But in order to understand the elements that make Macbeth, it is important to analyse the concepts of tragedy. The classical definition of tragedy comes from Aristotle, who states that tragedy is a representation of reality through a complete story. It does not rely in narrative, but in dramatic form and it raises the emotions of fear and pity, promoting a catharsis of them (ARISTOTLE; ACKRILL, 1987, p. 543-544). Additionally, he talks about the tragic hero, a great man who experiences change through misfortune. Aristotle’s theory is suitable to the plays available to him at his time, but it is not enough to embrace all “types of serious plots ending in a catastrophe” that
The removal of the immortals from the Odyssey, would – despite supposedly in some sense improve the poem – essentially weaken the poem and the story as a whole. Whilst the removal of the gods would provide Odysseus to act of his own accord, and allow the audience to see how Odysseus can cope without the interruption of the gods. Nevertheless, without immortals in the Odyssey, the poem would ultimately lack a crucially exciting fact of narrative and would look very different as a story of a man trying to achieve his nostos, after the Trojan War. Ultimately, it must be acknowledged that without the immortal gods, the Odyssey would most likely not exist as the Trojan War would not have happened. The Trojan War began due to Paris’ decision to give the golden apple ‘for the most beautiful’ to Aphrodite (instead of Athene or Hera) as she offered him Helen as his wife.
Willy Russell uses superiority theory to engage the audience by creating comedy through the misfortune of others. The character of Frank is very cynical as he fails to see the good in anybody for a majority of the play and he believes that other people are motivated purely by self-interest. However, some people may argue that cruelty and cynicism are not at the heart of the comedy in the play and that the play could still be successful without these themes. One theme that could be seen as superior to cruelty and cynicism is culture and class because this theme causes confusion and misunderstanding between the two characters which as a result produces comedy. In the play ‘Educating Rita’ cruelty and cynicism feature a great deal.
Aristotle, the ancient philosopher was the first to reveal in his poetics his definition of a tragedy; which was that tragedy represents man better than he is. This idea enables us to think that perhaps the main protagonist is not always as strongly perceived as they should be; allowing them to have more credit than they deserve. 'I believe that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy as kings are'- Arthur Miller. Miller’s ‘Death of a Salesman’ introduces us to a tragic hero called Willy Loman. The play does not seem to conform to Aristotle's view of a tragedy, as Willy Loman starts the play at low ebb and continues downhill for the duration.
Check your notes; below is a succinct synopsis of that introductory discussion: “Waiting for Conventions” In Waiting for Godot, Beckett implements broken conventions of traditional theatre in order to successfully satirize the detrimental nature of the human condition symbolized throughout this absurdist play (which seems to have no plot). A certain level of tension is created by this plays lack of plot which leaves the audience expecting something to happen that never comes. This lack of plot to some overshadows the reasoning behind why Beckett does this. Although these broken conventions can act as a looking glass into the true meaning of the play, they require the audience to do a certain amount of searching to crack the nut which is Waiting for Godot. Waiting for Godot, unlike many plays follows no specific plot, a concept in which most conventional plays ought to have in order to rope in an audience member to the contents and morals of the play.
How far do you agree that ‘The play King Lear presents us with a bleak and cruel world and offers us no comfort at the end?’ Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’ falls under Aristotle’s definition of tragedy, with the fact that the characters are royal, and therefore have an enormous amount to lose. Moreover, the destructive downfall of not only King Lear but most of the characters in the play is due to the fatal flaw of pride in the king. The embellished language in the play is mainly in verse, and coupled with the unusual language forms of The Fool and Edgar as ‘Poor Tom’, this further links the play with the traditional definition of tragedy. ‘This fellow has banished two on’s daughters and did the third a blessing against his will.’ Untangling the meaning on The Fool’s words can be difficult, but it is clear he is the voice of reason and wisdom whispering in Lear’s ear throughout the play. Despite all this negativity, it would be a great over-simplification to assume that the overall play ‘presents us with a bleak and cruel world and offers no comfort at the end’, though this is an easy assumption to make given the obvious bleakness that infects the play throughout.
Even though Lear is not a man of intellectual brilliance he is a “great soul,” with the capacity for feeling deeply the sorrow of rejection and abandonment by his own. The character of Lear in “King Lear” was known as a tragic hero, because the play meets all the requirements of a tragedy based on Aristotle’s Poetics via A.C. Bradley’s, the Shakespearean tragic Hero. Aristotle suggests that a hero of a tragedy must evoke from the audience a sense of pity or fear, saying, the change of fortune presented must not be the spectacle of a virtuous man brought from prosperity to adversity. King Lear has many common qualities, which appear to be essential to the tragic effect. According to Aristotle’s criteria of a tragic hero, King Lear shows characteristics of a tragic hero by having pre-eminence, tragic flaw and gaining of interest.
First of all, “The Merchant of Venice” is not a complete tragedy. There are some elements of comedy in it. There is the intrigue about the chests that Portia's suitors have to solve. Portia and Nerissa dress up as men at Antonio's trial without being recognised by their husbands to be. It should be seen as a tragedy/comedy.
Consequently, they achieve a certain degree of self awareness and knowledge that they did not possess before. Shakespeare, writing in the tragic genre created in Lear and Macbeth, two tragic heroes who achieve anagnorisis or personal discovery through a series of tragic events. Aristotle believed “anagnorisis....when it occurs together with peripetia (adventure) the change of fortune from good to ill or reverse” would lead to “external identification” which is in other words self-knowledge. Shakespeare’s contemporary audience would have understood the theme of self knowledge, in tradegy as it was a popular genre. During that time, it was believed that the death of a King would upset the natural balance of order and society.
Furthermore, the tragic hero has been often portrayed in famous past plays as someone from noble status. Because of this, some may think that Willy does not fit the role of a real tragic hero but is rather of just a failure of society. Miller's essay Tragedy and the Common Man argues that tragedy should not be "allied to pessimism." Therefore Willy should not be seen in the perspective of how he is not the tragic hero but instead, of how he does achieve this tragic identity. Already, Willy can be seen to not be the typical tragic hero that has been exemplified in various past plays.