Aristotelian Tragedy
analytical Essay
587 words
Aristotelian Tragedy
One may argue that the Greek playwright, Sophocles modeled his play Oedipus Rex on Aristotle's definition and analysis of tragedy. Since according to Aristotle's definition, a tragedy is an imitation of action that is serious, complete and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished artistic ornaments, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not narrative with incidents that evokes pity and fear of a persons emotions. Also Aristotle identified the basic six parts a tragedy as being plot, character, thought, melody, diction and spectacle which he considered the least important. Therefore the controversy of Sophocles modeling his play Oedipus Rex on Aritotle's analysis of tragedy can be argued out since the play Oedipus Rex is a classic Aristotelian tragedy. However this conception is totally fallacious since it is a well known fact that Aristotle lived a century after Sophocles.
According to Aristotle's explanation of character, a basic element in every tragedy, he defines character as what makes as "ascribe certain moral qualities to agents" ( Sophocles 240). The issue of character is evident in the protagonist, King Oedipus, in the play Oedipus Rex. Using King Oedipus in the play as an ideal model it can be deduced that he is very rash and makes very hasty decisions. For example his rashness can be seen from manner in which he pronounces judgement on the person responsible for the plague of the city of Thebes after Creon returns from consulting with the Delphic Oracle. He pronounces judgement on no other person but himself since he is the cause of all the city's woes. His hastiness can also be seen in the manner in which he forces Teiresias to rev...
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...ee Oedipus about his fear of parentage actually does the opposite. Suffering which is also a part of an Aristotelian tragedy is show in how Oedipus ends up miserable in the end as a poor blind man
The other three elements of tragedy as defined by Aristotle that is Melody, Diction and Spectacle can all be traced in the play. With regards to Melody Sophocles makes the chorus know the story line of the play hence making it very easy for the audience to understand the play. Diction that is the style of Oedipus and spectacle which includes the visual effects and stage appearance makes the audience appreciate the play wholeheartedly.
Therefore from the manner in which the Sophocles' play Oedipus Rex contains all the six basic elements of poetics: plot, character, melody, diction, thought and spectacle, Oedipus Rex can be described as a classic Aristotelian Targedy.
In this essay, the author
- Argues that the greek playwright, sophocles modeled his play oedipus rex on aristotle's definition and analysis of tragedy.
- Analyzes aristotle's explanation of character, a basic element in every tragedy. king oedipus is rash and makes hasty decisions.
- Analyzes aristotle's description of thought in sophocles tragedy, oedipus rex. thought is shown in the things one says when proving a point.
- Analyzes aristotle's idea of a complex plot in the play oedipus rex.
- Analyzes how melody, diction, and spectacle, as defined by aristotle, can all be traced in the play.
- Explains that sophocles' play oedipus rex contains all the six basic elements of poetics: plot, character, melody, diction, thought and spectacle.
Related
- analytical
- opinionated
- Out of Aristotle’s apprehension of tragedy, four out of the six ideas are used in the tragic drama, “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles. These ideas are tragic hero, hamartia, peripeteia, and anagnorisis.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how aristotle's apprehension of tragedy is used in sophocles' tragic drama, "oedipus the king".
- Analyzes how the tragic hero is a person of greatness and noble stature who contributes to their own downfall.
- Analyzes how oedipus' hamartia affects him the whole way to his doom. his main error would be trying to discover the murderer of the deceased king, laius.
- Analyzes how peripeteia is a tragic play where the protagonist's fortune goes from good to bad. the plague stricken city foreshadows an outbreak of something far off worse.
- Analyzes how anagnorisis is the recognition by the tragic hero of some truth about his or her identity or actions.
971 wordsRead More - Oedipus the King: The Tragic Flaws Of Oedipusanalytical essayThe great Sophoclean play, Oedipus Rex is an amazing play, and one of the first of its time to accurately portray the common tragic hero. Written in the time of ancient Greece, Sophocles perfected the use of character flaws in Greek drama with Oedipus Rex. Using Oedipus as his tragic hero, Sophocles’ plays forced the audience to experience a catharsis of emotions. Sophocles showed the play-watchers Oedipus’s life in the beginning as a “privileged, exalted [person] who [earned his] high repute and status by…intelligence.” Then, the great playwright reached in and violently pulled out the audience’s most sorrowful emotions, pity and fear, in showing Oedipus’s “crushing fall” from greatness.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how oedipus's persistence is seen even from the beginning of the play, when he first encounters teiresias, a seer who refuses to divulge the truth
- Explains that deborah d. jones and naomi williams, humanities department handbook of augusta preparatory day school, 2nd ed.
- Analyzes jen byers' "oedipus and the search for truth," rivendell educational archive, ed. leigh denault.
- Analyzes how sophocles used character flaws in greek drama with oedipus rex.
- Analyzes how the use of ignorance in the play is expressed through light and dark imagery. oedipus's downfall was the direct result of his tragic flaws.
- Cites rivendell educational archive's "an exploration of oedipus," ed. leigh denault.
1052 wordsRead More - Oedipus: The Reign of a Tragic Heroanalytical essayThe time period of Greek theater’s popularity was a very influential time in our world’s history. Without knowing what Greek theater was all about, how can someone expect to truly understand a tragic play and the history it comes with? The history behind the character of Oedipus, in the play Oedipus the King, is very complicated. His intricate past dealing with prophecies, family members, and murder is the main focus of the story. There are many characteristics that complete Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero; these being the presence of hamartia and peripeteia, a sense of self-awareness, the audience’s pity for the character, and the hero is of noble birth.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that hamartia is the fatal flaw leading to the tragic downfall of a hero, which is common in most, if not all greek tragedy plays.
- Explains the meaning of a tragic hero in aristotle's book, literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing.
- Analyzes how oedipus, the new king, thinks that whoever killed king laios will try to kill himself. the occurrence of peripeteia makes a tragic hero stand out from the other characters.
- Explains that oedipus rex was the ideal tragic hero of aristotle, according to the classical association of the atlantic states.
1250 wordsRead More - Tragedy In Oedipus The King, The Tragic Heroanalytical essayOedipus the Tragic Hero Oedipus is depicted as a “marionette in the hands of a daemonic power”(pg150), but like all tragic hero’s he fights and struggles against fate even when the odds are against him. His most tragic flaw is his morality, as he struggles between the good and the evil of his life. The good is that he was pitied by the Shepard who saved him from death as a baby. The evil is his fate, where he is to kill his father and marry his mother.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how oedipus is a tragic hero who suffers the consequences of his immoral actions, and must learn from these mistakes.
- Analyzes how oedipus' determination to seek the truth and care for his people makes him an admirable man and respectable king.
- Analyzes how oedipus has hamartia or flaws that lead to his demise. one of them is his excessive pride in the control over his life but in reality he has no control.
- Analyzes how oedipus could have avoided his suffering by never killing a man and never marring women old enough to be his parents.
- Analyzes how oedipus' life arouses pity from the audience because his weakness lies in that he was human.
- Analyzes how oedipus was a man dedicated to fighting and avoiding evil but he himself was the cause of so much tragedy. his ideal qualities of being intelligent and powerful, but not perfect, were not enough to keep his falling into misfortune
997 wordsRead More - Oedipus the King: A Classic Tragedyanalytical essayOedipus the King, a Classic Tragedy Aristotle, in his work The Poetics, tries to delineate the idea of a tragedy. Throughout his work Aristotle says that the hero, or at least the protagonist in a tragedy must be substantially good, almost godlike. This hero must bring upon themselves their downfall, due to their fatal flaw. If the hero is not at a high point, an audience will not care about them, and won’t notice their fall. One must fall a long way in social class in order for it to be noticed by the outside man.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how aristotle, in his work the poetics, tries to delineate the idea of a tragedy. he says that the hero must be substantially good, almost godlike.
- Analyzes how oedipus solves the riddle of the great sphinx, which leads him to become the king of thebes. catharsis is necessary for a true tragedy to exist.
- Explains that tragic stories offer a sense of learning about the human condition, which is called catharsis.
- Analyzes how the fatal flaw, or hamartia, that the character makes, in oedipus, does not actually take place during the story itself.
- Analyzes how oedipus' reversal and recognition are realized while his balanced life is hanging from a thread.
1018 wordsRead More - Aristotle’s Elements of Tragedyanalytical essayAristotle is one of the most important western philosophers in history that has influenced our society in many aspects. Many of Aristotle’s teachings have affected our world for many years and still continue to have such a big impact. Some of the subjects Aristotle has influenced include: logic, physics, government and poetry. Aristotle’s study of poetry mainly focused on the elements to a good tragedy. Some of his elements have been used in Greek tragedies and modern movies. The Greek play, Medea, and the modern movie, No Country for Old Men, use elements from Aristotle philosophy, while using similar and different techniques but both achieving an effective tragedy.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that aristotle is one of the most important western philosophers in history that has influenced our society in many aspects.
- Explains that aristotle defines tragedy as an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and possessing magnitude.
- Analyzes how euripides' play medea represents the theme of justice and revenge. many of the events that occurred in this play were because of characterization.
- Analyzes how the plot of medea was organized and straightforward. the climax of the play was caused by earlier actions, which led to another.
- Analyzes how the third element used in medea was language. the play used appropriate diction throughout the play to convey emotions felt by characters.
- Analyzes how the language used in this line shows how furious medea. the language of the lines gives intense and realistic images to the audience.
- Analyzes the elements of melody, thought, and spectacle in the greek play, medea, which follows aristotle's elements with differences when creating an effective tragedy.
- Analyzes how the 2007 film, no country for old men, uses elements from aristotle's philosophy to create an effective tragic movie.
- Analyzes how the film dealt with universal themes throughout the movie, such as chance vs. fate, greed, and greed.
- Compares the use of art, cinematography, background music, location, and focuses on camera shots in aristotle's no country for old men with medea.
- Analyzes how aristotle's teachings have influenced many aspects of society, including poetry and the process of a good and effective tragedy.
- Cites dorsch, t. r., ley, graham, reinhold, meyer, and puchner, martin.
1479 wordsRead More - Examples Of Tragedy In Death Of A Salesmananalytical essayAristotle 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.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how 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.
- Analyzes how arthur miller's character, willy loman, incites frustration, anger, and pity in the contemporary audience.
- Analyzes how willy loman's life was a feeble attempt to climb up the ranks of his department, but he didn't realize the doom that awaits him at the end.
- Analyzes how arthur miller captures the american tragedy in death of a salesman. the character of willy loman doesn't reach the standard of high status that is required to be tragic hero.
- Analyzes how death of salesman is a modern tradegy that an audience can realte to.
941 wordsRead More - Tragedy In Death Of A Salesmananalytical essayAristotle 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.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how aristotle defines tragedy in his respected piece poetics and many other forms of literature. many tragic heroes like oedipus rex and romeo and juliet fit well into this mold of a tragic hero.
- Analyzes how arthur miller's character, willy loman, incites frustration, anger, and pity in the contemporary audience.
- Analyzes how willy loman's aspiration to become a salesman garners pity in the audience when he realizes the doom waiting for him.
- Argues that death of a salesman should fall under the genre of tragedy despite not having things such as melody and spectacle.
- Analyzes how death of salesman's plot is mundane and, it gets carried on the backs of incredibly complex and real characters.
- Explains that death of salesman is a modern tragedy that an audience can relate to. the characters are regular people with real struggles who end up as nothing more than little people in the big world.
1132 wordsRead More - Macbeth, Aristotilean Tragedy?opinionated essayAristotle's definition of a tragedy consists of several points. "A tragedy, then is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in language with pleasurable accessories, each kind brought in separately in the parts of the work; in a dramatic, not in a narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, where-with to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions." (Introduction to Aristotle p 631) Aristotle also claims that a tragedy must have six parts, in order of importance: plot, character, thought, diction, melody, and spectacle. Aristotle goes on to say that a tragedy is imitation not of persons, but of action, life, misery and happiness. The action should be a continuous whole. A tragedy must also contain peripety which is defined by Aristotle as "the change of the kind described from one state of things within the play to its opposite..." (Introduction to Aristotle p 637)
In this essay, the author
- Explains that aristotle's rules make a tragedy what it is. they will try to find out if shakespeare’s macbeth is classified as such.
- Explains aristotle's definition of a tragedy, which consists of several points. a tragedy must have six parts, in order of importance: plot, character, thought, diction, melody, and spectacle.
- Explains that aristotle's plot must be complex and imitate actions arousing fear and pity — the distinctive function of this kind of imitation.
- Opines that macbeth is not an aristotelian tragedy. he is portrayed as a great man who risked his life for his country and his king.
- Analyzes how macbeth debates the moral dilemma of killing his guest, the king for whom he nobly fought.
- Opines that macbeth's character is complex. he is valiant in battle for the king, but does not have the courage to stand up to his wife or the patience to hold on to that prediction.
- Opines that shakespeare's tragic events are sad. macbeth is the cause for the pity and fear, but not the target.
- Opines that macbeth was an extremely good man who had an error in judgment, but choosing to do what is blatantly wrong is not exactly "error in judgement." he must have vile qualities to produce those decisions and actions which would harm the ones he should protect.
- Analyzes how the peripety in the play is at the very end. macbeth is enlightened by a sense of grief, guilt, and sorrow for the murderous monster he had become.
- Argues that macbeth isn't an aristotelian tragedy because there's no melody which is the greatest of the pleasurable accessories of tragedy.
- Opines that macbeth is a good tragic story, but it doesn't evoke feelings of pity and fear and does not begin with an exceptionally good character.
1043 wordsRead More - Tartuffe: An Excellent Example of a Neoclassical Dramaanalytical essayNeoclassical writers emphasized the importance of the Poetics of Aristotle, as well as the unities of place, time, and action that they extracted from his works. In Poetics, Aristotle laid out the six essential elements of tragedy: plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle, and song (McManus). Each of these components held certain value to what Aristotle believed to be a successful play, however, plot and character held to be the most important.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that aristotle defines the plot as the arrangement of incidents, meaning the structure of the play. molière's tartuffe fits this criterion perfectly.
- Explains that tartuffe is an excellent example of a neoclassical drama because of its close adherence to the guidelines set forth in aristotle's poetics and its use of character structure.
- Analyzes how aristotle defines a complex plot as moral in nature, as well as having both reversals and recognition.
- Explains gainor, j. ellen, stanton b. garner, and martin puchner's the norton anthology of drama, shorter edition. mcmanus, barbara f.
1126 wordsRead More