Exam Questions: what is typical tragic hero? What is tragedy? Aristotle poetics?
- A tragic hero is typically the protagonist in a tragedy. They usually have heroic traits that earn them the sympathy of the audience, but also have flaws or make mistakes that ultimately lead to their own downfall. The tragic hero is a character that represents the consequences that come from possessing one or more personal flaws or being doomed by a particular fate The hero should be portrayed consistently and in a good light, though the poet should also remain true to what we know of the character
- A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character It’s a very sad event or situation, especially one involving death or suffering Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsis, or a "pain [that] awakens pleasure,” for the audience
- Aristotle’s Poetics is a treatise on the nature and elements of poetry. Aristotle proposes to discuss poetry, which he defines as a means of mimesis, or imitation, by means of language, rhythm, and harmony. He focuses his discussion on tragedy, which uses dramatic, rather than narrative, form, and deals with agents who are better than us ourselves Tragedy serves to arouse the emotions of pity and fear and to effect a katharsis (catharsis) of these emotions3. Aristotle divides tragedy into six different parts, ranking them in order from most important to least important as follows:
- mythos, or plot,
- character
- thought
- diction
- melody
- spectacle.
He argues that tragedy is superior to epic poetry
Homeric simile
The Odyssey
Medea
Lysistrata
Roman Epic**;** Virgil’s life and contribution, The Aeneid.