Aristotle`s Tragedy
Defining a Tragedy Greek philosopher
Aristotle proposes components of an ideal
tragedy in his work, Tragedy and
the Emotions of Pity and Fear. According to
Aristotle, there are six
components of a great tragedy: plot, character,
thought, verbal expression,
song, and visual adornment. He dissects these
components in great detail and
provides standards for all of them. In his play
Bacchae, Euripides
resembles much of Aristotle’s components of an ideal
tragedy. Euripides has
only few deviations from the Aristotelian tragedy. To
Aristotle, a
tragedy is defined as an imitation of action and life, not of an
imitation of
men. Therefore, he places higher emphasis the role of plot in a
tragedy,
rather than the role of character. He describes the species and
components of
a plot in great detail. For completeness, a plot must have a
beginning,
middle, and an end. A plot should be structured so that every part
is
necessary for completeness. The elements of a plot are peripety,
recognition,
and pathos. Peripety is a change in fortune, recognition is a
change from
ignorance to knowledge, and pathos is a destructive or painful
act. Furthermore,
Aristotle states that a tragedy is not merely an
imitation of actions, but of
events inspiring fear and pity. Such an effect
is best produced when events are
surprising yet at the same time, they
logically follow one another. A
well-constructed plot should, therefore, not
have a change of fortune from bad
to good, but, on the other hand, from good
to bad. A good plot should leave an
audience feeling pity and fear. To
produce this effect, actions must happen
between those who are near or dear
to one another. For example, a brother
killing a father leaves a more
impressionable feeling than an enemy killing an
enemy does. Although
Aristotle feels that a good tragedy arouses solemn emotion,
an audience
should not be left in a state of depression. Both the characters and
the
audience should end with a purging of emotional catastrophe, known as
a
catharsis. The aspects of Aristotle’s ideal plot are well represented
in
Euripides’ Bacchae. The play begins with Dionysus’ prologue describing
his
birth to mortal Semele and immortal Zeus and his journey from Asia to
Greece. He
reveals that he has come to Thebes to gain recognition and worship
as the god of
nature, ecstasy, creation, and destruction because his aunts
deny him and what
he stands for. To prove his immortality, he forces all
Theban women to wander in
madness under trees. Dionysus attempts to spread a
cult of his followers in the
city of Thebes. The king of Thebes, Pentheus,
disapproves of the Bacchic rites
and tries to suppress the cult. A change of
fortune occurs when Pentheus cannot
resist the spell of Dionysus and thus he
succumbs to the god’s power. The play
ends with Pentheus savagely destroyed
in his failure to suppress the cult. The
city of Thebes remains under the
spell of Dionysus. The audience is left to feel
pity and fear because
Pentheus’ own mother takes part in his killing. This
play reflects
Aristotle’s ideal tragedy in that the change in fortune went
from good to
bad. Euripides uses the literary device of a "deus ex machine"
in Dionysus’
final appearance. The term deus ex machina refers to a divine
intervention to
resolve a dramatic dilemma. Dionysus reveals himself as a god
and explains
his punishment for his disbelievers. The audience experiences a
catharsis by
realizing that civilization should make room for natural human
urges toward
ecstasy and joy. If they do not, those urges will sicken and
destroy us from
within. In respect to character, Aristotle defines a tragic hero
as one who
must have high status but must also be noble and virtuous. However,
though
the tragic hero is highly distinguished, he is not perfect. His
imperfection
is called the tragic flaw. The tragic hero suffers misfortune
brought about
by some error or frailty, not because of wickedness or cruelty. In
the
Bacchae, Pentheus fulfills Aristotle’s necessary qualities of a tragic
hero.
His demise is caused by his tragic flaws of excessive pride
and
overconfidence. He rejects the Bacchic rites because he is too proud to
follow
the cult and overly confident that he can defeat the powers of the
gods. One
aspect of Euripides’ play that differs from Aristotle’s ideal
tragedy is
that the tragic hero in fails to gain self-knowledge at the moment
of his
downfall. Pentheus does not increase awareness of his actions before
his
downfall. Although the tragic hero does not experience recognition, the
element
of recognition is still present in the play. Agave, Pentheus’ mother,
realizes
her action of killing her own son before her consequent downfall.
However,
Aristotle would not believe that this recognition was enough to
fulfill the
ideal tragedy. Aristotle ranks thought as third in rank of
importance to an
ideal tragedy. By "thought," he means the ability to state
the issues and
appropriate points pertaining to a given topic. This ability
comes from the arts
of politic and rhetoric. Examples of thought are passages
in which a character
tries to prove some thesis, express opinion, or state a
general rule. The
element of thought is evident in Euripides’ Bacchae when
Pentheus returns home
and sees his father and Tiresias. The two men, both
under the spell of Dionysus,
attempt to convert Pentheus. However, Pentheus
says that he rejects the Bacchic
rites and vows to capture the stranger who
has put Thebes under a spell. On the
one hand, the two men try to prove that
it is right to follow Dionysus, and on
the other hand, Pentheus tries to
prove that it is wrong to do so. Another
example of thought is when Dionysus
expresses a general principle to Pentheus
that those who defy the gods will
suffer a calamity. Dionysus says to Pentheus,
"the vengeance for this
outrage he will wreak whose being thou deniest."
(Euripides 19) The element
of verbal expression, Aristotle explains, is "the
conveyance of thought
through language: a statement which has the same meaning
whether one says
verses or speeches." (Aristotle 687) This is evident in the
way in which
Pentheus rejects the god Dionysus in his speech saying, "the
grape’s sweet
poison mingles with the feast, nought holy may we augur of such
worship."
(Euripides 10) His word poison evokes evil and the word feast
connotes
bestiality. In a scene with Pentheus, Dionysus' words indicate the
occurrence
of various physical manifestations of his power: earthquake and
partial
collapse of the palace, lightning and a burst of flame from Semele’s
grave.
Dionysus, at the end of the play, acts as a "deus ex machina." This
is a
divine intervention at the end of a tragedy that provides a solution for
the
plot. The fifth aspect of Aristotle’s ideal tragedy is song. He
describes
this aspect as being the greatest of the sensuous attractions. The
chorus who
performs the songs can have many roles. The chorus comments on the
action,
provide background material, serve as actor and narrator, stands
between
audience and actors, and provide a guide to our emotions. In
Euripides’
Bacchae, the chorus is made up of followers of Dionysus. The
chorus provides
commentary throughout Bacchae, but it is never directly
involved in the madness.
The first song they sing is of devotion and
honor to the god Dionysus. Then they
denounce Pentheus’ rejection of Dionysus
and his excessive pride. This song
helps to foreshadow the play. Later the
chorus sings of happiness of Pentheus’
submission to the god as Dionysus
dresses Pentheus. As Dionysus leads Pentheus
to Mt. Cithaeron, the chorus
criticizes Pentheus for spying on the women. The
chorus then predicts the
downfall of Pentheus. As Agave participates with the
other women in tearing
apart Pentheus, the chorus is horrified by the action.
Agave, in her
moment of madness is enthusiastic of her action. The chorus leader
doesn’t
share her feelings they realize before she does that she has slain her
own
son. The final element of Aristotle’s model tragedy is visual
adornment.
He explains that this aspect can have strong emotional effect
but is the least
artistic element. Euripides’ Bacchae had many examples of
visual adornment:
Dionysus disguises himself as a mortal, Cadmus and
Tiresias dress as young women
wearing long Bacchic costumes and ivy crowns,
Theban women dress in white robes
and fawn skins, and Pentheus disguises
himself as one of these women. The ritual
dresses provide a savage and
fanatical mode throughout the play. The influential
Greek philosopher
Aristotle provides history and rationale for the perfect Greek
tragedy in his
Tragedy and the Emotions of Pity and Fear. He discusses in great
detail the
requirements of a well-constructed tragedy. Based on Aristotle’s
reasoning,
Euripides’ Bacchae greatly resembles a perfect Greek tragedy, with
only minor
flaws. An important belief that they share is that a great tragedy
should
leave an audience feeling emotions of pity and fear.