Parts of Tragedy
- Plot
- Characters
- Thought
- Diction
- Melody
- Spectacle
According to Aristotle, Tragedy. . .
- Creates a cause- and – effect chain that clearly reveals what may happen
- Arouses not only pity but also fear, because members of the audience can imagine themselves within the cause – and – effect chain.
- Plot is the most important Feature of TRAGEDY
What is Plot?
- Plot is the arrangement of incidents
- It is not the story itself, but the way the incidents are presented to the audience
- The structure of the play
Beginning
- The incitive moment
- It must start the cause and effect chain.
Middle
- Climax
- It must be caused by earlier incidents and itself causes the incidents that follow it.
End
- Resolution
- Must be caused by the preceding events but not lead to other incidents
- The end should resolve the problem created during the incident
Episodic plots
- According to Aristotle, the worst kinds of plots
- The acts (Episodes) succeed one another without probability or necessity
- The only thing tying together the events in such a plot is the fact that they happen to the same person
Simple Vs Complex plots
Simple has only a change of fortune
complex has a reversal of intention “Peripeteia” and recognition Anagnorisis connected with a catastrophe
Character
- In the ideal tragedy, the protagonist will mistakenly bring about his own downfall
- not because he is sinful or weak — but because he does not know enough
- This lack of self knowledge is called “Hamartia”
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