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Character of Medea in Euripides Tragedy
Character of Medea in Euripides Tragedy
Character of Medea in Euripides Tragedy
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The word “anagnorisis”, in its Greek context, means the recognition of both the hero and what they stood for. These scenes in a tragedy unravel a terrifying event or plot, while those in a comedy reconciles loved ones to reset the world in the story back to its righteous place. During the recognition stage, the protagonist gets an opportunity to decide their fate. Some characters already have control, others given control, and still others give up their control. As a result of their ultimate resolution, the reader or viewer feels a sense of either compassion or fear. Without this stage, the authors would not be able to reveal the character’s transition from ignorance to awareness of the real situation as well as their insight of the relationship …show more content…
After she successfully eliminates King Creon and Glauce, Medea experiences a brief moment of uncertainty of whether to kill her children or not, “I cannot bear to do it. I renounce my plans. I had before. I’ll take my children away from this land. Why should I hurt their father with the pain they feel, and suffer twice as much of pain myself?... Do I want to let go my enemies unhurt and be laughed at for it? I must face this thing. Oh, but what a weak woman even to admit to my mind these soft arguments.” (Page 34). At this point, Medea realizes the magnitude of her plot and the consequences of her actions. However, the thoughts of being soft-hearted by leaving her enemies unhurt forces her to overlook her acknowledgment and make a conscious decision to continue with her plan, despite all the possible misery. A similar situation occurred to Logan from Torn At Heart as he ignore all the hazards of his decision, “Imagining the perfect skin and royal blue bikini of hers, Logan remained transfixed and determined to show off… He ran off back into the warm, clear blue water for the deeper, greener areas... He acknowledged that he is now farther out than ever and in new territory… and he knew he had no chance with the girl anymore.” Logan understands surfing in the sudden harsh waves could result in death, but still proceeded to swim straight for the …show more content…
The film Stranger than Fiction portrays Harold Crick’s life as tedious and systematic. This lifestyle affects his fate which causes him to bring more excitement into his life by breaking his old habits. Through this, he finds a way into the heart of his former antagonist, Ms. Pascal. However, Harold’s anagnorisis does not end there as he soon realizes the inevitability of his demise and accepts his destiny after reading Kay Eiffel’s manuscript, “I read it. And I loved it. And there's only one way it can end. It ends with me dying". At this point, Harold understands the purpose of his poetic ending, to save a young boy from the death by his everyday bus, and willingly accept it. Though he did not prevent the death of a toddler, Jack from the movie Titanic, sacrifices his life to keep his love, Rose, alive. With all the lifeboats departing and passengers falling to their expiries as the stern of the ship rises out the water, the couple rides it into the freezing ocean. Desperate for survival, the two attempt to get a hold of anything left of the Titanic and Jack helps Rose onto a panel only buoyant enough for one person. Holding onto the edge, he assures her that she will die of an old woman, warm in her bed. Jack’s decision roots from his understanding of the value of his existence as he have no one to come home to nor a place in the society and
A tragedy is when someone drops my chocolate milkshake from Chick-Fil-A in the parking lot, but the Greek definition of a tragedy is,”a play in which the protagonist, usually a man of importance and outstanding personal qualities, falls to disaster through the combination of a personal failing and circumstances with which he cannot deal”(Collins). In Sophocles’ play Antigone, Creon is the most tragic character because of his hubris, hamartia, and he is the primary Antagonist.
In many works of Literature, a character comes forth as a hero, only to die because of a character trait known as a tragic flaw; Hamlet from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Okonkwo from Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, and Winston Smith from Orwell’s 1984 all exhibit that single trait, which leads, in one way or another, to their deaths. These three tragic heroes are both similar and different in many ways: the way they die, their tragic flaws, and what they learn. All three characters strongly exhibit the traits needed to be classified as a tragic hero.
A Greek drama is a serious of actions within a literary presentation in which the chief character has a disastrous fate. Many Greek dramas fall under theatrical category of a tragedy due to the tragic events and unhappy ending that cause the downfall of the main character. During the famous play “Antigone” the Greek author Sophocles incorporated several features of a tragedy. These features include a morally significant dilemma and the presence of a tragic hero. Grand debate over which character can hold the title of the tragic hero has discussed in the literally world for ages. A tragic hero can be defined as someone with a substantial personality flaw that causes them to endure great suffering with a reversal of character near the end. Antigone possesses certain traits that could potentially render her the tragic hero but Creon truly embodies all characteristics. Creon is the tragic hero in “Antigone” due to several qualities he displays throughout the play; he can’t accept a diminished view of himself, he endures great suffering and he is enlightened in the end.
The idea of falling victim to one’s own flaws is often closely associated with the Aristotelian definition of tragedy, particularly the concepts of hamartia (a tragic or fatal flaw) and hubris (pride before a fall). Although The Winter’s Tale, The Great Gatsby and The Remains of the Day are not widely considered to be tragedies, yet there are elements of the definition that are relevant. This c...
Aristotle states that "For Tragedy is an imitation, not of men, but of an action and of life, and life consists in action, and its end is a mode of action, not a quality. Now character determines men's qualities, but it is by their actions that they are happy or the reverse. Dramatic action, therefore, is not with a view to the representation of character: character comes in as subsidiary to the actions. Hence the incidents and the plot are the end of a tragedy; and the end is the chief thing of all.
Aristotle wrote the Poetics in the fourth century BCE as an account for his observations of the defining characteristics of tragedies and epic poetry. In this work, Aristotle defines catharsis as “purging” and “cleansing” of the emotion of the audience at the end of a tragedy or epic poem. Such feelings of pity or fear towards one character or one group of characters are caused because of their unfortunate circumstance throughout the plot of the tragedy or poem. In The Women of Troy there are multiple characters who are faced with hopeless situations that would cause the audience to feel pity and release their emotion. In the Iliad, the release of emotion is less obvious but still present. Euripides’s uses of catharsis in The Women of Troy and Homer’s uses of catharsis in the Iliad comply with the definition that Aristotle provides in the Poetics; and are essential in aiding the audience in understanding the severity of the Trojan War and its aftermath.
…The tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing -- his sense of personal dignity. …The underlying struggle is that of individual attempting to gain his "rightful" position in his society. … Tragedy…is the consequence of a man's total compulsion to evaluate himself justly.
This is a requirement to qualify as a tragic hero. He must come to a point of enlightenment – a point he knows/ realizes what his mistake is/ was; a moment of agagnorisis – of enlightenment to know what the problem was in his own character. This is what makes him tragic; that he discovers the mistake in his own character but it is too late.
Throughout literary history, tragic heroes have been defined as a great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy who is destined for downfall, suffering, or defeat. However, philosophers such as Aristotle tried to find connections between tragic heroes in Greek plays. This in-depth analysis of tragic heroes lead Aristotle to create six criteria for a true tragic hero: He or she has to be a Noble figure of royalty and noble in character, has to be imperfect by design, has a flaw or error that is a choice, is punished excessively for this choice flaw, has to undergo a downfall that leads to a realization, and the story of this tragic hero has to make the audience reach a moment of catharsis or purging of emotions. A prime example of a tragic hero that fits all of these criteria is Creon from the play Antigone, written by Sophocles in 441 BC. The story of Antigone is a tragedy that describes a stubborn and proud king named Creon who refuses to allow a burial for the brother of Antigone. Creon’s excessive pride leads to a series of unfortunate events resulting in the death of Antigone, his son Haemon, and his wife Eurydice. Throughout the course of the play, Creon undergoes each standard that is required by Aristotle’s terms to be a tragic hero.
As Aristotle’s Poetics states; a tragedy is an imitation of an action of men that is serious and also having magnitude that arouse pity and fear where with to accomplish the catharsis of those emotions. With this definition of a tragedy he also stated the components of the tragedy, ranking them in importance. The first was the plot, which had a recognition scene, the tragic hero’s reversal of fortune, and also a scene of suffering. The plot must have unity and also relate universally to the audience while also being probable. Ranked second was character, which was used to support the plot and bring an organic movement from beginning to end. The main component of character was the tr...
A key ingredient in such a genre is the tragic flaw, an idea that goes back to an influential work of literary criticism called Poetics, by Aristotle. Aristotle said that the tragic hero should be someone of rank or importance with a tragic flaw, who suffers a "reversal of intention" that eventually leads to his or her death. Aristotle also said that in the process, the tragic hero should experience recognition of this failure and that by the end of the work our moral sense should be satisfied that right or justice has prevailed. The tragic flaw is some weakness in character that is responsible for action or inaction on the part of the tragic hero and leads to the reversal of the hero's original intention. Therefore, the reversal of intention is the turning point in the tragic hero's life when he or she experiences something that causes the tide to turn and previous success to turn to failure. [The fourth soliloquy prepares us for the reversal, and the climactic...
Courageous and admirable with noble qualities defines a heroine. In Aristotle’s Poetics he describes a tragic hero as a character who is larger than life and through fate and a flaw they destroy themselves. Additionally, Aristotle states excessive pride is the hubris of a tragic hero. The hero is very self-involved; they are blind to their surroundings and commit a tragic action. A tragedy describes a story that evokes sadness and awe, something larger than life. Furthermore, a tragedy of a play results in the destruction of a hero, evoking catharsis and feelings of pity and fear among the audience. Aristotle states, "It should, moreover, imitate actions which excite pity and fear, this being the distinctive mark of tragic imitation." (18) For a tragedy to arouse fear, the audience believes similar fate might happen to them and the sight of the suffering of others arouses pity. A tragedy's plot includes peripeteia, anagnorisis, hamartia and catharsis. Using Aristotle’s criteria, both characters in Oedipus The King and The Medea share similar qualities that define a tragic hero such as being of noble birth, having excessive pride, and making poor choices. They both gain recognition through their downfall and the audience feels pity and fear.
A tragic hero can be defined by several different factors; the hero usually has a major flaw that prevents him from seeing the truth that lies in front of him, which contributes to the character’s peripeteia due to mistaken judgement. This mistake then leads to achieving anagnorisis, usually at the end of the play, but is too late to change anything, and results in death.
Greek tragedies, written in ancient times, are still a standard for tragedies written today. Contrary to diminishing in value over time, these tragedies have become cherished pieces of work in the sophisticated literate culture of today. However, one can not delve into these precious works of beautiful literary verse without first having background knowledge of the context they were written, and of the structure they follow. There are several terms, as well as an analysis of tragedies by Aristotle, a philosopher who experienced them firsthand. By knowing the structural basis of tragic works before reading them, one is able to better understand them and appreciate them more fully for the prized trophies of classic literature they are.
As outlined within Aristotle’s Poetics, the role of catharsis is to purify and purge the audience’s emotion through theatre, insisting that emotional change is akin to restoration and renewal of balance within the psyche. Differentiating from The Nāṭyaśāstra’s concept that rasas are only generated by bhāvas, Aristotle states catharsis occurs only from tragedies, which, he contends, is its sole source. Aristotle frequently asserts that tragedies are the only form capable of generating pity and fear, which, sequentially, is the only way the purgation, or catharsis, of an audience can manifest (The Poetics of Aristotle 10). Contrasting to the states of rasa, which are said to be unlimitedly generated from an actor’s bhāva, Aristotle insists that only tragedies have the right elements to create an impactful catharsis, thus limiting its occurrences. Furthermore, this no...