Summary Miller and Aristotle on Tragedy - English Literature B (AQA)

Aristotle – 300 BC
Plot: (most important feature)


• Must follow a clear beginning-middle-end structure


• He felt that action came first, before character: "In a play accordingly they
do not act in order to portray the Characters; they include the Characters
for the sake of the action" (Aristotle)


• The plot must be complex, made up of fearful incidents


• Every action must occur for a reason, following cause-and-effect


• There must be a ‘change of fortune’ (Peripeteia) caused by either a ‘reversal
of intention’ or ‘recognition’

, Other aspects:


• The ideal tragic hero, according to Aristotle, would be a moderately good man of high status or
popularity, who falls from prosperity to adversity not through vice, but through "some great err
frailty” of their own doing: hamartia


• The tragic hero has a fatal flaw: hamartia


• The tragic hero’s fall from prosperity to adversity must cause catharsis and pity


• Speech is a key element as well, revealing elements of character and action


• There is the presence of a tragic antagonist