1 / 8

Aristotle and Tragedy

Aristotle and Tragedy. The Shakespearean Hero. Comedy V. Tragedy. The difference between comedy and tragedy is not “one is funny” and in one “everyone dies” In a Shakespearean comedy the action moves from chaos to order and usually ends in a marriage

hester
Download Presentation

Aristotle and Tragedy

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Aristotle and Tragedy The Shakespearean Hero

  2. Comedy V. Tragedy The difference between comedy and tragedy is not “one is funny” and in one “everyone dies” • In a Shakespearean comedy the action moves from chaos to order and usually ends in a marriage • In his “Dark” comedies, we still see a movement from chaos to order with a marriage, but the play has heavier themes like death • In a tragedy, the movement is from order to chaos and usually ends with the death or dishonor of the main character.

  3. History • Aristotle's The Poetics (4th century B.C.) carefully analyzed what makes tragedy such a powerful, aesthetic event. • For Aristotle, the most important element of tragic drama was the unique experience of CATHARSIS, the arousing of the specific emotions of pity and fear so as to dispel or purge them in the spectator.

  4. Plot The ideal plot should contain the following characteristics: • Oneplot whose action extends over no more than a day or two and occurs in no more than one city and its surrounding countryside • A plot structured on principles which strengthen the emotions of "pity" and "fear":

  5. Pity and Fear Reversal (or change of fortune) • Simple: character experiences a turn of fortune from happiness to misery or vice versa • Complex: the hero, seeking happiness, brings about his own destruction.(ironic reversal) Discovery (or recognition) • of someone's identity or true nature • of one's own identity or true character • of thenatureof the gods and the universe The ideal climax, turning point, combines ironic reversal and discovery in a single action.

  6. The Tragic Hero He or she must be of noble blood. • Initially, the hero must be neither better nor worse morally than most people. The tragic hero meets his fate because of a "tragic flaw". The tragic flaw is not a defect in character, but an error in judgment of the kind we all make.  

  7. Shakespeare Shakespeare's tragic heroes differ • That which causes their fall does happen because of poor judgment. • The characters are sometimes victim to circumstances beyond their control or people who they believe are their friends

  8. Catharsis The following things happen as a result of thehero’s fate: • "Pity" is aroused for the hero as he meets his fate. • "Fear" is aroused since we may meet a similar fate as the hero. • These two emotions are dispelled eventually. We sympathize with the hero and his tragic circumstances, but we are not overcome with pity or fear for him. • We learn a lesson from the story, our pity and fear disappear, and that is a cathartic experience.

More Related