According to Aristotle, the appeal of tragedy, at its foundation, is katharsis: a purgation of the emotions pity and fear (Kennedy and Gioia 1203). Although scholars do not entirely agree on his meaning, it seems Aristotle had observed something that rings true today: that witnessing a person falling from the apex of achievement, to become humbled and utterly ruined, is inexplicably pleasurable. This is seldom more obvious today than in the keen attention paid to politicians embroiled in scandal, or celebrities having public meltdowns. Like the dramatic tragedies throughout the ages, those observing cannot help but become transfixed. When observed in literature or television it is harmless entertainment, often prompting deep reflection. When played out in the real world, it becomes a guilty pleasure. It often arouses disgust, yes, but also pity and fear.
In Aristotle’s view, the protagonist of a tragedy must be someone whose misfortune could impact many, such as “a king or queen or other member of the royal family” (Kennedy and Gioia 1203). In some ways, it is inarguably it is more dramatic to witness the downfall of a person of great importance, as the resultant mess is quite spectacular. However, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is evidence that the tragic descent of the common man can be equally riveting. Moreover, if a proper tragedy should cause the audience to experience fear and pity, the ruination of an unremarkable person should hit much closer to home. Despite being separated by 2400 years, and having vastly different contexts, the tragedies Death of a Salesman and Oedipus the King both tell the story of a man doomed by too much pride and too little information.
In experiencing the unravelling of the lives ...
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...n the others – one which kept them from seeing the truth or achieving their goals. While for most this will not result in a truly catastrophic (or tragic) demise, the tragic flaw is compelling because it is relatable, regardless of station in life or era of birth.
Works Cited
Kennedy, X. J. and Dana Gioia. "Aristotles Concept of Tragedy." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Twelfth Edition. New York: Pearson, 2013. 127-146.
Miller, Arthur. "Death of a Salesman." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Twelfth Edition. New York: Pearson, 2013. 1764-1831.
Sophocles. "Oedipus the King." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Twelfth Edition. New York: Pearson, 2013. 1205-1244.
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.
Gioia, Dana, and X.J. Kennedy. "Death of a Salesman" Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing, Compact Edition, Interactive Edition. 5th ed. New York: Pearson; Longman Publishing, 2007. 1212-1280. Print.
Aristotle. " The Good." Dramatic Theory and Criticism. Ed. Bernard F. Dukore. Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1974.
A classic tragic hero must have noble stature and greatness about them. They are often admired for their outstanding qualities. Also, a tragic hero possesses a fatal flaw, often called Hamartia. Excessive pride, or Hubris, is a traditional tragic weakness often seen in a lot of tragedies. Hubris and Hamartia lead to Pathos, or tragic acts destructed to life. Pathos happens to tragic heros without them even knowing that they are happening because their ignorance and pride make them blind to their flaws. The suffering and consequence of Pathos leads to Anagnorisis, or the recognition of facts, but this understanding comes too late to avoid Peripeteia, or reversal of fortune, which brings about Catharsis. Catharsis is the suffering, death, and the purging of emotion. Tragic heros like Willy Loman, Ethan Frome, Hamlet, and Oedipus are all seen to follow this structure of being a tragic
...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.
Myers, H. A. (1949). Aristotle's study of tragedy. Educational Theatre Journal, 1(2), 115. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1290192594?accountid=12085
Aristotle’s De Poetica defines tragedy as mimetic, serious and contains rhythm. A tragedy also contains six elements; plot, thought characters, song, diction, and spectacle. Tragedy arouses feelings of pity and fear and then turns these feelings with catharsis. According to the ideas laid out by Aristotle, for a tragedy to arouse pity and fear, a tragic hero’s life makes a wrong turn. As quoted by Aristotle he describes the perfect plot of a tragedy “A well-constructed plot should, therefore, be single in its issue, rather than double as some maintain. The change of fortune should be not from bad to good, but, reversely, from good to bad.” (17). The plot in M...
Aristotle is the most influential philosopher in the history of Western thought. A Greek drama by Sophocles, Oedipus Rex, was praised in the Poetics of Aristotle as the model for classical tragedy and is still considered a principal example of the genre. In this essay I will analyze Oedipus Rex using Aristotle's concepts praxis, poiesis, theoria.
Aristotle sees tragedy of being made of pity and fear. When tragedies occur in people’s lives it appears fear and pity is always an accompanying trait. Aristotle finds these two emotions to be staples in creating the perfect tragedy play. A tragic hero is the direct spawn of creating a tragic play.
Aristotle. "Poetics: Comedy and Epic Tragedy." Trans. Gerald F. Else. The Bedford Introduction to Drama. By Lee A. Jacobus. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. 95-101. Print.
In Aristotle’s book, Poetics, he defines tragedy as, “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and possessing magnitude; in embellished language, each kind of which is used separately in the different parts; in the mode of action and not narrated; and effecting through pity and fear” (Aristotle 1149). Tragedy creates a cause and effect chain of actions that clearly gives the audience ideas of possible events. The six parts to Aristotle’s elements of tragedy are: Plot, character, language, thought, spectacle, and melody. According to Aristotle, the most important element is the plot. Aristotle writes in Poetics that, “It is not for the purpose of presenting their characters that the agents engage in action, but rather it is for the sake of their actions that they take on the characters they have” (Aristotle 1150). Plots should have a beginning, middle, and end that have a unity of actions throughout the play making it complete. In addition, the plot should be complex making it an effective tragedy. The second most important element is character. Characters...
...n Aristotle’s view of characters. Aristotle also suggests that a tragedy should have the power to provoke audience’s emotion of pity and fear. The suffering and behavior of each character in Hamlet possess that power. The author agrees with the Aristotelian analysis of Hamlet, the story of Hamlet was perfectly based on Aristotle’s tragedy theory. However, the author thinks that the tragedy doesn’t always have to end up in misery. A tragic story can also have some hidden happiness in the suffering, misery of tragic hero(s), in which way can audience realize that there is still hopeful when your life is tragic and encourage people to strive hard to create a better life.
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
There is no doubt that tragedy has changed considerably since Aristotle first wrote the definition of tragedy in his Poetics in Ancient Greece, but these changes raise the question of whether modern tragedy still fits the classical definition of tragedy. Tragedy has evolved greatly since the times of the classical tragedies, including Oedipus Rex and Hamlet, to the more modern forms of tragedy, as seen in The Hairy Ape and Death of a Salesman. Despite its evolution and deviation from Aristotle’s definition, modern tragedy holds by the same principles, and retains the same power and message expressed by Aristotelian tragedy.
A form of drama in which a person of superior intelligence and character is overcome by the very obstacles he/she is struggling to remove defines a tragedy as most people know it. However, tragedy can reflect another aspect of life: the tragedies of the common people. Heroic behavior in these instances may at times be impossible. We expect, from reading the first tragedies, that only kings or nobility can be tragic heroes. Arthur Miller himself said, “I believe that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were…[The same characteristics] which were enacted by royal beings…apply to everyone in similar emotional situations.”