Thursday, May 30, 2019

Aristotle On Tragedy :: essays research papers

The Nature of TragedyIn the century after Sophocles, the philosopher Aristotle canvas calamity. His definition Tragedy then, 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 put up 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 identified cardinal basic elements (1) plot (2) character (3) diction (the choice of style, imagery, etc.) (4) thought (the characters thoughts and the authors meaning) (5) spectacle (all the visual effects Aristotle considered this to be the least important element) (6) song.According to Aristotle, the central character of a tragedy must not be so virtuous that instead of feeling pity or fear at his or her downfall, we are simply outraged. withal the character cannot be so evil that for the sake of justice we desire his or her misfor tune. Instead, best is someone"who is neither outstanding in virtue and right nor is it through badness or villainy of his own that he falls into misfortune, but rather through some flaw hamartia". The character should be known or prosperous, like Oedipus or Medea. What Aristotle meant by hamartia cannot be established. In each play we read you should particularly consider the following possibilities. (1) A hamartia may be simply an intellectual mistake or an error in judgement. For example when a character has the facts wrong or doesnt know when to obturate trying to get dangerous information. (2) Hamartia may be a moral weakness, especially hubris, as when a character is moral in both way except for being prideful enough to insult a god. (Of course you are free to decide that the tragic hero of any play, past or modern, does not have a hamartia at all). The terms hamartia and hubris should become basic tools of your critical apparatus.The Concept of TragedyThe word tr agedy can be applied to a genre of literature. It can mean any serious and dignified drama that describes a conflict between the hero (protagonist) and a superior force (destiny, chance, society, god) and reaches a sorrowful conclusion that arouses pity or fear in the audience. From this genre comes the concept of tragedy, a concept which is based on the possibility that a person may be destroyed precisely because of attempting to be good and is much better than most people, but not perfect.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.