Page 52 - DENG501_LITERARY_CRITICISM_AND_THEORIES

Literary Criticism and Theories

Notes 4.1 Greek Theory of Tragedy: Aristotle's Poetics

The classic discussion of Greek tragedy is Aristotle's Poetics. He defines tragedy as "the imitation
of an action that is serious and also as having magnitude, complete in itself." He continues,
"Tragedy is a form of drama exciting the emotions of pity and fear. Its action should be single and
complete, presenting a reversal of fortune, involving persons renowned and of superior attainments,
and it should be written in poetry embellished with every kind of artistic expression." The writer
presents "incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to interpret its catharsis of such of such
emotions" (by catharsis, Aristotle means a purging or sweeping away of the pity and fear aroused
by the tragic action).
The basic difference Aristotle draws between tragedy and other genres, such as comedy and the
epic, is the "tragic pleasure of pity and fear" the audience feel watching a tragedy. In order for the
tragic hero to arouse these feelings in the audience, he cannot be either all good or all evil but must
be someone the audience can identify with; however, if he is superior in some way(s), the tragic
pleasure is intensified. His disastrous end results from a mistaken action, which in turn arises
from a tragic flaw or from a tragic error in judgment. Often the tragic flaw is hubris, an excessive
pride that causes the hero to ignore a divine warning or to break a moral law. It has been suggested
that because the tragic hero's suffering is greater than his offense, the audience feels pity; because
the audience members perceive that they could behave similarly, they feel pity.
4.1.1 The Tragic Hero
The tragic play comes from Greece; the genre was established by the fifth century BCE. Plays were
performed during an Athenian festival, the City Dionysia, and actors evoked the heroic figures of
myth and legend. In his Poetics, Aristotle said that tragedy is an imitation of 'events terrible and
pitiful'. The tragic hero, said Aristotle, should not be 'a virtuous man brought from prosperity to
adversity: for this moves neither pity nor fear; it merely shocks us'. Neither should he be 'a bad
man passing from adversity to prosperity: for nothing can be more alien to the spirit of Tragedy;
it possesses no single tragic quality; it neither satisfies the moral sense, nor calls forth pity or fear'.
Finally, Aristotle cautions, 'Nor, again, should the downfall of the utter villain be exhibited. A plot
of this kind would, doubtless, satisfy the moral sense, but it would inspire neither pity nor fear;
for pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune, fear by the misfortune of a man like ourselves'.
Aristotle pronounces the hero of tragedy properly to be 'the character between these two extremes
- that of a man who is not eminently good and just, yet whose misfortune is brought about not by
vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty. He must be one who is highly renowned and
prosperous - a personage like Oedipus, Thyestes, or other illustrious men of such families'.
The Poetics, along with the tragedies of the Roman playwright Seneca, were influential in the
Elizabethan period. Shakespeare's tragic heroes conform to many of the precepts of Aristotle.
They may have royal blood, be renowned military leaders, or both. They may exhibit villainy, but
this is not usually the villainy of an out-and-out tyrant, but the result of a tragic flaw in character
that leads them to commit errors or acts of violence. Thus, Hamlet's melancholy and inner torment,
although partly induced by circumstances, also seem to be part of his own character. Othello's
jealousy and failure to recognise Iago's manipulation result in the murder of Desdemona. Antony's
excessive love for Cleopatra weakens him, and Lear's pride and rejection of Cordelia bring about
his madness and death. As Aristotle suggested, characters who are flawed, rather than wholly
villainous, are characters with whom the audience can identify. Seneca's tragic heroes tend to be
more extreme, consciously doing wrong and driven by wild passions. Perhaps another aspect of
the audience's ability to identify came because Shakespeare varied the classical pattern by including
comic elements. For example, much of Hamlet's dialogue is blackly comic.
Shakespeare's tragic heroes are often victims of their own excesses or self-deception. Although
they may be prey to manipulative characters, like Iago in Othello or Goneril and Regan in Lear,
some lack of understanding prevents them from seeing the truth. Othello woos Desdemona with

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