Page 53 - DENG501_LITERARY_CRITICISM_AND_THEORIES

Unit 4: Aristotle: The Poetics: Ideal Tragic Hero, Comedy

charm and the use of storytelling, yet is unable to discern Iago's use of similar techniques, so that Notes
he swallows Iago's stories whole. Perhaps one aspect of these heroes' struggle with self-
understanding is that they suffer from inner conflict: Hamlet is torn between the desire for revenge
and a sense of the futility of life and action, Othello is tormented by the gap between Iago's lies
and what he knows Desdemona to be, Antony hesitates between Egypt, where his passions lie,
and Rome, seat of his military responsibilities, and Lear's incompatible desires for absolute power
and genuine affection push him from order and control into chaos and madness.
To some extent, the heroes all display the flaw of hubris, or overweening pride. Othello believes
he has the right to dispose of Desdemona, and Hamlet serenely dispatches Polonius and Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern. Antony places his romantic life above the fate of nations, and Lear believes that
human affection is his to arrogate, and that he has control over his domain, which he ends by
ceding to France. Despite the heroes' inevitable downfall, Shakespeare emphasises that they are
noble to the end: Cassio calls Othello 'great of heart', Caesar says of the grave of Antony and
Cleopatra that 'No grave upon the earth shall clip in it/ A pair so famous', and Fortinbras speaks
an epitaph on Hamlet: 'Let four captains/ Bear Hamlet like a soldier to the stage,/ For he was
likely, had he been put on,/ To have proved most royal. And for his passage/ The soldiers' music
and the rite of war/ Speak loudly for him'. Shakespearean tragedies end with a poignant sense of
what might have been if the hero had been able to overcome his circumstances and his tragic flaw.

4.2 Comedy
According to Aristotle (who speculates on the matter in his Poetics), ancient comedy originated
with the komos, a curious and improbable spectacle in which a company of festive males apparently
sang, danced, and cavorted rollickingly around the image of a large phallus. (If this theory is true,
by the way, it gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "stand-up routine.")
Accurate or not, the linking of the origins of comedy to some sort of phallic ritual or festival of
mirth seems both plausible and appropriate, since for most of its history—from Aristophanes to
Seinfeld--comedy has involved a high-spirited celebration of human sexuality and the triumph of
eros. As a rule, tragedies occur on the battlefield or in a palace's great hall; a more likely setting for
comedy is the bedroom or bathroom.
On the other hand, it's not true that a film or literary work must involve sexual humor or even be
funny in order to qualify as a comedy. A happy ending is all that's required. In fact, since at least
as far back as Aristotle, the basic formula for comedy has had more to do with conventions and
expectations of plot and character than with a requirement for lewd jokes or cartoonish pratfalls.
In essence: A comedy is a story of the rise in fortune of a sympathetic central character.
4.2.1 The Comic Hero
Of course this definition doesn't mean that the main character in a comedy has to be a spotless
hero in the classic sense. It only means that she (or he) must display at least the minimal level of
personal charm or worth of character it takes to win the audience's basic approval and support.
The rise of a completely worthless person or the triumph of an utter villain is not comical; it's the
stuff of gothic fable or dark satire. On the other hand, judging from the qualities displayed by
many of literature's most popular comic heroes (e.g., Falstaff, Huck Finn) audiences have no
trouble at all pulling for a likeable rogue or fun-loving scamp.
Aristotle suggests that comic figures are mainly "average to below average" in terms of moral
character, perhaps having in mind the wily servant or witty knave who was already a stock
character of ancient comedy. He also suggests that only low or ignoble figures can strike us as
ridiculous. However, the most ridiculous characters are often those who, although well-born, are
merely pompous or self-important instead of truly noble. Similarly, the most sympathetic comic
figures are frequently plucky underdogs, young men or women from humble or disadvantaged
backgrounds who prove their real worth—in effect their "natural nobility"—through various tests
of character over the course of a story or play.

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