Part IV, Chapter 21: The Tragic Vision: Affirmation Through Loss

The philosopher and critic Aristotle (384-322 BCE), writing almost two hundred years after these events, claimed that the first tragedies developed from a choral ode called a dithyramb—an ode or song that was sung or chanted and also danced by large choruses of men at the festivals.

Although they were great and noble, they were nevertheless human, and a common critical judgment is that they were dominated by hubris or hybris (arrogant pride, insolence, contemptuous violence), which was manifested in destructive actions such as deceit, subterfuge, lying, betrayal, revenge, cruelty, murder, suicide, patricide, infanticide, and self-mutilation.

A more persuasive recent answer is that the word tragedy stemmed from the word tragoidoi, or "billy goat singers," which was applied negatively to the young men (ephebes) in the choruses.

They prepared three tragedies (a trilogy) together with a satyr play (a boisterous burlesque) and submitted the four works to the Eponymous Archon, one of the city's two principal magistrates and the man for whom the year was named.

The last part of this definition—that purgation or catharsis is the end or goal of tragedy—crystallizes the earlier parts.

He therefore stresses that a tragic plot, or muthos, is not an exact imitation or duplication of life, but rather a representation or mimesis.

He therefore stresses that a tragic plot, or muthos, is not an exact imitation or duplication of life, but rather a representation or mimesis.

First is the "reversal of the situation" (peripeteia) from apparent good to bad, or a "change [usually also a surprise] by which the action veers round to its opposite," as in Oedipus the King, where the outcome is the reverse of what Oedipus intends and expects (XI.1, p. 41).

Second is "a change from ignorance to knowledge, producing love or hate between the persons destined by the poet for good or bad fortune." Aristotle calls this change anagnorisis or recognition (XI.2, p. 41).

Second is "a change from ignorance to knowledge, producing love or hate between the persons destined by the poet for good or bad fortune." Aristotle calls this change anagnorisis or recognition (XI.2, p. 41).

By completeness, we understand that a tragedy must be shaped and perfected into a logical and finished whole.

By stating that a tragedy should be of a "certain" or proportional magnitude, Aristotle refers to a balance of length and subject matter.

Aristotle's word for such shortcomings is hamartia, which is often translated as tragic flaw, and it is this flaw that makes the protagonist human—neither a saint nor a villain.

Aristotle's word for such shortcomings is hamartia, which is often translated as tragic flaw, and it is this flaw that makes the protagonist human—neither a saint nor a villain.

These examples illustrate the pervasiveness of situational irony and cosmic irony in tragedy. Characters find themselves in unforeseeable difficulties that are caused by others or that they themselves inadvertently cause.

These ironies are connected to what is called the tragic dilemma—a situation that forces the tragic protagonist to make a difficult choice.

The underlying basis of dramatic irony in real life is of course that no one can know the future, and few if any can anticipate accident, illness, and all the social, economic, political, and military adversity that may invade and destroy our ways of life.

There was considerable variety in the performance of the prologue.

With the chorus as a model audience, the drama itself was developed in four full sections or acting units. The major part of each section was the epeisodia, or episode.

Interlude is a misnomer, for the plays were often quite long. The interludes, supported by the nobility, were tragedies, comedies, or historical plays that were performed by both professional actors and students.

This closeness led to two unique stage conventions. One of these, the aside, permitted a character to make brief remarks directly to the audience or to another character without the rest of the characters' hearing the words.

In the other, the soliloquy, a character alone onstage described his or her thoughts or plans directly to the audience.

Argue against possible objections. With this strategy, you raise your own objections and then argue against them. Called procatalepsis or anticipation, this approach helps you sharpen your arguments, because anticipating and dealing with objections forces you to make analyses and use facts that you might otherwise overlook.