Poetics

hero" is nothing new; it has been in use from as early as 335 BCE, when it was introduced into Greek theatre as a character element in tragic plays. Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist, first documented such a character in his book Poetics, defining a tragic hero as "a [great] man who is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness but because of some mistake" (Else 38). Thus, it should not be a surprise…

In addition, according to Aristotle’s Poetics, a tragic hero expresses exaggerated pride which narrows the hero’s perception of the reality and leads to his downfall. Besides the heroic qualities that distinguish Oedipus and Antigone from everyone else, they also possess hubris and flaws that every tragic hero contains. Both Oedipus and Antigone have pride for their actions and they do not miss a chance to point it out. For instance, Oedipus is proud of earning his kingly position due to his…

I appointed the song “Whatever It Takes” by Imagine Dragons. Not only did I choose this song because it is one of my favored songs, but I chose it because it has poetic merit. I believe that my song has poetic merit because of three poetic elements: symbolism, biblical things, and imagery. My song has numerous of different varieties of imagery. One line of imagery is, “‘Cause I love the adrenaline in my veins.” This is a case of imagery because it utilizes your sight. In addition, another form…

“Life’s Greatest Illusion” (A Critique of “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” Using Aristotle’s “Poetics”) “What is life’s greatest illusion?” Is a question asked in a very popular video game called “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” The answer to the question given is “Innocence….” It invokes a powerful idea of whether or not innocence exists. The movie “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” follows the story of a young boy named Bruno living in Nazi Germany. His father is an officer in the SS and Bruno’s…

Greek tragedy is most definitely defined as a tragedy, because of the common knowledge that everyone dies at the end. However, the question between artists and fellow art appreciators is what defines a tragedy? At the Academy Awards how is it possible to pick one film over all of the others? Aristotle answered this question back in his lifetime of 384-322 B.C. Aristotle’s opinion of a true Tragedy is still effective to this day. His favorite play, and best example of a tragedy, is Oedipus Rex,…

the next phase, distillation, is when the emotions of pity and fear are strengthened. Finally, the last phase of the catharsis process is purging, when the emotions of pity and fear are forcefully removed. According to Aristotle, as he wrote in the Poetics, the purpose of a catharsis is to purge people of their emotions. The first vision that Cassandra sees is that of Agamemnon’s death. Cassandra says, “You…

According to Aristotle’s definition of tragedy as it is stated by McManus (1999), tragedy is the replica of one’s actions as it is brought in a dramatic way and not narrated. It is also mentioned by him that tragedy is much more profound than history simply because history just state facts or figures of what happened during that time while tragedy exaggerates of what may happen in that certain situation. The aim of tragedy is to consummate its catharsis of such feelings like “Fear” and “Pain”.…

Sutpen's eccentric actions cause pain for others, but his tragic fate at the end indicates the carnivalesque reversal. Being a character in a historical novel, Sutpen’s doom at the end surpasses the personal to encompass the fate of the people he represents. In other words, his narrative acquires an allegorical dimension: He is the typical embodiment of eccentricity as he carries his "design" at the cost of human lives and their dignity. Sutpen’s tale of rise and fall is the story of the…

There is always an immense amount of pressure to conform and to not be different, making sure to stay with the current “style” along the way. In the novelette, Anthem by Ayn Rand everyone in society is exactly the same and follow a certain set of rules very strictly. While, in the song “It’s Still Rock And Roll To Me” by Billy Joel, he sings about the the pressure he is given for being different. I, as a listener, can relate to this due to the fact that there is pressure towards me, from family…

Aristotle considered Oedipus Tyrannus the supreme example of tragic drama and modeled his theory of tragedy on it. He mentions the play no fewer than eleven times in his De poetica (c. 334-323 b.c.e.; Poetics, 1705). Sigmund Freud in the twentieth century used the story to name the rivalry of male children with their fathers for the affection of their mothers, and Jean Cocteau adapted the tale to the modern stage in La Machine infernale (1934; The Infernal Machine, 1936). However, no matter what…