Aristotle, Antigone and Billy Budd
In Poetics, Aristotle explains tragedy as a kind of imitation of a certain magnitude, using direct action instead of narration to achieve its desired affect. It is of an extremely serious nature. Tragedy is also complete, with a structure that unifies all of its parts. It is meant to produce a catharsis of the audience, meant to produce the emotions of pity and fear and to purge them of these emotions and helping them better understand the ways of the gods and men. Tragedy is also in a language in both verse and song. Aristotle's definition is clearly applicable to both Herman Melville's Billy Budd and the famous Greek tragedy Antigone by Sophocles.
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In Antigone, Creon did in fact change his mind to release Antigone and bury her brother, Polyneices in the end even though it was too late. He was frightened by the possible death of his son. However, in Billy Budd, Captain Vere decides to hang Billy despite all of the opposition that was posed against him. However, in Billy Budd, Vere's opposition is not as strong because going against the captain could be regarded as an act of insolence or mutiny. It could be speculated that if the doctor and the chaplain had spoken for Billy that the execution of Billy could have been avoided. Another difference is that Captain Vere in Billy Budd, felt that in his mind that Billy should not be executed. This is evident when Captain Vere says, "struck dead by an angel of God! Yet the angel must hang!" (3,51) Vere was forced to go against his own judgement in executing Billy. In Antigone, Creon was totally against the idea of releasing Antigone and giving Polyneices a proper burial. He was only influenced by others to change his …show more content…
This is paralleled by the enormous amount of Biblical allusions in Melville's Billy Budd. Even though Melville was a religious skeptic, his friend Hawthorne said that he was neither believe nor be comfortable in his disbelief, and he is too honest and courageous not to try to do one or the other. This could be a showing of his religious side. The very interpretation of Billy Budd as a recreation of the Bible is also very interesting. The only problem is that there are flaws to this interpretation. The addition of Billy's "fatal flaw" is a problem faced when comparing Billy to Jesus. There's also a problem in that Billy is so innocent that he cannot possible comprehend that there is evil in the world. Claggart doesn't have enough motivation to be evil. It is only explained that Claggart could be naturally evil. This is a problem because he had no motivation that can be explained for him to be so evil. Vere is also a problem. Vere acts in a way that is against his own judgement. This is unlike the God that he symbolizes. Therefore, Melville could have not meant Billy Budd to be a retelling of the Bible. However, there is also religion in Billy Budd in that of the chaplain trying to instill Billy with the fear of death. The plentifulness of the Biblical allusions is also interesting. Melville uses many examples such as Adam before the fall to describe the main characters
Othello and Antigone are both tragic heroes. They do great deeds and have great power or strength. For example, Othello defeats Venice's enemies. Antigone makes sure that a Theban right is a Theban due. But fatal character flaws destroy the lives of the two heroes. Both of them suffer from pride and uncontrolled passion. Othello is so proud of his integrity and courage that he doesn't recognize his violent temper and his manipulability by Iago. Antigone is so proud of her commitment to the true, the right, the proper, and the correct that she doesn't respect differing, less passionate opinions. Antigone tragic specific representation in the law between the country and God, while Othello tragic is reflected in Othello’s character defect.
as he doesn't care that Romeo he enemy is at his party, but later on
Aristotle thought up a list of compulsory requirements for something to be called ‘tragedy’. He concluded “Tragedy affects through pity and fear the catharsis of such emotions.” meaning that during a tragedy, one should feel the emotions of pity and fear--fear that the circumstances which they are observing could one day affect themselves--but that after the spectacle had ended, one would leave feeling ‘lifted up’, as if they had purged themselves of those emotions. In Aristotle’s ‘Poetics’, he stated:
Aristotle defines tragedy in his respected piece Poetics 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.
Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero is someone who makes an improper judgment where their fate leads them to their own destruction. One of the most important and eye-catching tragic heroes in the play is Antigone, a strong woman who is determined to give her brother Polyneices the burial he needs. In the play Antigone, by Sophocles, the reader learns about how Antigone’s loyalty to the gods, her disloyalty to King Creon, and her stubbornness leads to her ruin through her heroic traits and tragic flaws.
Most readers are aware of the many famous deaths or acts of death within the Shakespearean plays. And when the main characters die in Shakespeare’s plays, indeed, the readers would categorize the play as a tragedy. The problem with any tragedy definition is that most tragic plays do not define the tragedy conditions explained or outlined by Aristotle. According to Telford (1961), a tragedy is a literary work that describes the downfall of an honorable, main character who is involved on historically or socially significant events. The main character, or tragic hero, has a tragic fault, the quality that leads to his or her own destruction. In reading Aristotle’s point of view, a tragedy play is when the main character(s) are under enormous pressure and are incapable to see the dignities in human life, which Aristotle’s ideas of tragedy is based on Oedipus the King. Shakespeare had a different view of tragedy. In fact, Shakespeare believed tragedy is when the hero is simply and solely destroyed. Golden (1984) argued the structure of Shakespearean tragedy would be that individual characters revolved around some pain and misery.
into both categories.The classic definition of tragedy is Aristotle’s, that the tragic hero must be noble and have a tragic flaw. He must also experience a reversal of fortune and recognize the
efining tragedy is not an easy task because it has meant different things at different times. Aristotle writes in the Poetics that tragedies must represent a complete, serious, and important action that rouses and then purges (by catharsis) fear and pity in the spectators, with a central character who moves from happiness to misery through some frailty or error (hamartia). There is still much debate regarding the precise translation and application of these terms. It is supposed that the word “tragedy” comes from the Greek tragoidia or goat-play, and it is based on the assumption that the tragic hero is essentially another version of the sacrifice offered throughout human history to indulge an angry god.
we got there put on my boots and got the soccer ball out. We kept on playing for hours
A tragedy is defined as a dramatic composition, often in verse, dealing with a serious or somber theme, typically that of a great person destined through a flaw of character or conflict with some overpowering force, as fate or society, to downfall or destruction. The play Antigone by Sophocles displays many qualities that prove to form into the epitome of a tragedy. Tragedy is usually marked with a person of great standing—in this case, a King—who falls because of hubris, or extreme pride. Antigone proves to live up to both of these definitions which is proven through its themes. Sophocles uses many techniques in this tragedy to contribute to the overall theme. This theme is accomplished by creating emotions in the readers to evoke the understanding of the theme. In the play Antigone, Sophocles uses the themes of pride, power, and femininity to convey his overall theme of tragedy.
The one fact that distinguishes Creon and Antigone is that Creon has a moment of development, a moment of revelation. While Antigone was stuck in her tomb, she never had a moment where she thought about what she had done was right or wrong. However, Creon undergoes a moment of revelation when Tiresias prophecisezes the doom of Thebes
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.
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)
According to Aristotle, a tragedy must be an imitation of life in the form of a serious story that is complete in itself among many other things. Oedipus is often portrayed as the perfect example of what a tragedy should be in terms of Aristotle’s Poetics. Reason being that Oedipus seems to include correctly all of the concepts that Aristotle describes as inherent to dramatic tragedy. These elements include: the importance of plot, reversal and recognition, unity of time, the cathartic purging and evocation of pity and fear, the presence of a fatal flaw in the “hero”, and the use of law of probability.