Here is the synopsis of our sample research paper on How “Oedipus Rex” Fulfills Aristotle’s Concepts of Tragedy
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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 4 page paper explains how “Oedipus Rex” fulfills Aristotle’s concepts of tragedy: a hero who endures great suffering; his tragic flaw; the catharsis at the end of the play. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVarsrex.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
is "an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament ... in the form of action,
not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions" (Aristotle). In other words, to be a tragedy a work has to deal with a serious
subject; it has to be complete in itself; it has to be important; it has to be active, not related as a story; and it has to instill pity and
fear in its audience, which emotions are then relieved by some sort of purge; the Greek word is catharsis. Aristotle considered Oedipus Rex to be "a model drama" (Haigh). Also,
tragedy is usually considered to happen only to people who are important and larger-than-life in a sense: a story about a man losing his job in a factory may be
sad and depressing, but its not a tragedy; But when the protagonist is a king, an emperor, a president-someone of great importance, then it becomes a tragedy. The Greeks
also believed that for a story to be tragic, the cause of the heros fall has to come from within, what they called the "tragic flaw." In Oedipuss case, his
tragic flaw is his pride. That flaw has to cause him great suffering, but from that suffering comes understanding and redemption, so that the character learns a lesson and the
audience experiences a sense of relief. These elements are certainly all present in Oedipus Rex. First, the hero - or rather the protagonist, because its often difficult to regard Oedipus
as a hero - undergoes terrible suffering. He has been uncertain of his destiny all of his life because of a prophesy that he would kill his father and marry
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