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Aristotel’s Concept Of Greek Tragedy As Illustrated In Agamemnon Essay, Research Paper

Aristotle s concept of Greek tragedy as illustrated in Aeschylus Agamemnon

According to Aristotle tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude (Aristotle 544). This means that a tragedy should be an imitation of life. The plot needs to consist of events that could actually happen. Aeschylus Agamemnon has many good examples of Aristotle s criteria. Aristotle wrote that, every tragedy, therefore, must have six parts, which parts determine its quality- namely, plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle, song (Aristotle 545). Agamemnon fits Aristotle s description of tragedy through the use of imitation of life, reversal and recognition, and character characteristics.

The plot must have unity, and as Aristotle explained in Poetics, this does not mean heroic unity. What he is referring to is balance the tragedy must have a systematic unfolding of events, without which the play will not seem believable. The events in Agamemnon represent highly likely situations that are not hard for the audience to believe could actually happen. Agamemnon goes off to the Trojan Was to help bring back Helen of Troy. In order to return he must sacrifice his daughter Iphegenia, this (of course) angers her mother Clytemnestra and she vows to revenge her daughter s death. Once Agamemnon returns home, bringing Cassandra with him, Clytemnestra gets her revenge and kills them both (with the help of Aegisthus). This illustrates Aristotle s thought that, tragedy is an imitation not only of a complete action, but of events inspiring fear or pity (Aristotle 547).

Reversal of the situation is a change by which conditions in the play are transformed into their opposite (Aristotle 547) This means that the characters reverse roles so to speak. In Agamemnon, he (Agamemnon) goes from the murderer to the murdered. It is also at the moment of death that he gains recognition of his actions. He knows that sacrificing his daughter to pay for his own sins was wrong. A father s murder of a child goes against any moral code. This illustrates yet another of Aristotle s criteria. He says, The best form of recognition is coincident with a reversal of the situation (Aristotle 547). This in essence shows that once the tables are turned people can see their mistakes more clearly. Recognition for Agamemnon, however comes too late he must now face his own painful fate.

Aristotle says that characters should have four main attributes: they must be good (Aristotle 548), appropriate, true to life, and consistent. Each character in Agamemnon has their good points. Agamemnon goes off to war in order to help his brother reclaim his wife Helen of Troy. Clytemnestra loves her daughter so much that she is willing to risk her own life to gain vengeance. Cassandra is perhaps the most admirable of all the characters. She knows that she is about to be murdered with Agamemnon, but does not run away. All of the characters stay true to life they do not behave inconsistently with their rank. This is evidence of Aristotle s concept that, a person of a given character should speak or act as it is necessary or probable that he would (Aristotle 549). The only character that is questionable is Clytemnestra. Many times the chorus refers to her as manly and her speeches are often filled with sarcasm. For example, after she has killed Agamemnon the chorus says: Caught by the ruthless falsehood of a wife. / That man like beast should die (Aeschylus 1566 &1569). This characteristic does not follow Aristotle s concept about women characters. He says, manliness in a woman, or unscrupulous cleverness is inappropriate (Aristotle 549). However, overall the characters in Agamemnon meet the guidelines given by Aristotle in Poetics.

Aeschylus does a good job of applying Aristotle s concepts to his play. He has many of the elements needed to make a Greek tragedy. The plot is unified and believable as actual events. The use of reversal and recognition helps the audience to feel pity or fear for the characters. Each character is true to life and has at least one good quality about them. They are all plausible characters that for the most part stay true to the criteria that Aristotle has set. In the end Agamemnon is a good example of Aristotle s concept of Greek tragedy.

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