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Analyse Aristotle,s elents of tragedy
Aristotlean tragedy and othello
To what extent has Shakespeare followed the principle of Aristotle's of tragedy in king Lear
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Both 'King Lear' and 'Hamlet' can be described as a tragedy because Shakespeare used Aristotle’s definition of tragedy to construct these plays. In a tragedy the main character suffers as a result of their fatal flaw.
King Lear fits Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero. Aristotle stated a tragedy must be a play where the hero suffers as a result of their fatal flaw, has overbearing pride or presumption, has a dramatic episode of emotions, realises there mistakes but it is too late.
King Lear proposes to retire from the cares of his kingdom which is of significant importance. His fatal flaw and King Lear’s harmatia is his vanity which makes the audiences feel pity and fear when he falls victim to flattery and is ruthlessly betrayed by those he should have been able to trust the most
Hamlet’s fatal flaw is it’s his ability to over think. When the ghost of his father appears to him and charges him with the demanding task of avenging his most foul murder, Hamlet accepts the challenge. As the play progresses, however, Hamlet finds it difficult to execute such a murderous task. In order to delay killing Claudius, Hamlet plans to act crazy, which forces Claudius to send him to England. He also devises the “mouse-trap” scene, (Act 3 Scene 2), where he asked a troupe of actors to play a scene similar to how Claudius murdered his brother (King Hamlet). Hamlet’s inability to act and to avenge his father’s death leads him, as well as many others to their graves.
Shakespeare's plays were written during the Elizabethan England because he had to impress the Queen. It took place on the edge of the Renaissance where ordinary people became liberated which was a huge step in the intelligence of mankind. The Renaissance was when people be...
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...n how others would want the plot. This means that King Lear and Hamlet are not plays entirely from Shakespeare's imagination; instead they are plays written in the way Shakespeare interpreted as being most likely to be popular. Consequently, Shakespeare can not be seen as the architect of their tragedies, Elizabethan England is responsible for the creation of the tragedies.
Traditionally, as Lear and Hamlet are characters from plays they cannot be architects of their tragedies. However, the way that they have been created with such dominant and apparent flaws believe that they are architects of their tragedies. This is because they both allow themselves to be manipulated by their emotions and react in contrasting ways. The emotions cause Hamlet to think too much, whereas they cause Lear to ignore the potential consequences of his action and not to think at all.
Because Lear is rooted in flawed epistemology, attempting to find the meaning of life, he can only create corrupted actions and policies. Not only does Lear’s epistemology only cause him greater problems, but this epistemology also relates back to the political nature of the play. Politics must be understood as a process of fabrication in which the end utopian goal justifies and underpins rulership, control and domination (Saurette). Nowhere is this better shown than when Lear decides to step down from the throne and give his seat on the throne to the daughter who “loves” him most (Damrosch 1361-1363) and when he does, the two daughters who fabricate their “love” for their father rule his former kingdom through authoritarianism and totalitarianism. This paper seeks to analyze distinct philosophies in King Lear, such as existentialism and nihilism, to allow the reader a better grasp on why certain actions in the play occur and why these political philosophies drive Lear further into his problems.
Aristotle wrote “A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in appropriate and pleasurable language;... in a dramatic rather than narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish a catharsis of these emotions.” (Poetics). Shakespeare 's “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark,” is viewed by most as one of the greatest tragedies that was ever written. Hamlet, an ideal tragic hero in his right, as appealed to many people of different cultures since it was written all those years ago. Hamlet has all of the makings to be a real man and that is what brings us into his world so easily, but like every human being on Earth, he has a hamartia. John Green
By using just the right combination of words, or by coming up with just the right image, Shakespeare wrote many passages and entire plays that were so powerful, moving, tragic, comedic, and romantic that many are still being memorized and performed today, almost four centuries later. But the greatness of Shakespeare’s ability lies not so much in the basic themes of his works but in the creativity he used to write these stories of love, power, greed, discrimination, hatred, and tragedy.
In King Lear by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare recounts the tragedy of King Lear as he fails to acknowledge his tragic flaw and thus falls into tragedy and unintentionally brings others with him. Throughout the play, tragedy befalls undeserving people and they suffer greatly even though they have not done anything to deserve their suffering. Although Gloucester, Edgar, and Cordelia all live happy lives at the beginning of the play, they experience great suffering despite their inner goodness, a fact that highlights Shakespeare’s belief about the blindness of a justice that does not necessarily strike only the wicked.
Through Lear, Shakespeare expertly portrays the inevitability of human suffering. The “little nothings,” seemingly insignificant choices that Lear makes over the course of the play, inevitably evolve into unstoppable forces that change Lear’s life for the worse. He falls for Goneril’s and Regan’s flattery and his pride turns him away from Cordelia’s unembellished affection. He is constantly advised by Kent and the Fool to avoid such choices, but his stubborn hubris prevents him from seeing the wisdom hidden in the Fool’s words: “Prithee, tell him, so much the rent of his land comes to: he will not believe a fool” (Shakespeare 21). This leads to Lear’s eventual “unburdening,” as foreshadowed in Act I. This unburdening is exacerbated by his failure to recognize and learn from his initial mistakes until it is too late. Lear’s lack of recognition is, in part, explained by his belief in a predestined life controlled completely by the gods: “It is the stars, the stars above us govern our conditions” (Shakespeare 101). The elder characters in King Lear pin their various sufferings on the will of...
Hamlet is intelligent, thoughtful but calculating and is out for revenge for the murder of his father. However, he is not able to carry out his revenge immediately which is crucial for fairness and his rightful ascendancy to the Danish throne. However, he rationalizes to hide behind excuses instead of seeking revenge by killing Claudius. Hamlet’s inability to act and make a final decision is his single tragic flaw. In direct contrast, Laertes suffers from not able to control his emotions. He comes back from France angry at Claudius with a suggestion of a coup. However, when Claudius redirects anger from Laertes away from himself, he is so fired about killing Hamlet, he would not mind killing him in a church.
Shakespeare was a man who never was able to see the full impact of his plays on the world. They were very popular when he was alive, but that was a time when plays were watched and not read as they are today. When reading his plays it is evident that everything in the play was intentional with double and even triple meanings built into single lines. His play Hamlet is full of these punch lines that Shakespeare is now famous for. Hamlet is a tragedy that is almost void of all action. What it really is, is a play about words. For the first few acts of the play nothing really takes place, it is all words and contemplation with no action. Shakespeare uses all of these words to build up the characters in his play. In the story of Hamlet, King Hamlet
In the story of Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, there are many different perceptions of what the tragedy could be. In my opinion, the tragedy in Hamlet was a direct result of the foul play emitted by Claudius onto the royal family of Denmark, and his refusing to reveal his evil plot. From these acts, a series of events developed could have been avoided by a simple act of confession.
The Tragedy of King Lear King Lear is a tragic story by William Shakespeare is a story of a man King Lear and his decision that led to his fate and the fate of others. With every tragic story comes a tragic hero. The tragic hero of the story is King Lear. According to the definition of a tragic hero one must be born into nobility, endowed with a tragic flaw, doomed to make a serious error in judgement, fall from great heights or high esteem, realize they have made an irreversible mistake, and faces and accepts death with honor meets a tragic death. King Lear meets all of these qualities.
Webster’s dictionary defines tragedy as, “a serious drama typically describing a conflict between the protagonist and a superior force (such as destiny) and having a sorrowful or disastrous conclusion that excites pity or terror.” A tragic hero, therefore, is the character who experiences such a conflict and suffers catastrophically as a result of his choices and related actions. The character of Hamlet, therefore, is a clear representation of Shakespeare’s tragic hero.
Overall, Hamlet is a tragedy that is the result of too much thought and too little action that is the result of excessive uncertainty. The powerful examination of appearance and reality dominates Hamlets thoughts and causes great questions, in which answers are never certain. The need to be certain of a terrible after life in either hell or purgatory for Claudius is the result of an obsession with death causes Hamlet to delay in his revenge. Lastly, Hamlets inability to act when it is not just impulsive causes him to fail in his preferred delivery of revenge. Hamlets mind, which is his greatest asset, turns out to also be his greatest downfall as it leads to over thinking of everything and causes him to delay in his revenge.
In life the border between sanity and madness is thin and undefined. At best it is
William Shakespere 's tragedy of Hamlet is a story of revenge and distress involving Hamlet Jr, the prince of Denmark. The plot of the play focuses on Hamlet 's quest to avenge his father 's death. Hamlet learns that his father did not die accidentally, as the public believed, and that his Uncle Claudius is the one who murdered his father. Claudius then hastily married Hamlet 's mother and became king. Hamlet is an archetypical example of a tragic hero. He starts out as a noble and virtuous character and then confronts challenges that expose his tragic flaws which lead to his downfall. Hamlet 's tragic flaws are making rash decisions as well as being overly contemplative.
Regardless of a person’s age or literary preference it is undeniable that William Shakespeare had a flair for composing dramatic tragedies. Tragedy is a powerful underlining theme which portrays the qualities of the human capacity. In one of Shakespeare’s most brilliant plays, Hamlet, tragedy is portrayed through the protagonist’s constant contemplation of suicide. Shakespeare often alludes to powerful images of death by using pathos and bereavement in life to be inconsequential. In the play, Hamlet, William Shakespeare produces a tragedy which illustrates the suggestion of suicide and the imagery of death as solutions to problems through Ophelia’s demise, the minor characters reflection upon death, and most importantly the protagonist Hamlet.
There are many places that we see Hamlet’s tragic flaw. The first place we see it is when her talks to the ghost who is supposed to be his father that is killed. In this scene, the ghost tells Hamlet that Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, killed king Hamlet. Hamlet takes the ghosts words into consideration but does not fully believe the