1. Tragedy- Aristotle’s Poetics Mr Adrian Chan Hwa Chong Institution 2009

2. Literature's function The tragedy evokes two kinds of emotions, pity and fear, in order to cleanse the mind of dangerous but natural human tendencies, especially overgrown pride in our accomplishments. This emotional purging (katharsis), when shared by the whole population, restored the city to health.

3. Tragic Characters Character construction Tragic characters all have two qualities by which we judge them: thought and character. In order of importance, proper characters should have the following qualities: goodness in a moral sense, appropriateness to social mores, truth to life (probability in small details), and consistency (i.e., not disturbingly divided in nature). Sub-components of dramatic theater

4. Tragedies- Human Nature Tragedies have these six parts: plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle (today, "special effects"), and song. Literature and human nature According to Aristotle, our qualities are determined by our characters, those basic combinations of traits we were born with or develop as we grow, but we are made happy or wretched by our actions. Therefore, the great literature concentrates on showing us those actions at crucial moments and the "first principle" of any drama is its plot (i.e., the action). A perfect tragedy should imitate complex actions that excite pity and fear while leading a man who is extraordinarily good and just to misfortune by some error of judgment or frailty of character. That "frailty of character" is the famous "tragic flaw" or hamartia, actually something closer to a "tragic imbalance"

5. Tragic Hero- Role and Analysis The conclusion is catastrophic. The catastrophic conclusion will seem inevitable. It occurs, ultimately, because of the human limitations of the protagonist. The protagonist suffers terribly. The protagonist's suffering often seems disproportionate to his or her culpability. Yet the suffering is usually redemptive, bringing out the noblest of human capacities for learning. The suffering is also redemptive in bringing out the capacity for accepting moral responsibility.

6. Weblinks http://www.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/poe tics.html http://www.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/poe tics.html http://www.iep.utm.edu/a/aris-poe.htm http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/englis h/melani/cs6/tragedy.html http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/englis h/melani/cs6/tragedy.html