A Tragedy Makes A Hero

1017 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Compare and contrast two forms of drama, tragedy and comedy

A Tragedy Makes A Hero

Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy.

A tragedy can be described and executed in many ways, whether it is through cinema, television or a play for theatre, as long as it has a solemn kind of ending. It is characterized as a very sad event, action, or experience for a certain character in the piece. According to Aristotle’s “Poetics,” a tragedy needs six elements, a plot, character, language, thought, spectacle, and melody, as in many dramas do, but the organization of the plot is how tragedy is brought about. (747) The plot – is the end for which a tragedy exists, and the end or purpose is the most important thing of all. (748)

Tragedy often reveals a very basic message; whether or not actions are thought before hand, actions hold consequences that must be recognized and tolerated. Drama always circulates around a hero or protagonist in a tragic epic, whose sufferings are brought about by his or her actions and creates a standpoint in relation to them.

The story of “Medea” by Euripides is a tragic one indeed. Medea, a sorceress and a princess, used her powers and influence to help Jason, find the Golden Fleece. During the escape she kills her brother as a getaway. After several murders, Medea and Jason move to Corinth, which is where the play takes place. Here, Medea gives birth to two children by Jason establishing a family. Jason later moves out, divorcing Medea and moving in with Glauce, the daughter of Creon. The play looks at Medea’s anger and rage, as a she moves from suicidal to revengeful. Medea eventually kills her own children and Glauce, all to get back at Jason.

The nurse in the play opens the play, expressing her desire to undo the past. “How I wi...

... middle of paper ...

... Once Creon has found out about the family tree, Oedipus and his children are banished from Thebes, later to meet their fate in the following plays.

A tragedy does indeed make a hero in ancient world literature. Every single being has a fate, no matter what level of society that being is on. One cannot change his or her fate; it is left up to the gods. Eventually all roads of life leads to death, it is how that being dies brings about the tragedy. As Aristotle mentioned in “Poetics”, What is more, without action there could not be a tragedy, but there could be without characterization.

Bibliography:

Works Cited

Aristotle. “Poetics.” Lawall and Mack 746-750

Euripides. “Medea.” Lawall and Mack 640-672

Lawall, Sarah and Mack, Maynard, eds. The Norton Anthology World Masterpieces. 7th ed. Vol 1. New York: W·W· Norton & Company, 1999.

Show More
Related

  • Women's Roles in Epic of Gilgamesh, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Canterbury Tales

    1479 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lawall, Sarah, et al. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Vol. I. 7th ed. New York: Norton,

    Read More

  • Medea Morally Ambiguous Character Essay

    471 Words  | 1 Pages

    She gave the children the dress she made and the diadem, submerged with poison and instructed her to give these gifts to the princess under the false impression that she wants to please her so she may convince her father to allow the children to stay in Corinth. After the death of the king and the princess, Medea kills her two children. The only time the children have spoken and they plead to live. There is no future for the children, to escape their mother’s wrath and anger and her drive to hurt and destroy everything and everyone that Jason loves and cares about. Medea contributes to the work as a whole because we see her side of the story and understand the motives behind her action and the consequences as the result of her madness. Medea is the rising action and the climax of the play. We also see Jason side of the story from his conversations with Medea and his explanation was awful. He is the reason for the conflict and issues for Medea but Jason does not take care of the problems he created nor does he take the responsibility for the consequences of his actions. He married a sorceress and not a normal Greek

    Read More

  • Jason as the Foil of Medea

    1304 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Medea, by Euripides, the two main characters Jason and Media are forced to leave Lolkos and have taken refuge in Corinth. Jason has the possibility of establishing a position of standing in the community by marrying King Creon’s daughter. Medea is enraged by Jason’s betrayal of her and their two children and she vows to stop the marriage and exact revenge. In the play, Medea and Jason are set up as foils. Medea is completely dependent on the dominance of passion over reason. She is depicted as conniving, brilliant and powerful. In contrast, Jason is portrayed as a a character of little feeling; he is passionless, obtuse, witless, and weak.

    Read More

  • Why The Ending of Jez Buttersworth's Jerusalem Disqualifies it as a Comedy

    1589 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...ods come for the free drugs that he offers. Johnny is a man for whom we feel pride, shame and pity all at once but such a contradictory character would be unstable and unpredictable. Aristotle defines tragedy according to seven characteristics. These are that it is characterized by mimicry, it is serious, it expresses a full story of a relevant length, it contains rhythm and harmony, the rhythm and harmony occur in different combinations in different parts of the tragedy, it is performed not narrated and that it provokes feelings of pity and fear then purges these feelings through catharsis the purging of the emotions and emotional tensions. The composition of a tragedy consists of six segments. In order of relevance, these are plot, character, thought, diction, melody, and performance. For a comedy the ending must be merry. Instead Jerusalem ends in death.

    Read More

  • Jason Brings His Own Downfall in Medea, a play by Euripides

    783 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Medea, a play by Euripides, Jason possesses many traits that lead to his downfall. After Medea assists Jason in his quest to get the Golden Fleece, killing her brother and disgracing her father and her native land in the process, Jason finds a new bride despite swearing an oath of fidelity to Medea. Medea is devastated when she finds out that Jason left her for another woman after two children and now wants to banish her. Medea plots revenge on Jason after he gives her one day to leave. Medea later acts peculiarly as a subservient woman to Jason who is oblivious to the evil that will be unleashed and lets the children remain in Corinth. The children later deliver a poisoned gown to Jason’s new bride that also kills the King of Corinth. Medea then kills the children. Later, she refuses to let Jason bury the bodies or say goodbye to the dead children he now loves so dearly. Jason is cursed with many catastrophic flaws that lead to his downfall and that of others around him.

    Read More

  • A Tragic Hero

    916 Words  | 2 Pages

    A tragic hero is defined as a person of high social rank, who has a tragic flaw or flaws that lead to their downfall. These heroes’ downfalls are usually either complete ruin or death. Tragic heroes face their downfall with courage and dignity. While many characters in Julius Caesar could fit these conditions, the person who fits the role of a tragic hero the best is Marcus Brutus. Brutus develops into a tragic hero throughout the play, and this is shown though his qualifications of a tragic hero, his high status, his tragic flaws, and his courage in the face of his death.

    Read More

  • Loyalty in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Odyssey by Homer and Don Quixote by Cervantes

    1750 Words  | 4 Pages

    Lawall, Sarah and Maynard Mack, Eds. _The Norton Anthology of world masterpieces: The Western Traditions_. New York. 1999.

    Read More

  • Aristotle’s Poetics

    1022 Words  | 3 Pages

    Domrosch, David. Longman Anthology of World Literature, The, Compact Edition. 1st Edition. Pearson College Div: Longman, 2007. Print.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Tragedy In Death Of A Salesman

    941 Words  | 2 Pages

    Aristotle defined tragedy in his respected piece Poetics that defined the tragedy and many other forms of literature. Many tragic heroes such as Oedipus Rex and Romeo and Juliet fit well into this mold of a tragic hero as defined by Aristotle. For example, they were flawed but well intentioned and their lives ended in a catastrophic death. Those plays, and many others in the genre, had all the elements of a tragedy: plot, character, thought, diction, melody, and spectacle. They were fantastic displays of misery that aroused pity and fear in the audience.

    Read More

  • Representation of Womens Roles in Society- Medea

    1102 Words  | 3 Pages

    Medea’s illegitimate marriage and the betrayal of Jason drive Medea to extreme revenge. Medea chooses to act with her immortal self and commit inhumane acts of murder rather than rationalize the outcomes of her actions. Medea see’s this option as her only resort as she has been banished and has nowhere to go, “stripped of her place”. To create sympathy for Medea, Euripides plays down Medea’s supernatural powers until the end of the play. Throughout the play Medea represents all characteristics found in individual women put together, including; love, passion, betrayal and revenge. Medea’s portrayal of human flaws creates empathetic emotions from the audience. The audience commiserates with Medea’s human flaws as they recognize them in themselves. Medea plays the major role in this play as she demonstrates many behavioral and psychological patterns unlike any of the other Greek women in the play; this draws the audience’s attention to Medea for sympathy and respect.

    Read More

  • Aristotle’s Elements of Tragedy

    1479 Words  | 3 Pages

    Puchner, Martin. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2012. Print.

    Read More

  • Elements of Tragedy in Hamlet

    1012 Words  | 3 Pages

    The second most important part of a tragedy is Character. Characters actually play a secondary role to the plot in the “perfect” tragedy. The actions of the characters make them responsible for their fate, not a higher power. There should be a protagonist and a tragic hero. Tragic heroes are also exceptional beings; Hamlet was very intellectual, giving him a brilliant mind and a quick wit. The tragic hero is the ma...

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Hamlet Under Aristotle’s Theory on Tragedy

    2295 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Poetics, Aristotle defines plot as “the arrangement of the incidents” (Aristotle 12). He indicates that there are six elements in every tragic play, which are plot, character, thought, diction, melody and spectacle, among these plot is placed in the foremost positi...

    Read More

  • Unity Of Place In King Lear Essay

    1380 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Aristotle, the importance of tragedy as a genre is to represent action. Thus unity of action purportedly has the strongest implications for the effectiveness of the work itself. Aristotle posits “a story, since it is the representation of action, should concern an action that is single and entire, with its several incidents so structured that the displacement or removal of any one of them would disturb and dislocate the whole.” (Aristotle 27) and deems this claim imperative. A good plot, and thereby an effective tragedy, does not include events, which are not connected to each other or specifically the main plot. In theory, these unconnected events are distracting from the main action and dissipate the tragic effect. With Aristotle’s definition, no sub-plot should exist in tragedy. For all events to be “necessary or [have] probable connection with each other.” (Aristotle 27) none should exist not directly related to the main action. Again, unity allows for the tragic effect to be concentrated, intending to allow for increased feelings of pity and

    Read More

  • traglear King Lear Essays: King Lear as Tragic Hero King Lear essays

    1131 Words  | 3 Pages

    Bibliography w/2 sources   Tragedy is defined in Websters New Collegiate Dictionary as 1) a medieval narrative poem or tale typically describing the downfall of a great man or 2) a serious drama typically describing a conflict between the protagonist and a superior force, such as destiny, and having a sorrowful or disastrous conclusion that excites pity or terror.  The play of King Lear is one of William Shakespeares great tragic pieces, it is not only seen as a tragedy in itself, but also a play that includes two tragic heroes and four villains.  In the tragedy of King Lear the tragic hero must not be all good or all bad, error of judgement deprives the hero, the use of two tragic characters intensifies the tragedy, the tragedy begins not by character but by action and through their suffering the tragic heroes gain insights.

    Read More

More about A Tragedy Makes A Hero

Open Document