Aristotle wrote the Poetics in the fourth century BCE as an account for his observations of the defining characteristics of tragedies and epic poetry. In this work, Aristotle defines catharsis as “purging” and “cleansing” of the emotion of the audience at the end of a tragedy or epic poem. Such feelings of pity or fear towards one character or one group of characters are caused because of their unfortunate circumstance throughout the plot of the tragedy or poem. In The Women of Troy there are multiple characters who are faced with hopeless situations that would cause the audience to feel pity and release their emotion. In the Iliad, the release of emotion is less obvious but still present. Euripides’s uses of catharsis in The Women of Troy and Homer’s uses of catharsis in the Iliad comply with the definition that Aristotle provides in the Poetics; and are essential in aiding the audience in understanding the severity of the Trojan War and its aftermath.
In The Women of Troy, Euripides exhibits to the audience the helplessness of Hecabe after the Greeks captured after the conclusion...
Encompassing a wide variety of emotion, an Athenian tragedy can be described as a mixed bag of “compelling stories about human relationships, whose melodramatic plots invite us to think about profound issues…” according to the Norton Anthology of World Literature. (644) It is the ability to manipulate human circumstances in the most outlandish way that grabs an audience’s attention; while the articulation and careful consideration with plot structure and dialogue leaves an audience to ponder long after the story is over. Sophocles took this idea and ran with it when he wrote Oedipus the King, arguably one of the most popular Athenian tragedies ever written. The Norton Anthology of World Literature provides support to this claim by explaining that, “Aristotle descr...
From the times of Aristotle to modern day Boal people have tried to come up with a definition of tragedy that encompasses all of the works they feel to be tragedies. However, there are always a few exceptions to their rules that make their thesis insubstantial. Those who define tragedies all have different elements that they say are necessary in classifying something as a tragedy. Unfortunately for us, no one definition has ever been settled upon that everyone agrees with. The one factor that does seem to be present in every interpretation of what is necessary in a tragedy is the catharsis that is brought up in the viewer. Without that emotional reaction, whether of pity, empathy, sympathy, or perturbation, a work never seems to be classified as a tragedy. O'Neill wrote Desire Under the Elms borrowing themes from the myths of Phaedra, Medea, and Oedipus. He was trying to create a Greek tragedy in the setting of his time. Racine wrote Phedre in classic Greek style, attempting to create a Greek tragedy that had been written in the modern day. Both of these plays sought to entwine the modern world with Greek tragedies. While they each have distinctly different ways of accomplishing their goal of writing a modern Greek tragedy, they are both tragedies in their own way and bring about the similar effect of Catharsis.
Over the course of time, many things tend to transform significantly. Such is the case of tragic literature and the cathartic effect it has on the reader, which has deteriorated a great deal from Sophocles' writing of the true tragedy, Oedipus Rex. King Lear exemplifies partial decomposition of catharsis, whereas Desire Under The Elms epitomises an almost total collapse of the cathartic effect. It is assumed that the lower the social status of the tragic hero, the weaker the ability of the 1990's audience to identify with the character's flaw. The term 'identify' refers to the ability to relate to the situation or idea. The lower social status of the protagonist in Desire Under The Elms allows a weaker level of reader identification than that experienced in King Lear or Oedipus Rex, which is made evident by examining stages two and three of catharsis.
Homer, Iliad is the narration of the Trojan war. The Trojan war was one of the most important and significant wars of Greek mythology, Homer described how the war was triggered by the abduction of the most beautiful women known as Helen. This paper will argue how the traditional view of this poem is accurate because it indeed was Helens beauty and her selfishness that sparked the Trojan war. Although Helen was not happy about the outcomes of her mistakes. This paper will present how Helen faced many forms of self judgment, how she created many relationships with significant characters, such as Paris, Priam and Aphrodite. Homers portrayal of this significant women was remarkable as we were able to feel her pain and anguish, the readers were
Homer’s Iliad is undoubtedly focused on its male characters: Achilles, primarily, but also Hector and Agamemnon. Nevertheless, it seems that the most crucial characters in the epic are female. Homer uses the characters of Thetis, Andromache, and Helen as a basis for comparison to the male characters. Homer wants his audience to see and understand the folly of his male characters in choosing war over peace, aggression over kindness, and honor over family. While the behavior of these characters clearly speaks for itself, the contrasting attitudes and behaviors of the female characters proffer an alternative; in comparison, the reader can hardly fail to concur with Homer’s message that war, aggression, and honor are misplaced and self-defeating values.
Emotion in essays, stories, plays, and poems places an important role in the text. Sophocles the author of The Oedipus Cycle uses an interesting amount of emotion that evokes a catharsis. A catharsis is used to refer to the experience a person can have of releasing emotional tension and feeling refreshed afterwards. In this play Sophocles uses many different scenarios where someone feels emotionally detached. From finding out a disgusting past to realizing your future, this play is a roller coaster.
Many years ago in ancient Greece, Plato initiated a debate about the usefulness of literature by declaring that poetry had no place in the ideal society, mainly because it was full of lies and because it evoked undesirable emotions. His pupil Aristotle, however, took the opposing side of this dispute and argued that literature was, in fact, useful. Aristotle agreed with Plato that literature induces undesirable emotions, but he stated that it only does so in an attempt to purge us of these harmful sentiments, a process which he termed “catharsis”. The events in Homer’s Iliad, while used by both Plato and Aristotle to defend their theories about literature, lend themselves to the defense of Aristotle’s ideas more so than Plato’s. Specifically, the juxtaposition of Achilleus’s intense lamentation with the portrayal of Hephaistos’s shield, the description of Hektor’s increasing pride, and the account of Patroklos’s impulsive nature in battle all perfectly exemplify Aristotle’s idea of catharsis and demonstrate the true worth of literature.
Greek tragedies, written in ancient times, are still a standard for tragedies written today. Contrary to diminishing in value over time, these tragedies have become cherished pieces of work in the sophisticated literate culture of today. However, one can not delve into these precious works of beautiful literary verse without first having background knowledge of the context they were written, and of the structure they follow. There are several terms, as well as an analysis of tragedies by Aristotle, a philosopher who experienced them firsthand. By knowing the structural basis of tragic works before reading them, one is able to better understand them and appreciate them more fully for the prized trophies of classic literature they are.
Aristotle (384-322 B.C. believed that tragedy, as an imitation or mimesis of life as it could be, held more importance than history, which simply records the past. He considered that performance of a tragedy provided the perfect cathartic experience for an audience, leaving them spiritually purified and inspired. He felt spectators seeing and experiencing great hardship befall the play’s hero or heroine would achieve this emotional state and benefit from it.
The Iliad may be seen as an account of the circumstances that irrevocably alter the life of one man: Achilles, one of the greatest warriors. Throughout the course of the poem Achilles goes through many ordeals that change his character immensely. Starting with his quarrel with Agamemnon and withdrawal from battle, to the death of Patroklos, and with the slaying of Hektor. Achilles emotions and actions decide the fate of many warriors on both sides. Achilles struggles with anger, honor, pride, loyalty and love make the poem more that just a gruesome war story.
Aristotle’s Poetics is not one of his major works, although it has exercised a great deal of influence upon subsequent literary studies and criticism. In this work Aristotle outlines and discusses many basic elements that an author should adhere to in order to write a great tragedies and/or poetry. Two important topics that Aristotle addresses and believes to be crucial to the art work is the mimesis, or imitation of life, and that the audience has an emotional response from the work, or a catharsis. Both William Wordsworth and William Shakespeare were believers in Aristotle’s philosophy concerning tragedies and poetry, and employed these two elements within their works.
Richardson, Nicholas. The Iliad : A Commentary. Vol. VI: books 21-24. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1993.
One of the most compelling topics The Iliad raises is that of the intricate affiliations between fate, man and the gods. Many events related by Homer in his epic poem exhibit how these three connections interweave and eventually determine the very lives of the men and women involved in the war. Homer leaves these complex relationships slightly unclear throughout the epic, never spelling out the exact bonds connecting men's fate to the gods and what can be considered the power of fate. The motivation for the ambiguousness present in The Iliad is not easily understood, but it is a question that enriches and helps weave an even greater significance of the results into Homer's masterpiece. I feel that the interaction between man, god, and fate can be shown to be one great fluidity that ultimately leaves life mysterious, giving much more depth and complexity to the bonds between the three.
Pity, fear, and finally catharsis, an effective journey of emotions used to evoke the audience. This play was written to prove a point and really bring the subject of a lost religion home to the ancient Greeks. It shows that man's confidence in his abilities and in himself is at best an illusion if one abandons the gods and their will. The audience walks away from the tragedy, learning from Oedipus' dilemma. Sophocles' hope was to leave the people with some thoughts and hopefully with a desire to change. He saw a need in the land for it to return to its religious roots and felt that if they returned, the gods would perhaps not be so displeased with the country.
In The Poetics, the greatest statement of classical dramatic theory, Aristotle cites Oedipus as the best example of Greek tragedy. According to Aristotle, Oedipus is a tragic hero because he is not perfect, but has tragic flaws (hamartia). Aristotle points out that Oedipus' tragic flaw is excessive pride (hubris) and self-righteousness. Aristotle also enlightens certain characteristics that determine a tragic hero. Using Oedipus as an ideal model, Aristotle says that a tragic hero must be an important or influential man who commits an error in judgment, and who must then suffer the consequences of his actions. The tragic hero must learn a lesson from his errors in judgment, his tragic flaw, and become an example to the audience of what happens when great men fall from their arrogant social or political positions. According to Aristotle, a tragedy must be an imitation of life in the form of a serious story that is complete in it; in other words, the story must be realistic and narrow in focus. A good tragedy will evoke pity and fear in its viewers, causing the viewers to experience a feeling of catharsis. Catharsis, in Greek, means "purgation" or "purification"; running through the...