Editing Tragedy (section)

===Aristotle===
{{further|Poetics (Aristotle)}}

[[Aristotle]] wrote in his work [[Poetics (Aristotle)|''Poetics'']] that
tragedy is characterised by seriousness and involves a great person who experiences a reversal of [[luck|fortune]] (''[[Peripeteia]]''). Aristotle's [[definition]] can include a change of fortune from bad to good as in the ''[[The Eumenides|Eumenides]]'', but he says that the change from good to bad as in ''[[Oedipus Rex]]'' is preferable because this induces [[pity]] and [[fear]] within the spectators. Tragedy results in a [[catharsis]] (emotional cleansing) or healing for the audience through their experience of these emotions in response to the suffering of the characters in the drama.

According to Aristotle, "the structure of the best tragedy should not be simple but complex and one that represents incidents arousing [[fear]] and [[pity]]—for that is peculiar to this form of art."{{sfn|Aristotle|1932|loc=Section 1452b}} This reversal of fortune must be caused by the tragic hero's ''[[hamartia]]'', which is often translated as either a [[character flaw]], or as a mistake (since the original Greek etymology traces back to ''hamartanein'', a sporting term that refers to an [[archery|archer]] or [[spear]]-thrower missing his target).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rorty |first=Amelie Oksenberg |title=Essays on Aristotle's Poetics |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1992 |page=178}}</ref> According to Aristotle, "The misfortune is brought about not by [general] vice or depravity, but by some [particular] error or frailty."<ref>''Poetics'', Aristotle</ref>{{Nonspecific|date=September 2022}} The reversal is the inevitable but unforeseen result of some action taken by the hero. It is also a misconception that this reversal can be brought about by a higher power (e.g. the law, the gods, [[destiny|fate]], or society), but if a character's downfall is brought about by an external cause, Aristotle describes this as a [[Accident|misadventure]] and not a tragedy.{{sfn|Aristotle|1932|loc=Section 1135b}}

In addition, the tragic hero may achieve some revelation or recognition ([[anagnorisis]]—"knowing again" or "knowing back" or "knowing throughout") about human fate, destiny, and the will of the gods. Aristotle terms this sort of recognition "a change from ignorance to awareness of a bond of love or hate."

In ''Poetics'', Aristotle gave the following definition in [[ancient Greek]] of the word "tragedy" (τραγῳδία):{{sfn|Aristotle|1932|loc=Section 1449b}}

{{blockquote|Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is admirable, complete (composed of an introduction, a middle part and an ending), and possesses magnitude; in language made pleasurable, each of its species separated in different parts; performed by actors, not through narration; effecting through pity and fear the purification of such emotions.}}

Common usage of tragedy refers to any story with a sad ending, whereas to be an [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]] tragedy the [[narrative|story]] must fit the set of requirements as laid out by ''Poetics''. By this definition social drama cannot be tragic because the hero in it is a victim of circumstance and incidents that depend upon the society in which he lives and not upon the inner compulsions—psychological or religious—which determine his progress towards self-knowledge and death.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chiari |first=J. |title=Landmarks of Contemporary Drama |publisher=[[Jenkins (publisher)|Jenkins]] |year=1965 |location=London |page=41}}</ref> Exactly what constitutes a "tragedy", however, is a frequently debated matter.

According to Aristotle, there are four species of tragedy:

# Complex, which involves [[Peripety]] and [[Discovery (fiction)|Discovery]]
# Suffering, tragedies of such nature can be seen in the Greek mythological stories of Ajaxes and Ixions
# Character, a tragedy of moral or ethical character. Tragedies of this nature can be found in Phthiotides and [[Peleus]]
# Spectacle, that of a horror-like theme. Examples of this nature are [[Graeae|Phorcides]] and [[Prometheus]]