Aristotle Tragedy Terms

Anagnorisis

"recognition" a change from ignorance to awareness of a bond of love or hate

Antistrophe

"Turning back" repetition of the same words at the end of consecutive phrases, sentences, & paragraphs

Audience

The people who participate in a work of art (theatre, literature, music, etc.)

Catharsis

"Purification" tragedy raises emotions of pity & fear, then purifies them. Audiences go through Carthatic experiences because the play arouses pity & fear, then purifies them.

Hamartia

A flaw, moral blindness, weakness of character, an error

Hubris

Excessive pride or self-confidence

Mimesis

"Imitation" Art imitates reality & gives meaning to it.

Mask

"Persona" character an actor plays

Pathos

"Suffering" element of plot that is "a destructive or painful act"

Peripeteia

"reversal" when a situation seems to developing in one direction, then suddenly "reverses" to another

Plot

Essential element to tragedy. Includes Peripeteia, anagnorisis, & pathos. Best tragic plot is single & complex.

Eleos & Phobos

Pity & Fear

Soliloquy

Act of speaking one's thoughts aloud alone or regardless of people listening.

Tragedy

Process of imitating an action which has serious implications, is complete, and possesses magnitude; which is attractive through language, with its varieties found separately in the parts; enacted by people and not presented through narratives; through a course of pity and fear completing the catharsis.

Tragic Hero

"Great man" who is neither a villain nor a model of perfection but is basically good; undergoes change because of a mistake.