Aristotle's Tragedy In The Ancient Greek Tragic Hero

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Aristotle (c. 384 B.C. to 322 B.C.) was an Ancient Greek philosopher and scientist. He is considered one of the greatest minds in politics, psychology, and ethics. Poetics is a scientific study of writing and poetry where Aristotle observes, analyzes and defines mostly tragedy and epic poetry. In Aristotle's' Poetics, Aristotle defines tragedy as "imitation of an action that is serious and as having magnitude, complete in itself (Grub, 1958)." He continues, "Tragedy is a form of drama exciting the emotions of pity and fear". The tragic hero is a character whose downfall and or destruction is consummated by their error in judgment (hamartia). He has a reversal in fortune because of their error in judgment (peripeteia). The tragic hero recognizing the truth, that his reversal in fortune is his fault because of his actions (anagnorisis). The tragic hero is excessively prideful (hubris), yet his fate is greater than deserved (Grube, 1958). The hero must be identifiable, believable, not good or bad with some type of superiority, and overpowering individuality (a nobleman, prince, or person of high estate). The tragic hero is the protagonist of a tragedy in drama, most famous of these …show more content…

Yet it is the avoidance of the truth that fed fear. Ignorance of the drunken partygoer. Ignorance of Oedipus going to a foreign country (moved out of fear) and not finding out who the king was or what he looked like. Oedipus' ignorance was fueled by not wanting to know, why should he want to know anyone else’s lineage? He is royalty and akin to all the perks that go along with it. Why should he move off the street for a commoner? Had he known that the traveler was of royal blood, a fight and death may have never happened. If he truly knew that Kreon was his friend and that there was no danger in his throne, he would not have accused Kreon of treasonous

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