend
Bheeshma too sided with Duryodhan ...does it lessen his nobility ?
Duryodhan was a king with his own firm mind . He had helped Karna who was loyal to the salt till the end though many temptations were advanced by Sri Krishna purposefully .
His loyalty even impressed Krishna .
but Krishna's purpose was achieved . He wanted to create emotional turmoil in him and he did it . He knew exactly how Karna would react , he was such an accurate judge of character.All he wanted was the emotional blackmail .
I fault him for the vastra haran behaviour where he shows his personal anger towards Draupadi ...justified or not , no woman deserves THIS . About the purposeful law breaking in Abhimanyu's case i am confused even today as ALL broke laws ...some for dharma , some for adharma ...and when breaking of rules starts , it very dangerous and ambiguous .
Arjun tried to make up for all this unfair senseless horror by caring for Karna's son Vrishketu after Karna's death . He was in Arjun's company a lot , and it is said Arjun was especially affectionate to him . He accompanied Arjun on his campaigns to annex kingdoms during Yudhishtir's Ashwamedha yagna and Arjun taught him archery personally and made him the best archer .
This is what i know .
