Grace Wang
December 18, 2015
Tragedy Essay
Which is the better tragedy, according to Aristotle’s definition of tragedy: Medea or Oedipus Rex?
According to Aristotle’s definition, a tragic hero is a distinguished person occupying a high position, living in a prosperous life and falling into misfortune due to his own tragic flaw which consequently leads to his reversal and late recognition. Medea and Oedipus Rex are both one of the best classical and well known examples of tragedy. Oedipus Rex fits Aristotle’s conception of tragedy to a better extent with startling accuracy; he is a nobleman who had fallen from his estate due to his inherent pride, whose fate instills strong pity and fear in the audience, and who realized he is the one that …show more content…
According to Aristotle 's idea, the audience should develop a strong emotional attachment to the tragic hero, fears what had already happened to the hero would actually happen to their life, and after the extreme misfortune strikes, the audience pities the suffering hero. Medea is very different from Oedipus; I tend to take more pity and fear on Oedipus than on Medea mainly due to the fact that Oedipus cannot change his fate - he is a person locked in by his own destiny. Medea, however, is a manipulative and ruthless person of free-will; she betrays her homeland by brutally killing and chopping up his brother and leaves the land. There is no doubt that I should feel pity for her due to her husband’s actions, and admit the fact that this story is a tragedy, but if we consider from an another angle, however, I don 't really see Medea in a positive light because all she does is …show more content…
According to Aristotelian concepts about tragedy, a tragic hero would be a man who has good behaviors, both intelligent and powerful, but by no means perfect; he has to have a tragic flaw in order to form his suffering. In Medea, the strongest factor contributing to Medea 's fatal flaw is her mad and intense love for Jason. She killed Jason’s uncle so that Jason could take over the throne and rule, she helped Jason to kill her own father as a task in order to marry him, and she chopped up her brother so they could have time to get away while her father stops to collect the pieces of his son. It seems that Medea’s mad love slowly takes her into downfall, but since she really is a compelling character - she does not have one specific flaw. Her tragic situation is actually the result of a variety of flaws, such as her excessive love for Jason, her selfishness, and her rage. This made me feel uncertain about what exactly her flaw is, and it is hard for the audience to relate her suffering at her downfall directly with her flaw. “Hubris” is translated as excessive pride, the most common flaw in tragedies. Oedipus is a nobly proud man who is highly renowned and prosperous - his pride is revealed in his strong belief that he is greater than the gods while the Greeks believed that the gods took control of what happened to them. One of the greatest acts of his hubris in this tragedy is shown when the
December 18, 2015
Tragedy Essay
Which is the better tragedy, according to Aristotle’s definition of tragedy: Medea or Oedipus Rex?
According to Aristotle’s definition, a tragic hero is a distinguished person occupying a high position, living in a prosperous life and falling into misfortune due to his own tragic flaw which consequently leads to his reversal and late recognition. Medea and Oedipus Rex are both one of the best classical and well known examples of tragedy. Oedipus Rex fits Aristotle’s conception of tragedy to a better extent with startling accuracy; he is a nobleman who had fallen from his estate due to his inherent pride, whose fate instills strong pity and fear in the audience, and who realized he is the one that …show more content…
According to Aristotle 's idea, the audience should develop a strong emotional attachment to the tragic hero, fears what had already happened to the hero would actually happen to their life, and after the extreme misfortune strikes, the audience pities the suffering hero. Medea is very different from Oedipus; I tend to take more pity and fear on Oedipus than on Medea mainly due to the fact that Oedipus cannot change his fate - he is a person locked in by his own destiny. Medea, however, is a manipulative and ruthless person of free-will; she betrays her homeland by brutally killing and chopping up his brother and leaves the land. There is no doubt that I should feel pity for her due to her husband’s actions, and admit the fact that this story is a tragedy, but if we consider from an another angle, however, I don 't really see Medea in a positive light because all she does is …show more content…
According to Aristotelian concepts about tragedy, a tragic hero would be a man who has good behaviors, both intelligent and powerful, but by no means perfect; he has to have a tragic flaw in order to form his suffering. In Medea, the strongest factor contributing to Medea 's fatal flaw is her mad and intense love for Jason. She killed Jason’s uncle so that Jason could take over the throne and rule, she helped Jason to kill her own father as a task in order to marry him, and she chopped up her brother so they could have time to get away while her father stops to collect the pieces of his son. It seems that Medea’s mad love slowly takes her into downfall, but since she really is a compelling character - she does not have one specific flaw. Her tragic situation is actually the result of a variety of flaws, such as her excessive love for Jason, her selfishness, and her rage. This made me feel uncertain about what exactly her flaw is, and it is hard for the audience to relate her suffering at her downfall directly with her flaw. “Hubris” is translated as excessive pride, the most common flaw in tragedies. Oedipus is a nobly proud man who is highly renowned and prosperous - his pride is revealed in his strong belief that he is greater than the gods while the Greeks believed that the gods took control of what happened to them. One of the greatest acts of his hubris in this tragedy is shown when the