For Aristotle, all literature is an art of imitation. Just as an artist imitates life to produce his or her literature, the audience is inspired to imitate, in some fashion, what it reads, hear, or sees on the stage. One of the basic types of literature that Aristotle discusses is the tragedy, which he considered a very important and potentially influential type of literature. Tragedy came to signify a dramatic presentation of seriousness and noble character which examines the major questions of human existence. In tragedy, people are tested by great suffering and must face decisions of ultimate consequence. While some may meet the challenge with deeds of extreme cruelty, others demonstrate their ability to overcome adversity and thus showing the tough and determined nature of the human spirit. Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, whole in itself [meaning that it has a beginning, middle, and end], and filled with many types of literary devices.
In dealing with the definition of tragedy, there are many vital aspects of literature that come together to produce a well-written tragedy. Some of these aspects include the art of imitation, reversal and recognition, pity and fear, catharsis, and even the effective use of a tragic hero. Imitation, then, can be in many models, but Aristotle asserts that imitation that represent men in action must be of men who are "superior or inferior, either better than we know in life, or worse, or of the same kind- (Aristotle 5). He believes that such imitation is natural to man, for not only does man learn his first things through imitation, there is a sense of personal enjoyment involved with imitating others. .
Aristotle further emphasizes the importance of reversal (peripetia) and recognition (anagnorisis). According to Aristotle, the change of fortune (reversal) for the hero should be an event that occurs contrary to the audience's expectations and that is therefore surprising, but that nonetheless appears as a necessary outcome of the preceding actions.
In his book, "The Poetics," Aristotle expresses some of his thoughts about the merging of literature with tragedy. ... " Aristotle indicates that tragedy "shows" rather than "tells.... Aristotle was a great admirer of Sophocles' 'King Oedipus'. ... Aristotle defines plot as "the arrangement of the incidents." ... Aristotle uses the term hamartia to refer to this tragic flaw. ...
The immediate and pressing question, then, is whether Aristotle is right in applying his scientific method to poetry. ... Whether something is an epic poem, a comedy, or a tragedy depends on how it fits within these categories. ... Perhaps we would do better to understand Aristotle's distinction as being between fact and fiction. ... There are no beginnings or ends in real life, and the stuff in between is nowhere near as neatly organized as it is in tragedy. ... Tragedy draws patterns out of a meaningless swirl of experience. ...
What is a tragedy? According to Aristotle, there are eight rules that make up a tragedy. ... In both of these plays the chorus has the same three criteria meaning that they are part of the tragedy category defined by Aristotle. Another example from Aristotle's rules of tragedy is the tragic hero must go through a "discovery and reversal "stage throughout the play. ... One last rule taken from Aristotle is the tragedy puts the audience through catharsis, or spiritual cleansing. ...
He goes on to describe in detail his ideas about the elements of successful tragedy. Presentation is a main focus of tragedy. ... As Aristotle puts it, "tragedy as a whole must have six elements which make it what it is: they are plot-structure, character, style, thought, spectacle, and lyric poetry."" ... Aristotle goes on to judge many works of poets of his time by saying that the tragedies of the most recent poets are "lacking in characterization."" ... The characterizations play a vital role in the elements of a tragedy. ...
Aristotle differentiates by claiming that "Epic poetry agrees with Tragedy in so far as it is an imitation in verse of characters of a higher type. ... In his closing defense of poetry (Section Twenty-six), Aristotle considers which art is higher: Epic poetry or Tragedy. ... Aristotle's contemporaries believe tragic performances overshadow tragic content, and thus tragedy is unrefined. But Aristotle declares that tragedy is superior to epic poetry because it contains all epic elements along with visual elements, vividness in reading and representation, and a...
In "Aristotle's Poetics", the author, a Greek philosopher, gives his theory of what makes up a tragedy. ... Many people will say that The Bicycle Thief is a tragedy. Although the film is lacking some elements, it possesses many qualities Aristotle deems necessary for a successful tragedy. ... Aristotle stated "tragedy is a representation of an action that is heroic and complete" (Aristotle, 23). ... This fulfills the need of a tragedy being complete. ...
Her play "Blood Relations" sits on the edge of what Aristotle would call tragedy. Aristotle states that the form of tragedy is an "imitation of a noble and complete action, having the proper magnitude"(Aristotle 6). ... The definition of tragedy in an excerpt from Aristotle's "Poetics" is the re-creation, complete within itself, of an important moral action. The relevance of Aristotle's Poetics to Shakespeare's play Macbeth defines the making of a dramatic tragedy and presents the general principles of the construction of this genre. ... Plot, 'the soul of ...
Define the six parts of tragedy by Aristotle- Aristotle believed that were six parts of tragedy, plot, character, thought (theme), language, melody (music), and spectacle. ... Define tragedy- Tragedy can be defined a numerous amount of ways, for instance, if a person commits an unfortunate error like not paying attention while driving he or she can be caught in a tragic accident. Therefore I feel that tragedy is when a basically good person makes a fatal misjudgment that leads to there demise or death. Aristotle said that tragedy affects "the catharsis of these emotions." ...
His drama, Oedipus the King – also known as Oedipus Rex, fits all Aristotle's requirements for a classic tragedy. ... Aristotle believes Sophocles has written the perfect plot, and all other elements of his play fulfill the Greek philosopher's definition of a tragedy. ... In this quote, Aristotle suggests tragedy should raise pity and fear in the audience. ... Aristotle also mentions that a tragedy should possess magnitude. ... Aristotle's criteria for a perfect tragedy have not ended yet. ...
