Tragedy criticism Flashcards
katharsis
Purgation of audience’s emotions so they feel that they’ve learned something
Raymond Williams
“We have to see not only that suffering is avoidable, but that it is not avoided. And not only that suffering breaks us but that it need not break us”
Jennifer Wallace
“Tragedy is the art form created to confront the most difficult experiences we face”
What does Aristotle state that being a tragic hero must involve?
Being of high estate; a fall brought about by his hamartia
Terry Eagleton
Tragic suffering is appalling rather than ennobling- it shouldn’t be a “thoroughly virile affair”
hubris
Excessive pride
peripeteia
Reversal of fortune
anagnorisis
Character’s revelation of some fact not previously realised
Adrian Poole
Tragedy giving expression to conflicts- “ages that produced their drama were not characterized by stable coherent belief”; “tragedy always deals with toxic matter bequeathed by the past to the present”
Aristotle- PROTAGONISTS
Protagonist can’t be a “virtuous man” or a “bad man”
Sean McEvoy
“There is death, waste and destruction at the end of a tragedy, but there is always some hope”
Arthur Miller
“It matters not whether a modern play concerns itself with a grocer or a president”
What are the features of Aristotle’s tragedy?
Mimetic; serious; full story of appropriate length; rhythm and harmony; performed rather than narrated; arouses pity/fear then purges this; tragic hero; unity
