Should The Movie Gladiator Be Considered An Aristotle Tragedy

Directed by Ridley Scott, Gladiator is an epic tale of honor, love, loyalty and power.

The Gladiator epic directed by Riley Scott (2000) is based on real life events of the Roman Empire, their society, as well as the role of gladiators. Scott tried to portray the Roman culture as accurately as he could, and even went further to ensure his authenticity by hiring several historians to do so . It is supported by the findings of historians’ research. The film is historically accurate in most parts, including the role of gladiators; gladiatorial games and the aspects of Roman society such as the religions and beliefs. Some characters such as Commodus, Lucilla and Marcus were loosely based on the real life characters. However some parts of the film were exaggerated such as the battles in the arena, where gladiators fought to

Gladiator is a film about Maximus, a soldier of Rome that is forced into the gladiator arena after the emperor, Marcus Aurelius, is killed. This film follows the Hero’s Journey almost perfectly. Maximus encounters some form of all but a couple stages of the Hero’s Journey. The first phase of the Hero’s journey is departure, when the hero transitions from one world to another. The first stage in this phase is the call to adventure, which is when Maximus is asked by Marcus Aurelius to be the next emperor.

One aspect portrayed incorrectly was the mortality of the fights. All of the fights shown during the film resulted in someone’s death. This was an inaccurate representation because not all of the fights ended with death. While some of the gladiator matches did result in death, more often than not the loser would be spared. Historians estimate that one out of ten or one out of twenty matches ended in death. In some games, every gladiator would die, but this was very expensive and rare. Having every fight end in death would have be too expensive, and the owners would have lost too much money. Good gladiators were a valuable commodity. Another inaccuracy concerning gladiators was the mention of a Roman law that freed gladiators after so many wins. Atticus told Milo that he had to kill him in order to achieve freedom. Atticus said that his next win would set him free according to Roman law. However, there were no laws giving gladiators freedom after a set number of wins. Gladiators were freed if they fought

Maximus is a Trojan general who lost his wife,son and life, he becomes a slave. He must go fight as a gladiator against other gladiators. The more he fights the more he becomes famous.The film is really violent, there are a lot of fights and blood, and it’s also a moving film. The story is really gripping because you see how he needs to rebuild his life. However the film ends good

The play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, has two main tragic heroes. Set in Rome and spanning from forty- four to forty-two B.C., the play tells of Brutus and Caesar whom both fall from the highest positions to the lowest of misfortune and then are enlightened on their mistakes. Brutus is the stronger example of a tragic hero in this story. Throughout this play, Brutus commits many faults, falls more drastically than all other characters, and regrets his previous actions by the end of the play.

I'm sure that many people have seen the movie the, "Gladiator" and thought that most if not all of it was true. Sadly this movie paints a picture that falls short of fact and leans more towards fiction. Winning 5 academy awards it is a hit with the audience but with historians a bust. This is mainly due to the inconsistencies revolving around character portrayals, events, and even characters that don't exist. I'm sure that this is because the truth wouldn't fair as well as the movie did. Moreover the," Gladiator" which is a winner of many academy awards does not win much in the depiction of characters and events.

During the Roman Empire many emperors ruled in their own ways. Some were considered to be one of the “Five Good Emperors, ” and the others didn’t last because they were assassinated. They either just cared about themselves or actually cared about the citizens of Rome. The movie Gladiator portrays Roman life and the gladiatorial games. Really though, how does the movie compare to the history of the Roman Empire? I am really interested in the actual history of the gladiators and the movie is one of my favorites. That’s why I chose to do my review on it and I came to find out that the movie didn’t give me the information on the real life and times of the gladiators.

After its debut in America on May 5th of 2000, the movie Gladiator has been a nationwide symbol of heroism(Imdb). The film was directed by Ridley Scott and the lead roles of the film were carried out by Russell Crowe as Maximus and Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus(Imdb). The movie takes place during the reign of the Holy Roman Empire in the year 180 A.D. The Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, is dying and wishes to leave the Roman Empire under the control of Roman General Maximus Meridius. The Emperor’s son Commodus betrays Maximus, kills his father, and takes control of Rome. In betraying Maximus, Commodus has his family killed. Maximus knowing this returns to Rome as a gladiator under the alias “Spaniard” in search of revenge(Imdb). According to

Sophocles’ Oedipus is a dramatic play that deals with tragedy and comedy. Tragedy can awaken humans to the place of grasping hope and growth; Aristotle’s and Sophocles’ display an all-inclusive story of the tragedy of fate. Sophocles’ tragedy is an emotional story of a ruler who kills his father and unwarily takes his mother as his significant other. A tragic hero characterizes one who makes unwise decisions that prompts catastrophe overcome. Due to the prophecy that their new son would kill his father, Laius and, Jocasta, King and Queen of Thebes, gave their infant to a shepherd with orders that he be left on a mountainside to die. The shepherd, however,

Aristotle’s criteria for a tragedy involves three main subjects: values, characters, and a conclusion; William Shakespeare’s Macbeth incorporates these critical topics. The values are supernatural powers, which determine what is right and what is wrong. The character in a tragedy must be noble by birth and by action. In the conclusion, the character must understand why he or she fell, accept the punishment, and order must be restored. By including these, Macbeth fits Aristotle’s criteria for a tragedy.

Although Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is based on Plutarch's historical accounts, the play is categorized not as a history, but as a tragedy. Shakespeare focused rather on the drama of the story surrounding Caesar rather than making a historical play. Shakespeare instead turned to Aristotle’s definition of tragedy and consider how well the label fits his play. According to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, the definition of tragedy is when describing the central character as one who is neither wholly good nor wholly evil and whose fall results from an error in judgement. This suggests that the tragic hero eventually realizes his error and its consequences when it is too late to change. Brutus does fit Aristotle’s description of a tragic hero.

Gladiator is in the manner that the main characters became slaves/gladiators and the aspect of how “freedom” is earned. Maximus on the other hand, was a Roman General that refused to serve for the Roman new emperor, Commodus, who had murdered his father, Marcus Aurelius, in order to obtain control of the Roman Empire. The biggest difference between Gladiator and Spartacus is the manner in which their respective freedom is earned. Gladiators freedom is earned thru defeating Commodus, who sentences Maximus to be executed. The story begins after he escapes his captors and rides off to his farm. This is after he discovers that his family has been murdered by said King/Emperor Commodus. Maximus collapses from exhaustion and is then picked up by slave traders and sold to Proximo, thus leading to his voyage of becoming a Gladiator and his fight against the King. Another difference is that Spartacus is pressured into fighting the best gladiator of the Roman army, upon the conclusion of his training however, he is defeated. Afterward he becomes leader of the Army of Slaves and in an effort to gain the slaves freedom back, he leads them to battle. After being captured, Spartacus ultimately has to fight it out with a slave who is also captured and the winner will be crucified. In Gladiator, Gladiators from all over the Roman

In the movie Gladiator, Russell Crowe plays a battle hardened Roman General who, through a series of unfortunate events, becomes a gladiator. He starts out on the front lines of a battle against barbarians. The war against them has been going on for some time however this is the final battle that will end the war. The battle rages and the Romans come out victorious. The Caesar then emerges and praises Maximus (Russell Crowe) for his leadership. The Caesar then asks him if he will become Caesar after his death because his son Commodus is not fit to rule. Commodus hates his father’s decision and kills him so his wish will die with him. Commodus then orders Maximus to be killed, he escapes and rides as fast as he can back home but is too late. He comes home to find his wife and son burned alive. He is then captured and sold into slavery where he becomes a gladiator and moves up in the ranks as a skilled fighter. He makes friends with a black slave and they both move together up to larger arenas. He makes it to the Coliseum where he reveals himself to Commodus declaring he will have his vengence. Commodus accepts Maximus’ challenge after delivering a fatal wound to his back. He fights Commodus despite the injury and kills him but then dies himself.

The conflict in this story happened when the antagonist (Commodus) claims the throne and ordered the execution of the story’s protagonist (Maximus). Maximus was able to escape death but was unable to save his family. The story stirs up when Maximus, in a twist of fate became a gladiator in the coliseum of the emperor. There he fought his way up and earned the favour of the masses, Maximus then ends up duelling Commodus in a match of life and death.