Aristotle's Tragic Hero

Aristotelian is referring to the Greek philosopher Aristotle or his philosophy (Webster Online Dictionary). According to Dunn (2006), Aristotle was born in 384 B.C.E. in Stagira. After his father’s death, Aristotle spent 20 years in Athens attending and teaching at Plato’s Academy. Plato and Aristotle highly respected each other; however, they often debated many beliefs and theories (Dunn, 2006). Dunn (2006) also noted, Aristotle traveled back to Athens and opened his own school when he was 49, called the Lyceum, writing and teaching his philosophy (Dunn, 2006). When researching Aristotle's writings Shields (2015) noted:
Aristotle left a great body of work, perhaps numbering as many as two-hundred treatises, from which approximately thirty-one …show more content…
The hero's downfall is the result of his hamartia: his error or transgression or (as some translators would have it) his flaw or weakness of character" (Kennedy and Gioia, 2013). Aristotle points out the tragic hero must be of "great reputation and prosperity…" and must take at least partial responsibility of his own downfall and learn from his mistake (Kennedy and Gioia, 2013). C.H. Reeves (1952) points out that Aristotle first spoke about his theory on tragedy in general in “Poetics”. Aristotle asserts a true tragic hero is not: A good man going from happiness to misery, a bad man from misery to happiness or an extremely bad man from happiness into misery (Reeves, …show more content…
Othello was not born into royalty; nevertheless, he has worked his way to a reputable military position with respect and honor. As for the catharsis debate if it is a requirement, Othello tragedy in the end does not provide that emotional release. In turn, it causes anger not pity or fear. While Othello’s character has many of the requirements of Aristotle’s definition of a “tragic hero”, he lacks the most important one of learning from his mistake since he does not believe he made