5. Shakespeare’s Macneth and Classical Tragedy

Def. of Classical Tragedy:

According to Aristotle who first defined it using the Greek plays that were available to him, tragedy is “the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself.” Tragedy typically includes “incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish the catharsis of such emotions.” The elements of a classical tragedy include

      The tragic hero who, though not perfect, is certainly in some way morally superior to most of the audience (and who is nearly always upper class), but also exhibits

     “Hamartia,” the tragic flaw (literally, it translates as “error of judgement”) which is often

     hubris, loosely translated as arrogance, that causes the hero to believe he can outwit fate or violate a moral law, which leads in turn to

     some kind of catastrophe, which results in

    peripeteia or a complete reversal of fortune from happiness to disaster

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