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Aristotle's definition of tragedy
Analysis and criticism of the film citizen kane
Aristotle's definition of tragedy
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An influential person and his downfall. That may be one of the best ways to describe Orsen Wells’ film Citizen Kane. Kane wants to have control of everything, but what happens, everything gets out of his hand. He loses everything. This analysis evaluates if Kane’s life passes the Aristotelian definition of tragedy.
Aristotle’s The Poetics defined tragedy as “… an imitation of an action that is serious,complete…”(1), it not a work that engages with the feeling of happiness. Tragic plots should be complete. It must have beginning,middle and end. The beginning where the story’s problem begins and results to cause-effect sequence, the middle where the most exciting part happens and lastly, ending, the resolution of the story. In additional, the denouement where matters in the plot are resolved. However, the movie starts with the death of Kane which is the opposite of what Aristotle said that the beginning should be less exciting. It is then followed by the scene where young Kane plays in the snow until he remarries with the young singer, Susan Alexander as the middle of the story, and the burning of his sled which leads to revelation of rosebud as denouement. This sequence doesn’t follow what Aristotle define, instead of ending the plot with
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Kane’s death, the opposition happens when it appears in the beginning. Thus, in this aspect, it is not an Aristotelian tragedy. Reversal or peripeteia, is a change of fortune, from being successful to losing.
He owns a newspaper business, he has a wife and a son, and he runs to the as independent governor. Unfortunately for him, as he grow old, he starts to lose what he had. He loses his first wife,his son, he didn’t win as a governor, he did get married with his second wife which, who tries to commit suicide. They soon move to his castle, but eventually, his second wife also left him for the reason, he didn’t gives her everything she care about. He was left alone in his palace and then dies. “Mister Kane was a man who got everything he wanted and then lost it”(2) . It is then successfully illustrates how Aristotle define reversal in a tragedy should
have. Hamartia,the protagonist’s tragic flaw. It is not a “sin”,but a part character’s identity, however, it causes him his downfall without getting conscious of it. According to Aristotle, a characters flaw leads him to a catastrophe, but as for Kane, he faces not just one but several kinds of it. In trying to have control on everything which is fatal flow, he ends up losing everything. His hamartia is somehow related to anagnorisis. Anagnorisis, is “ … a change from ignorance to knowledge…” (3) as Aristotle defines it. It is point in a plot of a tragedy where the character recognizes his own situation. Kane fails to see that his flaw slowly causes him his downfall. He never realizes his situation, that trying to have everything on his way actually leads to something he never intends to be, a man who lost almost everything. As for this, it didn’t meet the criteria of recognition on an Aristotelian tragedy. The movie Citizen Kane appears to be a tragedy film, however it does not meet all of the criterias given by Aristotle. A tragedy evokes pity and fear. Citizen Kane merely emerges fear as the perfect tragedy should have, although, it enables audience to feel pity for the hero character as he loses everything. As stated above, this film met only few pattern of what a tragedy should have, therefore, it is an aristotelian tragedy at all.
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.
In addition, the final aspect of a tragic hero is a sudden change in course of action, caused by their major flaw, which brings about their p...
The film Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles, is a great example of how a man can be corrupted by wealth. Through the characters in the film we can observe how Charles Foster Kane, an idealistic man with principles, can be changed and misguided by wealth and what accompanies wealth. The film takes places during the late 19th century and early 20th century, a time in American history when the world is changing and wealth is a great power to change it with. Through the story telling of Kane’s life we are able to see how wealth changes, not only Kane’s ideals, but his actions and how he perceives the world.
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.
The definition of a tragic hero is perceived as on who is neither wicked nor purely innocent, one who “is brave and noble but guilty of the tragic flaw of assuming that honorable ends justify dishonorable means”. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Brutus takes the role of the tragic hero. Brutus’s honor, nobility, and self-righteousness makes him “a tragic figure, if not the hero” (Catherine C. Dominic).
The defenition of a tragic hero a literary character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy. This defenition is perpetuated most clearly by one of the major characters. This character is the noble roman Brutus. Brutus is the tragic hero because of the fact that he fulfills the requirements of a tragic hero. He is a person of noble bith. He does have a tragic flaw, he does come to some understanding, and he does finally meet his end due to his tragic flaw. The tragic flaw of Brutus is his idealistic view, which ultimately leads him directly and indirectly into his death.
Throughout the centuries, from Ancient Greece to the 20th century, though much has changed with the times, the basics of tragedy have not been altered - the tragic hero does something and is destined to die.
this one letter in a circle can now sum up his life, that people just
tragedy without the need for plot, because of his power over the plot. The interpretations of the text can
Most readers are aware of the many famous deaths or acts of death within the Shakespearean plays. And when the main characters die in Shakespeare’s plays, indeed, the readers would categorize the play as a tragedy. The problem with any tragedy definition is that most tragic plays do not define the tragedy conditions explained or outlined by Aristotle. According to Telford (1961), a tragedy is a literary work that describes the downfall of an honorable, main character who is involved on historically or socially significant events. The main character, or tragic hero, has a tragic fault, the quality that leads to his or her own destruction. In reading Aristotle’s point of view, a tragedy play is when the main character(s) are under enormous pressure and are incapable to see the dignities in human life, which Aristotle’s ideas of tragedy is based on Oedipus the King. Shakespeare had a different view of tragedy. In fact, Shakespeare believed tragedy is when the hero is simply and solely destroyed. Golden (1984) argued the structure of Shakespearean tragedy would be that individual characters revolved around some pain and misery.
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare is the story about the men who conspired and followed through with the assassination of the great Julius Caesar. These men fear that Caesar will take the crown and become the next king of Rome. The roman people had a true averse feeling toward the idea of monarchy. So in order to prevent this they come up with a plan to end Caesars life, which is duly followed through on March 15, 44 B.C. Out of these conspirators there is one man that stands out to be a tragic hero, and that is a man by the name of Brutus. He was a great friend of Caesar who ultimately became one of Caesars worst adversaries. He betrayed Caesars trust and friendship when he agreed to be part of the assassination plot. A tragic hero is someone who is in a place of high standings or a place of power. This leads to a huge fall from greatness to death. A tragic hero must have many deep complex character flaws that are revealed throughout the course of the story. They then must ultimately accept responsibility for their mistakes; along with being humbled and enlightened. Brutus demonstrates all of the attributes of a tragic hero.
On the other hand, another type of tragic hero exists, the modern tragic hero. This type of hero is a product of a clash between the individual and the social environment. Arthur Miller, the famous playwright, said, “each person has a chosen image of self and position, tragedy results when the character’s environment denies the fulfillment of this self concept.” (LATWP, 640). This is a contrast from Aristotle’s classic tragic hero because the hero is no longer born into nobility but gains stature in the action of pitting self against the cosmos, and the tragedy becomes, “the disaster inherent in being torn away from our chosen image of what and who we are in this world.”
Aristotle once said, “A man cannot become a hero until he can see the root of his downfall.” According to Aristotle, the characteristic of a tragic hero is a man of noble stature and occupies a high status position. There should be a fatal flaw that eventually leads to his downfall, the tragedy is usually raised by its character’s fatal flaw and the audience must feel pity or fear for this character. While there is less pity or fear for Macbeth, Macbeth still is a character who portrays a tragic hero through his nobility, high status position, his hamartia, and error in judgment.
In 350 B.C.E., a great philosopher wrote out what he thought was the definition of a tragedy. As translated by S.H. Butcher, Aristotle wrote; “Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions. . . . Every Tragedy, therefore, must have six parts, which parts determine its quality—namely, Plot, Characters, Thought, Diction, Spectacle, Melody. (http://www.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/poetics.html)” Later in history, William Shakespeare wrote tragedies that epitomized Aristotle’s outline of a tragedy. Shakespeare’s Hamlet is one such tragedy.