...and fear" and "catharsis" developed into one of Western philosophy's greatest questions: why is it that people are drawn to watching tragic heroes suffer horrible fates? Aristotle's ideas revolve around three crucial effects: First, the audience develops an emotional attachment to the tragic hero; second, the audience fears what may befall the hero; and finally (after misfortune strikes) the audience pities the suffering hero. Through these attachments the individual members of the audience go through a catharsis, a term which Aristotle borrowed from the medical writers of his day, which means a "refining" -- the viewer of a tragedy refines his or her sense of difficult ethical issues through a vicarious experious of such thorny problems. Clearly, for Aristotle's theory to work, the tragic hero must be a complex and well-constructed character, as in Sophocles' Oedipus the King. As a tragic hero, Oedipus elicits the three needed responses from the audience far better than most; indeed, Aristotle and subsequent critics have labeled Oedipus the ideal tragic hero. A careful examination of Oedipus and how he meets and exceeds the parameters of the tragic hero reveals that he legitimately deserves this title. Oedipus' nobility and virtue provide his first key to success as a tragic hero. Following Aristotle, the audience must respect the tragic hero as a "larger and better" version of themselves. The dynamic nature of Oedipus' nobility earns him this respect. First, as any Greek...
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...fit to Aristotle's Ideal Tragic Hero. Oedipus follows all of the rules, with a hamartia, an anagnorisis, and a peripeteia. The audience is introduced to the hamartia, or tragic flaw, of Oedipus early in the play. Oedipus believes he can dodge the oracle given to him at Delphi that he will kill his father and marry his mother. By leaving the city of Corinth and heading to Thebes, Oedipus thinks that he can outsmart the will that the gods have for him. However, the audience knows that one cannot run away from an oracle. The oracle will come true no matter what is done. Therefore, the hamartia of Oedipus is his belief that he can evade his oracle. Oedipus' anagnorisis, recognition, later comes when he is told that it was he who killed the former King Lauis and that he is, in fact, now married to his own mother. The city of Thebes had been searching for King Lauis' murderer in order to drive him out of Thebes to save the city from the plague. With this anagnorisis Oedipus is finally led to his peripeteia, or downfall. First of all, Oedipus is put to shame in front of his entire city because of his incestuous act of marrying his mother. But, more importantly, he realizes that he had not successfully avoided the oracle. In order to try to save himself he blinds himself. If he is not able to see the truth with his own eyes, he should not be able to enjoy the gift of sight. http://personal.monm.edu/ysample/aristotle.htm Oedipus follows ten of the points of Lord Raglan's Hero Pattern: ...
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...A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen is a modern tragedy revolving around the lives of a family from the Victorian Era, focusing on the vicissitudes that face Nora Helmer in this patriarchal society. Not only does this play focus on the status of women at this time, but how they fall victim to the role of a “doll wife”. In a separate work, Aristotle’s Poetics, an image of the ideal tragic hero is outlined and analyzed. This same idea was used by Sophocles’ creation of Oedipus the King. Nora and Oedipus can be compared as tragic heroes as they both meet the requirements of this status according to the qualities outlined by Aristotle. There are multiple essential characteristics Aristotle claims create a tragic hero. The first is that the character must be good, but flawed in some way; displayed through Oedipus’ actions as he wants to seek truth and be a savior to the people. When Creon tells him of Apollo’s commands to “drive the corruption from the land”, Oedipus replies, “I am the land’s avenger by all rights and Apollo’s champion too” (Sophocles, 1431). However, he continues with “but not to assist some distant kinsman, no, for my own sake I’ll rid us of this corruption” (Sophocles,...
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...Oedipus the King written by Philosopher Sophocles was regarded as an excellent play by Aristotle, so much he used it to illustrate the many principles of tragedy. Through Sophocles play, we can see the definition of the tragic hero which according to Aristotle tragedy arouses pity and fear from the audience towards the character. The plot and Oedipus character development along the play, causes readers to pity the King as a tragic hero. Sophocles skills have Oedipus recognizing his guilt and at the same time the shocking reversal of destiny. The king is not aware that he killed his father and wedded his mother. He is the reason for the plague that Thebes is going thru according to the gods. Thebes have been stroke by the plague and upon...
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...Durham, Carolyn A.. "Medea: Hero or Heroine?" Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 8.1 (1984): 54-59. JSTOR. Web. 2 Nov. 2015. . In her writing “Medea: Hero or Heroine,” Carolyn Durham analyzes Euripides’ “The Medea” through the lens of feminist criticism. Her main argument is that women protagonists are always “societal facts” as opposed to “tragic heroes.” She utilizes the character Medea as an example of this claim, stating “the treatment of Medea in the play of Euripides suggests that the limitations associated with women somehow never seem to be those inherent in being human.” The bulk of Durham’s feminist criticism deals with how Medea is depicted before and after Jason leaves her for a new wife. She claims Euripides “uses Medea to illustrate by contrast the Greek ideal of moderation,” but does so by describing her as a “treacherous...
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...use of them. Cover Design: Jim Manis Copyright © 2000 The Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University is an equal opportunity university. THE POETICS OF ARISTOTLE THE POETICS OF ARISTOTLE Analysis of Contents A TRANSLATION BY S. H. BUTCHER I ‘Imitation’ the common principle of the Arts of Poetry. II The Objects of Imitation. III The Manner of Imitation. IV The Origin and Development of Poetry. V Definition of the Ludicrous, and a brief sketch of the rise of Comedy. VI Definition of Tragedy. VII The Plot must be a Whole. VIII The Plot must be a Unity. IX (Plot continued.) Dramatic Unity. X (Plot continued.) Definitions of Simple and Complex Plots. XI (Plot continued.) Reversal of the Situation, Recognition, and Tragic or disastrous Incident defined and explained. XII The ‘quantitative parts’ of Tragedy defined. XIII (Plot continued.) What...
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...Introduction Business ethics are not as complicated or abstract as one might think. A simple way to evaluate whether or not a practice is ethical is to determine the ultimate effect of that practice. For example, if the manager of a store paid his cleaning employee less than the going rate to clean his store, knowing exactly what the going rate is, several things could happen to damage the business. The employee could suffer serious financial implications or the employee could leave and find another position where she does not feel exploited. The subject of ethics is often considered abstract or relative by those who believe that rules do not always apply to them. Rules and laws apply to everyone. It is unfortunate that some employees in the upper echelons of the corporate ladder decide to act unethically, but it is a fact of business and of life. For this reason, it is best for a business to be careful of who they promote within their company. Corporate responsibility is a phrase heavily used in the business world. Often mentioned to enhance the image of an organization, corporate responsibility does have a true meaning. Businesses that use energy efficient lighting and offer their employees a fair pay rate are practicing corporate responsibility. Corporate responsibility is an integral part of business ethics and should be practiced by all entities, whether large or small. Corporate responsibility simply means that each individual within a company is practicing personal...
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