Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Research Paper Example II. Oedipus follows Aristotle’s description of a tragedy. A. The plot is not an ordinary tragedy. B. The plot is whole, complete and has unity of action. C. The plot considers serious dramatic action around a person of high social status. D. The plot is more important than the characters. E. The hamartia represents the mistake of a hero. F. Oedipus has a complex plot because of â€Å"reversal of intention† (peripeteia) and â€Å"recognition† (anagnorisis), which is related to the hero’s catastrophe. III. Oedipus has some tragic flaws. A. He manifests hubris. 1. He disrespects Teiresias. 2. He misjudges Creon. B. He conducted impure deeds. 1. He killed his father. 2. He slept with his mother. 3. He brought a curse to his homeland. IV. The play has diction that illustrates that Oedipus suffered a fate he could not change; thus, his tragedy is his helplessness and hopelessness. A. Oedipus moira is sealed. B. He started with outstanding reputation and good for tune. C. Sophocles described the â€Å"catharsis of pity and fear.† D. Hamartia is action, not character. V. Conclusion A. Oedipus is a tragedy in Aristotle’s terms because of its dramatic complex plot. B. It shows the tragedy of an upright man who cannot change his ill fortune. C. The action in the plot is the tragedy, not the character. D. Oedipus does not deserve a tragic life, which makes his downfall a great Aristotelian tragedy. Oedipus is paradoxically a hero and a villain. He initially saves a whole city from the Sphinx, but because of his real identity, he brings a deadly curse to it later on, and most especially, to his family and himself. This essay analyzes Sophocles’ Oedipus, determining if it fits Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero. In Poetics, Sophocles’ Oedipus exemplifies Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero because it follows the latter’s elements of a tragic plot, explores the character’s flaws, and n arrates with a compelling diction that includes irony and images of human flaws, where despite this weaknesses, the greatest tragedy is that Oedipus does not deserve his fate since the gods controlled his destiny from the beginning, and therefore, he is inherently innocent, and yet he falls to complete disgrace. Oedipus follows Aristotle’s description of a tragedy, where Aristotle defined a tragedy as not a mere imitation of a good man suffering a misfortune. A tragedy is not historical but is an account of what might be true. Scheepers (2005) described what Aristotle meant by a tragic plot: â€Å"Aristotle refutes the ‘simplistically’ structured tragic plot, which involves a good man coming to misfortune, as completely immoral, and rejects the simple moral plot, in which a bad man succumbs to hardship, as utterly untragic† (p.137). Instead, Aristotle uses the notion of hamartia, which can be defined as an account or