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Essay / The Noble Macbeth: an Aristotelian tragedy
The tragedy is a serious play in which the main character is characterized by a certain psychological weakness, thus going through a series of misfortunes which lead to his destructive end. Aristotle, in his Poetics, postulated that catharsis is the defining characteristic and definitive end of all tragedy; to quote him, he wrote Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay “Tragedy is the imitation of serious, complete action of a certain magnitude… through pity [eleos] and fear [phobos] effecting the appropriate purging [catharsis] of these emotions” Book 6.2). Moreover, according to him, tragedy is the complete recasting of a significant moral act. William Shakespeare's Macbeth rightly fits Aristotle's criteria for successful dramatic tragedy and aptly illustrates the fundamental principles of creating this genre. Aristotle's plot is "the soul of tragedy" and his Poetics is therefore primarily devoted to the discussion of the demands, expectations and development of a good one. For him, the plot must be the replica of a noble and complete action. The complete action required by Aristotle, that is, a beginning, middle and end action, is satisfied by Macbeth's respective placements of the tragedy. Thus, Aristotle further sets out in his Poetics the different parts of a tragedy: Prologue, Episode, Exodus, Choral Songs and the last part which is divided into two: Parodos and Stasimon. All of these elements are found in Macbeth, with the exception of the choric songs; despite this lack, the play can still be considered essentially Aristotelian because it still adheres to Aristotle's fundamental tenets of plot: that actions and episodes are organized into a seamless and "casually connected" whole. . The elements of action are exposition, call to action, rising action, turning point or climax, falling action, and denouement. Macbeth adheres to all of these elements while occasionally presenting a new question to keep the audience interested. This important part that keeps the audience's attention is known as dramatic tension. The three witches provide the activating circumstance necessary to comply with Aristotle's requirement for complete action: a revelation and reversal of action. Macbeth and Banquo meet the three witches who possess mystical powers to predict the fate or future of the two men. The role of the wicked sisters is to act as the forces of fate, leading Macbeth to his own destruction. Yet the prophecy inspires Macbeth to desire kingship; it is this ambition that leads him to his destruction or downfall. When the public discovers something that has been hidden from them before they can help put the pieces together, the point of disclosure is then reached. This is also known as the achievement point. In Act V, Scene 1, Lady Macbeth is found sleepwalking, speaking the words of comfort she gave her husband after the murders of Duncan and Banquo: "What need we fear who knows, when no one can ask our power to realize? (lines 40-2) and “I tell you again, Banquo is buried” (lines 66-7). The audience now realizes that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are complicit in the crime which then sought justice and ultimately caused the downfall of the state. guilty. With Macduff killing Macbeth, the audience witnesses the final principle of Aristotelian complete action which is the reversal of action. Macbeth is characterized as being driven by his corrupt ambition, a nobleman who will outwit allobstacles to satisfy his deepest desire and realize his ambition to become king, even if it means employing evil plots along the way. Ultimately, his own ambition led to his downfall, to his death. Likewise, along with the other lives he has taken, he is murdered and deceived. So far, a complete action is present in the play, a noble and moral action that creates the basis of the plot. But what is noble about this act? This noble action may be suggested by a cultural problem of Shakespeare's time. The play was written in the Elizabethan era, when ambition was highly regarded as a pious and admirable quality, a quality of nobility. The plot of Macbeth, as an imitation of action, is therefore essentially that of a noble and complete action. On the other hand, irony is another important element of Aristotelian tragedy and many ironic statements can be found in the play. One of them is the murderous act of Macbeth himself, which may be due to his tragic flaw (hamartia) which is his ambition. It is worth remembering that Macbeth's ambition, encouraged by his wife, brought about his death and when Macbeth learns of this dreadful thing, the words he speaks reflect the sorrow and despair he feels, even irony . He describes life as a pathetic, strutting actor whose moment on stage is only brief. Furthermore, he utters: “It is a story/ Told by an idiot full of sound and fury/ Signifying nothing” (Act V, Scene v, lines 26-8). In his speech he says that life has no meaning, which is contradicted by the play as a whole. At that time, Macbeth had just been rewarded for his evil deeds, and the fact that he and his wife were punished for their crime manifests the presence of a higher good that also gives a higher meaning to life. Macbeth ironically embodies ambition and murder. Another related angle that links this tragedy to Aristotle is the playwright's use of dramatic irony with its integral stylistic component: diction. Aristotle emphasized that tragedies should be presented in elevated, not everyday, language to alert the audience that what they are about to witness is something serious. The Encarta World English Dictionary defines dramatic irony "as irony arising from a situation in which the audience has more complete knowledge of what is happening in a drama than a character." This therefore involves the audience's attention and draws their attention closer to the performer. This is illustrated in the play when King Duncan and his party arrived at Macbeth's castle, they are unaware of the evil plans that are being plotted against them. Their mood, light and pleasant, is completely ironic for the audience since they know what Macbeth is really doing, as also evidenced by Macbeth's lack of courtesy in not greeting his guests honorably. Yet the dramatic irony is heightened by Duncan's constant admiration for Macbeth when he says, "Lead me to my host: we have him highly solitary/And we will lead our graces to him." » In the last part of the play, it is also enriched by Dramatic irony: Macbeth has become monstrously desperate and pathetic. Troops were sent to overthrow him and his own troops abandoned him, but he still places his trust in the witches whose prophecy ultimately got the best of him. Even though he already sees his destiny, he cannot accept it; he continues to fight while also talking about his enchanted life. His failure or refusal to see what is clearly evident makes the end of the play even more compelling than the beginning. Aristotle goes on to suggest that noble and complete action must be an imitation of conditions,. 1994