It is very odd to read both Aristotle's Poetics and Plato's Book X of The Republic. As a member of Plato's Academy, one would think that Aristotle would conform to the ideals and teachings of his educator. It is said that Plato had a profound influence on the life and works of Aristotle. So why then would Aristotle and Plato have different perceptions of reality? The answer is strangely simple. Aristotle believed in the art of mimesis while Plato believed in the theory of diegesis.

How is it that Medea's thoughts and actions are considered acceptable? For example, once Jason's two children fall prey to Medea's murderous hands, Medea is not punished by the gods. She is allowed to escape her home in Athens on a dragon-drawn chariot. This is not understood until the voice of reason, the chorus, states that "Many things the gods achieve beyond out judgment" (465). By the time, one is no longer concerned with the thought of the chorus, but rarely the treachery of the protagonist Medea. Plato argues that when the reader sympathizes with the emotionally driven actions of the protagonist, they have become as inferior as the characters and the craftsman; in this case, the craftsman being Euripides.

In this case, Plato would argue that "drama represents human beings in action," (433) and that in experiences joy and sorrow simultaneously, man cannot in unity with himself. He posses the question that if minds are already full of conflict, why then would a writer wish to imitate conflicts of this sort? In the case of Euripides' Medea, the conflict leads to the hamatia, or mistake of the protagonist. This mistake is often referred to, in tragedies, as the tragic flaw. In Medea's case, her tragic flaw was wanting her have everything her way. She became upset with her husband for going to bed with another woman that the only conclusion she saw for the situation was to kill her husband, his children, the other woman, and the other woman's father, which just so happened to be the king of Corinth. Yet another example of how the imitation of life can draw the a

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