Oedipus is a prime example of a tragidy, according to.
Aristotle's definition in the "poetics". Aristotle's Poetics is considered the.
first work of literary criticism in our tradition. The couple of pages in the.
book mainly describe tragedy from Aristotle's point of view. He defines.
tragedy as being an imitation of an action that is a whole and complete in.
itself and of a certain magnitude. Aristotle also points out terms such as.
catharsis, which can be said that is the purification of one's soul. He argues in.
his Poetics that catharsis is achieved through emotions of pity or fear, which.
is created in the audience as they witness the tragedy of a character who.
suffers unjustly, but is not entirely innocent. Then he moves on to describing.
the main elements of tragedy. Such elements are: plot, character, language,.
thought, spectacle, and melody. Then he classifies these in three parts, the.
media, the manner and the objects. The language and melody constitute the.
"media", in which they effect the imitation. Then there is the spectacle, which.
is the "manner", and the remaining three, the plot, character and thought are.
the "objects" that are imitated. Aristotle considers the plot to be the most.
important of these elements. He describes the plot as not being a unity revolving around one man. Instead, he states that many things happen to one man, which may not.
always go together, to form a unity. At the same time, he says that among the .
actions that a character performs there are many that may be irrelevant to one.
another, but yet they form a unified action. Aristotle continues depicting the.
plot categorizing it in two manners: simple and complex. In a simple plot, a.
change of fortune takes place without a reversal or recognition. In contrast, in .
a complex plot, the change of fortune involves recognition or a reversal or .
both. To understand these ideas better he defines reversal and recognition for.
us. Reversal or peripety is a change from one circumstance to its exact .