Aristotle

Tragedy and the Tragic Hero

Aristotle’s Life

• Student of the philosopher Plato

• Teacher to Alexander the Great

• Divided philosophical thought into ethics, physics, and logic

A General Definition of Tragedy

• Any serious and dignified drama that describes a conflict between the hero(protagonist) and a superior force(antagonist), and reaches a sorrowful conclusion that arouses pity or fear in the audience(catharsis).

Aristotle’s Definition of Tragedy

• Tragedy 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; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions.

Aristotle’s Poetics: Basic Concepts

• Complex plots are better than simple ones

• Suffering is to be included in a tragic plot which should end unhappily.

• The pity and fear from which the tragedy evokes, should come from the events, not from the mere sight of something on stage.

Recognition and Reversal

• Recognition is a change from ignorance to knowledge.

• The new knowledge often identifies an unknown relative or dear one whom the hero should cherish but was about to harm or has just harmed.

• Reversal is a change of a situation to its opposite.

Characteristics of the Tragic Hero. The Character…

• Is not all good or bad• Is of the noble class or

highly renowned and prosperous

• Has a tragic flaw• Recognizes his error

and accepts the consequences

• Arouses the audience’s pity and fear