Oedipus And Things Fall Apart-Tragedies As Defined By Aristotle Essay, Research Paper

Almost 2500 years ago Aristotle defined a tragic plot as one containing six essential elements. The first is a hero (sympatheia) who is noble by birth or has risen to a place of power. The hero should also be of good character. Aristotle stated in The Poetics, ?This is the sort of man who is not pre-eminently virtuous and just, and yet it is through no badness or villainy of his own that he falls into the fortune, but rather through some flaw in him, he being one of those who are in high station and good fortune.? The second is the flaw (Hamartia) in the hero?s character. The hero falls into misfortune not because of wickedness on his own part, but because he makes a moral mistake or error in judgement. The next components of a tragic plot are reversal (peripeteia), recognition (anagnorisis), and calamity (pathos). A reversal is a change of the situation into the opposite while recognition is a change from ignorance to knowledge. Aristotle said that the most effective reversal is one from good to bad whereas recognition is most effective when it coincides with reversals. One of the best ways to have a reversal and recognition is through a calamity. Combining these three elements correctly generates a powerful tragic plot. The sixth and last element is the audience?s response. In The Poetics Aristotle said that a tragedy should produce both pity and fear (catharsis) in the audience. ?The plot should be so constructed that even without seeing the play anyone hearing of the incidents happening thrills with fear and pity as a result of what occurs.? Aristotle also stated, ?the one [pity] being for the man who does not deserve his misfortune and the other [fear] for the man who is like ourselves?. Two excellent examples of an Aristotelian tragedy are Sophocles? Oedipus and Achebe?s Things Fall Apart.

The first requirement that Aristotle set forth was the protagonist should be in a position of power and should also have a good character. In Oedipus, the title character is born the prince of Thebes. He is born into royalty, but is abandoned because his father was afraid that the prophecy of his son killing his father and marrying his mother would come true. The King of Corinth then adopts him. Oedipus flees Corinth because he is afraid of fulfilling the prophecy. Oedipus? character is established by the fact that as soon as he heard the prophecy he left Corinth without going home. He did not want the prophecy to come true. Oedipus ends up in Thebes where he becomes king not because of the bloodline but because he could defeat the Sphinx that plagued the city.

When the play opens there is another plague on Thebes. To remove the plague, Apollo commands them to drive out the pollution from the land (107-108). Oedipus then makes a speech to Thebes for everyone to help rid the city of the pollution. Oedipus tells the city that there is a reward for anyone who provides information about the murder of Laius. To those who would withhold information he places this curse, that ?the murder would live out his life in misery to miserable doom! If with my knowledge he lives at my hearth I pray that I myself may feel my curse?(268-271). Oedipus has a very strong character and only wants to do what is best for Thebes.

In Achebe?s Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is a powerful man in his tribe. Although he was not born into the upper class, he does obtain it through hard work and dedication. Okonkwo is respected for having reached a position of wealth and status, without any support from family. As with Oedipus, Okonkwo only wants what is best for his family and his tribe. He ?brought honor to the clan by throwing ?Amalinze the Cat?? (3). Okonkwo is a well respect man who only wants what is best for the tribe.

The second condition is a flaw in the hero?s character. Oedipus? flaw is his temper. Although he had just been told he would kill his father, he does not think twice before he kills a man who is old enough to be his father. He kills his father for no other reason than because they could not decide who should step aside for the other one to pass. Oedipus, when he arrives in Thebes, tells no one of the incident on his way into the city. He does not contemplate the death of the four men. Oedipus does not think about what the repercussions of murdering four people might be. His quick temper causes him to murder four people and not realize the possibility for consequences. Oedipus is unaware that one of the men he had slain was his father. Oedipus unknowingly fulfills the prophecy that he had tried to escape.

Okonkwo in all his greatness has his faults, which ultimately lead to his downfall. His greatest fault is his pride. His own successes as a self-made man makes him impatient of others who are not as successful. For example, at a meeting of the tribe’s elders he calls another man a woman and says, “This meeting is for men”(26). This man who has contradicted him has no titles, and so Okonkwo feels that the man is not worthy enough. However, Okonkwo has to apologize to him. It is Okonkwo’s inner fear that he too would be a failure like his father that makes him proud and hard. Okonkwo is hard and stern with his family, particularly his son, Nwoye, who does not take after him. He is strict with his wives too and never shows his inner emotions. It is his firmness that drives him to break the rules of the Week of Peace, by beating his wife when she does not send him his food as required. Breaking the rules of the week of peace is a sin against the Goddess of the soil, Ani.

At the New Yam festival, Okonkwo almost shoots his second wife, Ekwefi, with a gun as he thinks that she has cut down his banana tree when she has only cut a few leaves. This again shows his impulsive nature and volatile temper. When the Oracle of the Hills and Caves orders the death of Ikemefuna, Okonkwo, in order to show his fearlessness and impartiality, strikes the final blow with his machete, even as the boy is calling to him “My father, they have killed me!”(61) Ezeudu, the oldest man in the village, asks Okonkwo not to participate in the killing of the boy as he calls him his father. By killing the boy himself Okonkwo commits his second offense against the tribal laws. Okonkwo does not see his pride as a fault; he only sees it as what motivates him to be successful and not to follow after his father.

The recognition of the hero and the reversal of his situation are usually brought about by some kind of calamity. Oedipus is so adamant about finding the killer of Laius that he offers a reward to anyone who will give information concerning the identity of the killer. For those who remain silent he places a curse within which he includes himself. Once he finds out for sure that he is the cause of the pollution, he does not try to find a way out and save himself. He does what he thinks is best for Thebes. Oedipus upon seeing Jocasta dead gouges his own eyes and then asks to be banished. Oedipus? life turns into a downward spiral that doesn?t seem to end. Oedipus now realizes what he has done and this realization causes his life to make a change for the worse. It is because of Oedipus? reversal and the misfortunes that he went through that cause the audience to react in the way that Aristotle said marks a good tragedy.

At the end of Things Fall Apart, when Okonkwo cannot take anymore of the vile behavior of the District Commissioner, it is his pride and his unwillingness to change that pushes him to behead one of the messengers. This was a very brave act. In his mind he knew what was right. These missionaries were trying to destroy the sacred ways of old. Then Okonkwo realizes that because of his pride he has been blind to what the clan really wants. When he comes to this realization that he stands alone, he commits suicide aware that his clan is no longer with him. Through a calamity Okonkwo realizes that he is alone and he ends his life. Okonkwo is an example of the ultimate reversal from good to bad fortune. Once a prominent man in the tribe is now a disgrace to everybody.

The rise of a hero with good intentions who meets such gruesome fate is bound to produce an emotional response from the audience. The audience?s reaction is Aristotle?s sixth and final part of a tragic plot. A good tragedy should bring about the feelings of both pity and fear in the audience.

The tale of Oedipus who was told he would kill his father and marry his mother and tries his best to escape that prophecy, ends up fulfilling it. A man, who saves Thebes from the Sphinx and would do anything to protect the city, ends his life a blind man who is banished to wander around in the mountains. Oedipus as a baby was abandoned in the mountains. It is those same mountains that he is forced to roam until his death. The feelings of compassion and pity are brought out in this tragedy. As the story of Oedipus is told, one cannot help but feel sorry for him and his seemingly undeserved fate.

Okonkwo, as a boy growing up, was ashamed of his father. He did not want to be like his father. He works hard and rises in the ranks of the clan. His self-pride that drives him not to bring reproach upon his family, causes him to do that very same thing by committing suicide. By taking his own life, he could not be buried like the warrior he was. Okonkwo in all his efforts tries not to bring shame on his family, but that proves to be his fate. Okonkwo cares about what is best for his clan. He believes in the old ways of the clan and does everything in his power to protect them. Okonkwo is a self-made man who worked hard to advance in his society. He is one of the leaders of the tribe and is looked at with great reverence for being a great warrior. Okonkwo fights to preserve his culture and the ways of his ancestors. Okonkwo ends his life where he started; a worthless nobody. Okonkwo?s situation is very sad and causes the audience to feel pity for him.

Fear is also brought about in both these works of literature and for the same reason; the audience sees their own susceptibleness to the flaws. The flaws of these men were not off the wall types of problems. A quick temper and pride are things that everybody can relate to. For Oedipus, just letting his temper get the best of him one time was enough to ruin him and the people he cares about. For Okonkwo, something that he uses to drive himself to excel also pushes him to suicide. These two works cause the audience to sit back and examine their own lives for their own faults. It is very scary to see the lives of Oedipus and Okonkwo end in such disastrous ways for what seems to be minor problems in their character. Having a quick temper and a prideful ego are things that plague everybody. Every person, at least once in his or her life, is guilty of rising to anger too quickly or being too prideful. It is very frightening to realize that the fate of the hero?s could just as easily be yours.

It is a very powerful thing for one piece of work to be able to cause the audience to feel these two very different emotions. The first is pity for the character that was to go through it and wondering why does it have to happen like that. The feeling of fear then comes over the audience. The fear of falling into the same fate as the hero. In order to bring about such dramatic responses from the audience, the story has to be set up in a very effective and efficient way. Aristotle has defined this manner so easily for us in The Poetics. The protagonist of a good tragedy should be a person of power and of good character. In this good character there must be a flaw of which, most often, he is unaware. The hero then comes to recognize that mistake, and when he does, his fortunes should take a dramatic turn for the worse. This is the guide by which all tragedies are based. Both Sophocles? Oedipus and Achebe?s Things Fall Apart are great examples of a tragedy and what kind of responses they can bring from the audience.