Aristotle and Oedipus

A detailed Summary of Aristotle and Oedipus

Oedipus is a prime example of a tragidy, according to

Aristotle's definition in the "poetics". Aristotle's Poetics is considered the

first work of literary criticism in our tradition. The couple of pages in the

book mainly describe tragedy from Aristotle's point of view. He defines

tragedy as being an imitation of an action that is a whole and complete in

itself and of a certain magnitude. Aristotle also points out terms such as

catharsis, which can be said that is the purification of one's soul. He argues in

his Poetics that catharsis is achieved through emotions of pity or fear, which

is created in the audience as they witness the tragedy of a character who

suffers unjustly, but is not entirely innocent. Then he moves on to describing

the main elements of tragedy. Such elements are: plot, character, language,

thought, spectacle, and melody. Then he classifies these in three parts, the

media, the manner and the objects. The language and melody constitute the

"media", in which they effect the imitation. Then there is the spectacle, which

is the "manner", and the remaining three, the plot, character and thought are

the "objects" that are imitated. Aristotle considers the plot to be the most

have been responsible for such a horrible crime. He learns a lesson about life

my eyes to me, who could never - See anything pleasant again?" (Sophocles

needs this admiration to survive, has one of the extreme forms of narcissism,

everything has come out true. Light, I shall not look on you Again. I have

control. A prophecy is foretold to Laius, the father of Oedipus, that the

together in a hideous sin, blind to the horror of it" (Sophocles 428). Oedipus

Approximate Word count = 1311
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History

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