1. Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
“O God! It has all come true. Light, let this be the last time I see you.”

2. Aristotle’s Rules of Tragedy
Tragedy: a literary genre of drama in which the character(s) suffer.
Why do we enjoy, in some sense, watching tragedies – that is, watching people suffer?

3. Aristotle’s Rules of Tragedy
Plato’s Challenge (The Republic):
Why are representations of people suffering a “pleasurable experience”?
Aristotle answered Plato’s challenge in his literary theory, Poetics

4. Aristotle’s Rules of Tragedy
Aristotle’s definition of tragedy:
A tragedy, then, is the imitation of an action that is serious…a dramatic, not a narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear…to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions. (Poetics 1449b.24)

5. Aristotle’s Rules of Tragedy
“…the imitation of an action that is serious” = art involves imitation
What does art imitate?
"not of persons, but of action and life, of happiness and misery" (Poetics 1451b)

6. Aristotle’s Rules of Tragedy
Catharsis
Dramatic Unities
Hamartia
Hubris
Recognition
Reversal

7. Aristotle’s Rules of Tragedy
CATHARSIS
Aristotle’s most influential point in his rules (yet, ironically, his smallest – it only took up a few lines in his theory) was the idea of CATHARSIS.
Catharsis: purging of the emotions “through pity and fear.”
Tragedies gave the audience a feeling of catharsis – he believed this to be good for the human soul.

8. Aristotle’s Rules of Tragedy
DRAMATIC UNITIES
Time: over how much time does the play take place?
Place: where the action of the play takes place
Action: usually focuses on one hero and one plot

9. Aristotle’s Rules of Tragedy
HAMARTIA
a “tragic flaw,” though many modernists now refer to it as an “error” or “mistake”. Hamartia leads to a hero’s tragic downfall.

10. Aristotle’s Rules of Tragedy
HUBRIS
exaggerated pride or self-confidence (before the gods). Main reason for hubris:
“As for the pleasure in hubris, its cause is this: men think that by ill-treating others they make their own superiority greater.”

11. Aristotle’s Rules of Tragedy
RECOGNITION (peripetia)
the hero realizes the catastrophe at hand and it is at this point that his/her flaw must be recognized and accepted, along with his/her “death.”
REVERSAL (anagnorisis)
occurs when the opposite of what the hero intends is what happens.

12. Aristotle’s Rules of Tragedy
Tragic Hero - character in the story that has a fatal flaw (hamartia).
Qualities of a Tragic Hero
A noble birth/special wisdom bestowed upon them from birth
Hamartia
Recognition
Reversal

13. Aristotle’s Rules of Tragedy
Six elements of a tragic drama:
Plot – goes hand in hand with Character; "In a play, they do not act in order to portray the characters; they include the characters for the sake of the action" (Poetics 1450a.20).
Character – action must be consistent with character.
Diction – the style of language
Thought – indication through words (or other means) of what characters are thinking
Spectacle – staging, lighting, sets, costumes
Melody – style of text/lyrics/music