Chandler's Tragic Heroes: A Complex Tragedy

On another level, reversal can be much more complex and propelling. “There are four types of tragedy...the complex tragedy, the whole of which is reversal and recognition.” This subcategory of tragedy, reversal, and recognition, are seen towards the finale of Friends “The One with Unagi.” At the last minute, Chandler struggles to find a homemade gift for Monica and ends up finding a mixtape in his closet and gives it to Monica. During their gift exchange for their Valentine’s Day, Monica gives Chandler the sock bunny Phoebe made and tried to pawn off on Chandler earlier in the day. As Aristotle claims above, a true complex tragedy has reversal followed by recognition. The recognition of this narrative is when Chandler calls out Monica for not making her gift to him herself. Monica is deeply sorry and vows to do anything Chandler wants to make it up for him. Chandler does not admit that he luckily found the mixtape, and the two sit down to a romantic dinner Monica made in apologizing. Then, the two decided to dance to the mixtape together. The soundtrack plays and Chandler registers it as a mixtape his ex-girlfriend, Janice made for him for a previous birthday of his. The tape is her singing the love songs and adding commentary over them. This is an example
“Since the construction of the finest tragedy should be not simple but complex, and moreover it should present terrifying and pitiable events” (97). Pathos is used to manipulate the audience by unfortunate events happening to a character or shifting the entire plot. A few instances of pathos in the narrative analyzed above is when Joey is trying to come up with money to get headshots. He lets all his anger out on his friends because they supposedly didn’t tip enough. His facial expressions, current series of events, and diction allow the audience to connect with Joey on a personal level within that one, intense