Question

Aristotle has written extensively about TRAGEDY. Based on the Aristotle notion of tragedy, write a comparative analysis of the tragedy in Sophocles Oedipus the King.

Answer 1

According to the ideas of Aristotle represented in his work Poetics, tragedy is always a rather serious literary work which is characterized by dignity and includes the main “great” character who faces a reverse of fortune. Moreover, he considers that a reverse of fortune can be represented in different ways: from bad to good, and from good to bad. The last one is more tragic as it develops fear and pity in spectators. Besides, tragedy as a form of art always results in catharsis, an emotional cleansing of the spectators as response to the sufferings of the main character of the tragedy. Aristotle wrote in Poetics, “Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; . . . through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions” (Aristotle 21). According to the ideas of Aristotle, the structure of the tragedy should be complex and should represent a number of incidents “arousing fear and pity – for that is peculiar for that form of art” (Aristotle 43). As a rule, a reverse of fortune is the result of some action that is inevitable for the main character. The tragic hero is always a character of noble stature. It means that he should hold the high status position in the society, but he is not perfect. The main character’s downfall may be due to his own fault or the result of some free choice, but not of accident. However, his downfall is not pure loss for the tragic character, as the main character has a chance to develop awareness. So, the main five elements or criteria of the tragedy according to Aristotle include the existence of the tragic hero or main character of noble birth, the tragic flaw, the main character’s downfall, the moment of remorse or awareness, and the catharsis (Jones 12).