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Aristotle's Concept of Tragedy

This essay is about an important form of art, Tragedy. We will discuss it in detail with

respect to different views. I will define tragedy and its importance with reference of Aristotles

Concept of Tragedy, Arthur Millers Tragedy of the Common Man and then with own point of

view about tragedy try to compare two famous pieces of fictions, Oedipus the King and Death of

a Salesman.

I will start with Aristotles concept of tragedy. According to Aristotle imitation is the

basis of all fine arts. Poetry differs from music in its medium of imitation. There are two basic

types of poetry. One of them is epic poetry and second dramatic poetry. Both of these differ from

each other on the basis of imitation. My concentration will be on subtype of dramatic poetry

called Tragic. Tragedy imitates men as better as comedy as worse then they are. So Aristotle

establishes the unique nature of Tragedy. According to his concept earlier poetry was of two

types. One of them came in the form of satiric poetry and second was Epic or heroic poetry. Now

from Heroic poetry developed Tragedy. Both Epic and Tragedy imitate serious subjects in a

grand kind of verse but they differ as Epic imitates only in one kind of verse both for Choral

odes and dialogue. The epic is long and varied but the Tragedy has greater concentration and

effectiveness. The Epic lacks music, spectacle, reality of presentation, and unity of action which

the Tragedy has. As he says All the parts of an epic are included in Tragedy; but those of

Tragedy are not all of them to be found in the Epic. He defines tragedy as: the imitation of an

action, serious, complete and of a certain magnitude, in a language beautified in different parts

with different kinds of embellishment, through actions and not narration, and through scenes of

pity and fear bringing about the Catharsis of these emotions.

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So from above definition tragedy differs from other forms of poetry. This difference

occurs in different form from other types. For example in case of comedy, a clash of seriousness

and non seriousness exist in between both of these forms. At the same time it differs from epic

due to lack of action. The third type that differs from it is Lyric. Difference in these two types is

of medium. According to Aristotle a proper pattern exist in tragedy. It will have clearly a

beginning, middle and an end. It should be so descriptive that it allows the change from

happiness to misery but not too long to be forgotten before the end. Aristotle divides tragic plot

into Simple and Complex. He focuses a lot on action of tragedy. It means that all events

should be related. They should follow a proper sequence. No character or incident should be

superfluous. According to Aristotle the purpose of tragedy is to present scenes of fear and pity

and bring about a Catharsis of these emotions. He has derived six parts of Tragedy named plot,

character, diction, thought, spectacle and song. While comparing the epic and tragedy he writes.

Tragedy tries, as for as possible, to live within a single revolution of the sun, only slightly to

exceed it, whereas the epic observes no limits in its time of action.

Now, I would like to through some light on Arthur Millers concept of tragedy. If we

ponder over the work of Milles, we can see that he redefines the Tragic Hero. In his essay

Tragedy and the Common Man, Arthur Miller state that we are often held to be below tragedy

or tragedy below us. . . (tragedy is) fit only for the highly placed . . . and where this admission is

not made in so many words it is most often implied. But at the same time Arthur Miller also

believes . . . the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were

(1021). Due to having this concept Miller used a common man. He redefines the tragic hero to fit

a more modern age.

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Miller says, . . . the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a

character who is ready to lay down his life . . . to secure one thing his sense of personal

dignity(1021).

Now, according to my concept of tragedy I think Aristotles concept of tragedy is more

powerful and attractive, as he defines clearly tragedy from other forms of literature and poetry.

He clearly defines this type of fiction. He in fact I think was the first who introduced tragedy in

such a complete way. But on the other hand Miller has only redefines tragedy. His efforts as

compare to Aristotle are less. Now at my end I can say that tragedy is a form of art based on

human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. Also, tragedy is a type of drama that has

played a unique role historically in the self definition of western civilization.

Next, we move to the final goal of our essay. In the light of above whole discussion of

tragedy concept including Aristotle, Miller and my own view I will try to compare two great

works, Oedipus the King and Death of a Salesman. How these tragedies relate to each other.

What similarities and differences exist between these two? What the factors that relate these

two?

As I studied both of these, I realized that both of these have some similarities as well as

some differences from each other. The entire first they both differ in plot and character. But at

the same time they share common elements in its resolution. The things that have similarity are

also element of the plot, the reflection of other characters on the misfortune of the tragic hero and

expression of important themes through the dialogue of the characters. Both of the main

characters posses tragic downfall that ultimately causes their ruin. Every play has characteristic

that events included in these are closing derived from a tragic flaw possessed by the character.

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The breakdown of each character is due to his inability to effectively cope with his tragic

mistake.

The theme of the tragic hero is a continual theme in the literature of tragedy. When we

compare both of these plays with each other we can easily find that the plots of both plays are

totally different from each other. But at the same time both uses dramatic irony to reveal the

basic points of tragedy: the actions of a tragic hero means the hero is destined to die. They have

same irony but both of them start at different plots and places. Oedipus the King has constant

setting throughout the play while other one has different setting in different places. The later one

is fast paced play.

These are the similarities and differences that I have found in both of plays. It may not be

sufficient but I have tried my best to explore specialties of both of the play. As for as how these

plays in spite of having a long duration break between them are related is that both are a type of

fiction that belongs to tragedy. At the same time they use dramatic irony t reveal the basic points

of tragedy.

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Works Cited

Aristotle's concept of tragedy . cssforum.com.pk, 2011. Web. 9 July 2011

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Bradford, Wade. Death of a Salesman-Review. plays.about.com, 2011. Web. 9 July 2011

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Death Of A Salesman & Amp; Oedipus The King. reviewsessays.com, n.d. Web. 9 July 2011

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Miller, Arther. Tragedy and the Common Man. theliterarylink.com, n.d. Web. 9 July 2011

.