Aristotle's Concept of Tragedy Applied to Hamlet

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Aristotle’s Concept of Tragedy Applied to Hamlet

Aristotle’s concept of a well written tragedy is that it is “…an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude, in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play, the form of action, not of narrative, through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions” (McManus). According to Aristotle, the plot is the “soul” of the tragedy from which the other parts such as characters, diction, thought, spectacle, and melody stem (McManus). Shakespeare skillfully applies Aristotle’s concept of tragedy, to Hamlet in various ways, dramatizing what may happen or “what is possible according to the law of probability or necessity (McManus). ”

Aristotle explains that the plot may be simple, “having a change of fortune” (catastrophe), or a complex plot, having both “reversal of intention” (peripeteia) and “recognition” (anagnorisis) along with the catastrophe (McManus). It is Aristotle’s belief that the complex plot is better. Aristotle would deem the plot of Hamlet as complex because it includes both peripeteia and anagnorsis which are combined to create the cause and effect chain. Peripeteia, as explained by Aristotle, happens when a character produces the opposite effect of which he intended to produce. There are several examples of this: Hamlet mistaking Polonius as the king and thereby killing him, the poison on the sword which was intended for Hamlet kills Laertes, the poison placed in the goblet by the King which was intended for Hamlet, the Queen drinks and dies. These incidents are also termed as tragic irony. Aristotle explains that an anagnorisis “is a...

... middle of paper ...

...ess, murder, and death, certainly meets Aristotle’s standard of “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude”(McManus). The incidents of the suicide of Ophelia and the untimely deaths of Hamlet’s father, Hamlet’s mother, Polonius, Larertes, and Hamlet himself accomplish the katharsis of emotions, “arousing fear and pity” in accordance with Astritotle’s theory of tragedy (McManus). Whether or not, if Aristotle would agree, let us not forget the tragedy of the …noble heart” of “…sweet prince” Hamlet.

Bibliography

Outline of Aristotle’s Theory of Tragedy in the Poetics Barbara F. McManus November

1999. November 20, 2008. http://www.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/poetics.html

Hamlet, William Shakespeare. The Norton Anthology of World Literature.

Eds. Sarah Lawall and Maynard Mack, London: Norton 2002. 2829-2918

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