Essay about Macbeth, Aristotilean Tragedy?

  The tragedy of Macbeth comes about because of a single event in his life. If that one moment, the meeting with the witches on the heath, had not happened then Macbeth would no doubt have gone on to be a loyal and respected subject of King Duncan and, later, King Malcolm. However, the meeting did happen and the powerful force of ambition was unleashed within Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. It is the combination of these two factors, the meeting with the witches and Macbeth's own inner demons, that lead to tragedy, and make the play 'terrifying' in the Aristotelian sense.

Amongst all of Shakespeare's tragedies, Macbeth is the most inconsistent and fragmented. Like the mental state of the protagonist, the tragic structure of the play is in disarray from the very onset. According to Aristotle, all tragedies must follow a certain set of characteristics, and the most important of these is the presence of a tragic hero. This tragic hero must possess a tragic flaw, or hamartia, which is a good quality taken to such an extreme that it now exhibits immoral behaviour from the hero. He must also draw sympathy of his plight from the audience. Macbeth, although the protagonist, is not a tragic hero because he does not possess this hamartia. This significant absence of a flaw leads to his actions being without

Most readers are aware of the many famous deaths or acts of death within the Shakespearean plays. And when the main characters die in Shakespeare’s plays, indeed, the readers would categorize the play as a tragedy. The problem with any tragedy definition is that most tragic plays do not define the tragedy conditions explained or outlined by Aristotle. According to Telford (1961), a tragedy is a literary

An Aristotelian tragedy includes many different characteristics. It is a cause-and-effect chain and it contains the elements of catharsis, which is pity and fear, and hamartia, which is the tragic flaw embedded in the main characters. The famous play Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, is about two lovers of two different families who hate each other and the misdemeanors they have to surpass. Many debate on whether it is an Aristotelian tragedy or simply tragic. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet should be regarded as an Aristotelian tragedy because catharsis is exhibited in the play, Juliet’s blindness of love is shown, and Romeo’s impetuousness is the tragic flaw that leads to his demise.

"Macbeth" is a tragic play that was written by William Shakespeare in the early 1600’s. It revolved around the character Macbeth and his urge to become king of Scotland. Macbeth had to do anything possible to become the king including murder, lying, and deception. However, Macbeth committed these evil deeds due to some influential people in his life. Between Macbeth’s wife persuading him to do anything to become king and the witches prophesying over him causes Macbeth to try and bury the past and control the future.

death, which exceed his tragic flaw. He had the most to lose, thus evoking feelings of pity and

Both Macbeth and Othello are prominent Jacobean tragedies that William Shakespeare created with notable tragic protagonists. The play Macbeth is an excellent work that closely follows Aristotle’s norms. Macbeth is a brave warrior in King Duncan’s Army who compromises his honour and neglects his moral responsibilities in the attainment of power and position which

Throughout time, the tragedy has been seen as the most emotionally pleasing form of drama, because of its ability to bring the viewer into the drama and feel for the characters, especially the tragic hero. This analysis of tragedy was formed by the Greek philosopher Aristotle, and also noted in his Poetics (guidelines to drama). As a playwright, Shakespeare used Aristotle’s guidelines to tragedy when writing Othello. The play that was created revolved around the tragic hero, Othello, whose tragic flaw transformed him from a nobleman, into a destructive creature, which would inevitably bring him to his downfall. This transformation follows an organic movement of the complex plot from the beginning, middle, to the end of the drama while

A tragedy is one of the most captivating forms of drama as it truly grasps the attention of its audience. It unleashes hidden emotions and allows the viewers to escape their own realities. In Aristotle’s, Poetics, he analyzes the theory of a tragedy and explains that the essential criteria of an ideal tragedy consists of the plot, character, thought, diction, spectacle, and song (Aristotle, 169). According to Aristotle, tragedies also often focus on a tragic hero who possesses a flaw which ultimately leads to their downfall. In fact, Aristotle prescribes the three most important points to any tragedy to be hamartia, a tragic flaw in the tragic hero’s character that brings about his downfall, catharsis, a purgation of the audience’s emotions and anagnorisis, the character’s revelation of some fact not previously realized. In William Shakespeare’s play, Othello, Othello is an excellent example of an Aristotelian tragic hero. He was a character of noble status until his jealousy and gullibility lead him astray. Moreover, the play has a complex plot with a powerful climax and conclusion which lets the audience feel the vulnerability of the characters. Lastly, the characters face a point of realization where they can finally see the people around them are not who they seemed to be. Overall, Othello is one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies as it follows all the requirements to be an ideal tragedy according to Aristotle’s Poetics.

Aristotle indicated that “Every Tragedy must have six parts, which parts determine its quality—namely, Plot, Characters, Diction, Thought, Spectacle, and Melody.”(1) Without having those parts the tragedy will lose it meaning. The play Macbeth is categorized as a Tragedy, because it applies many elements and characteristics which tragedy has. In other hand it is clear that Shakespeare effected by Greek tragedy, because he used the main elements of tragedy. Most of tragedy plays were having five acts. In Macbeth we can simply see that Shakespeare made Macbeth into five acts.

“Tragedy is an imitation not just of a complete action, but of events that evoke pity and fear.” The famous Greek philosopher Aristotle gave the classic theory of tragedy a distinguishable definition. There are various elements included in a tragedy, making it both successful and enjoyable. From the dramatic plot to the audaciousness of characters that create intensity, every element is necessary to construct the classic tragedy. This can be observed through action as seen in Shakespeare’s Othello. Shakespeare’s play Othello, most closely resembles the Greek philosopher’s theory of tragedy that achieves Aristotle 's four unities (simplify this sentence): Hamartia, Peripetia, Anagnorisis and Catharsism. With Shakespeare adapting Aristotle’s

Shakespeare's play “Othello, the Moor of Venice” is a good illustration of Aristotle’s tragedy. The play has all of the different qualities to be considered as Aristotelian tragedy. Othello, the tragic hero imitates the basic human emotions such as jealousy and pride which becomes his flaw. The flaw creates the climax and leads to ultimate downfall of a tragic hero. The tragic hero realizes his flaw evoking the readers to feel sympathy for him. The play takes the readers through the logical sequence of the plot. Readers can see the transformation of tragic hero from a man of courage and dignity to insecure, capable of being fooled and loses sight of everything.

     Aristotle’s Poetics is considered the guide to a well written tragedy; his methods have been used for centuries. Aristotle defines a tragedy as “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude… in the form of an action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions” (House, 82). The philosopher believes the plot to be the most vital aspect of a tragedy, thus all other parts such as character, diction, and thought stem from the plot. Aristotle affirms, “the principle of tragedy – the soul, if you like – is the plot, and second to that the characters” (Whalley, 27). William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth essentially adhere to this

Aristotle defines a tragedy as a ‘representation of an action which is important, complete and limited in length. It is enacted not recited and by arousing pity and fear, it gives an outlet to emotions of this type.’

Aristotle’s six components of a tragedy are plot, characters, theme, diction, music, and spectacle, in this order. It is thought that he listed plot first because it essentially makes drama dramatic. Plot is what keeps the audience involved so creating a compelling plot shows the playwrights true skill. The primary demands of plot would be logic and suspense. Characters would be the humans who undertake the action of the plot. They have to be liked by the audience or no one will really get into the play, they have to be able to make the audience care about what is happening. We the audience need to be able to identify with the character, we should feel bad for them at