‘’Aristotle Defined the Proper Pleasure (Oikeia Hedone) of Tragedy as: ‘Through Pity and Fear Effecting the Proper Purgation ‘ Catharsis’’. Critically Analyze the Relationship Between Tragedy and Its Audience and How
The aim of this essay is to analyze the relationship between tragedy and its audience and how according to Aristotle, the play is supposed to achieve its final cause. Through the essay i am going to examine the proper pleasure of tragedy by looking at Oedipus tragedy from Sophocles.The story is the following: A terrible famine has struck Thebes and Delphi Oracle requires the punishment of the murderer of the previous Κing Laiou. Oedipus who succeeded Laius and married his widow Ιocasti, is cursing the killer and starts an investigation. The seer Tiresias accuses Oedipus of being the killer. So, Oedipus becomes incensed, suspecting a conspiracy against him and blames his brother, Creon. And here begins one of the best tragic story. The play is consisted of three parts: The psychoanalytic (the agony of her son be released from his paternal power and connected to the womb that gave him birth), the Theological (the inevitable fate) and the Political (the organizing principle of a democratic society) part.
Tragedy is defined by Aristotle as an imitation, a free representation of a remarkable act, which has beginning, middle and end (telos) and is characterized by a melody. All these elements are not random, but they follow a specific sequence. Moreover, the dominant feature of tragedy is the action, which proceeds in the imitation of heroes1. In the myth of Oedipus, we discern the common fate, the tragic clergy of a man who is destined to fight in the dark and solve mysteries. He is insisting on uncompromising determination to discover the secret of existence, which has been held by the gods. He is forced to act, to justify human existence, without being able to foresee the consequences of his actions, and therefore the unexpected results start to startle him, as they are often in contrast to his intentions. He is condemned to live in the darkness of ignorance and pain within an irrational and mysterious world, and constantly fighting, driven against his will to
Tragedy is defined by Aristotle as an imitation, a free representation of a remarkable act, which has beginning, middle and end (telos) and is characterized by a melody. All these elements are not random, but they follow a specific sequence. Moreover, the dominant feature of tragedy is the action, which proceeds in the imitation of heroes1. In the myth of Oedipus, we discern the common fate, the tragic clergy of a man who is destined to fight in the dark and solve mysteries. He is insisting on uncompromising determination to discover the secret of existence, which has been held by the gods. He is forced to act, to justify human existence, without being able to foresee the consequences of his actions, and therefore the unexpected results start to startle him, as they are often in contrast to his intentions. He is condemned to live in the darkness of ignorance and pain within an irrational and mysterious world, and constantly fighting, driven against his will to
References: Π.Ν. ΠΑΝΤΑΖΑΚΟΣ, ΤΟ ΤΡΑΓΙΚΟ ΣΤΟΝ ΕΓΕΛΟ ΚΑΙ ΤΟ ΣΟΦΟΚΛΗ, (σ. 2) Τ. ΡΟΥΣΣΟΣ – Α. ΣΤΕΦΟΣ, ΣΟΦΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ ΤΡΑΓΩΔΙΑΙ ׃ ΟΙΔΙΠΟΥΣ ΤΥΡΑΝΝΟΣ – ΑΙΑΣ ΕΚΔΟΣΗ Α’, 2000, (σ. 15 ) . 2012. . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.literature-study-online.com/aristotle_poetics.html. [Accessed 21 November 2012]. . 2012. . [ONLINE] Available at:http://www2.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/poetics.html . [Accessed 24 November 2012].