StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

Aristotelian Conventions of Tragedy in King Lear and Brave New World - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
Aristotle’s definition of the conventions of tragic literature has broad application across a wide range of literary works. Sometimes, as in the example of William Shakespeare’s King Lear, the applications are obvious, even going so far as to form the theoretical underpinnings for the literary work’s appeal and accessibility…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER97.2% of users find it useful
Aristotelian Conventions of Tragedy in King Lear and Brave New World
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Aristotelian Conventions of Tragedy in King Lear and Brave New World"

Download file to see previous pages

Aristotelian conventions such as a characterized Recognition of Self, and Suffering, both of which work to together to give tragic drama much of its emotional impact, are found to be driving forces in these master works. King Lear and Savage John, respectively, reveal their statuses as tragic heroes through their belated recognition of their own self-awareness and the suffering they undergo in order to reach that self-recognition. In this essay, both Shakespeare’s King Lear and Huxley’s Savage John will be analyzed in terms of these two Aristotelian conventions of tragedy in order to show how both Lear and John represent tragic heroes in some of literature’s best forms.

Both King Lear and Brave New World follow the Aristotelian convention of Recognition of Self. In Aristotle’s formulation, this requires that heroes undergo some suffering that leads to a cathartic sense of self-awareness derived from the pain of suffering (20). Aristotle claims that a man must realize the (internal) root of his own downfall before he can become a tragic hero. King Lear gains this self-awareness as he wanders the heath with his Fool. He realizes the role he has played in his own downfall and it causes his descent into madness.

Lear returns to sanity and to wisdom by realizing that his arrogance has led him both to accept the flattery of others and to overestimate his own power. He remarks upon this in a lament that “they told me I was everything; ‘tis a lie, -- I am not ague-proof” (1001). He later displays this growing self-awareness as he shakes hands with Gloucester but says that first he must wipe his hand because it “smells of mortality” (1001). Through a realization that his own power is limited, Lear is able to reassess his life and the loyalty of others, but not before the war breaks out across his former kingdom by those fighting to right the wrongs largely brought on because of his arrogance.

Similarly, in Brave New World, John comes to realize his own limitations, partly because of his ongoing struggle to maintain a separation from the new world he confronts. At the end of his story, as he decides to go live by himself, he tells his friend Helmholtz, “I ate civilization… it poisoned me; I was defiled. And then… I ate my own wickedness” (241). In this admission, he shows that he was unable to resist society’s hold upon him due to something inside his own heart. While he continues throughout the story to try to purify himself, in the end, like Lear, he fails in his effort to overcome the world that he himself has had a hand in creating through a refusal to understand himself earlier in the story.

Both King Lear and Brave New World also deal with the Aristotelian convention of Suffering. Aristotle argues that suffering is constituted in destructive or painful action that brings about death, wounds, or agony (21). For King Lear his suffering is brought on by his unjust treatment of Cordelia in the beginning of the play. This action is parallel by the way his cruel older daughters, Goneril and Regan, treat him after he has given them their portion of his holdings and power. He recognizes

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Aristotelian Conventions of Tragedy in King Lear and Brave New World Essay - 1”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/english/1437010-aristotelian-conventions-of-tragedy-in-king-lear
(Aristotelian Conventions of Tragedy in King Lear and Brave New World Essay - 1)
https://studentshare.org/english/1437010-aristotelian-conventions-of-tragedy-in-king-lear.
“Aristotelian Conventions of Tragedy in King Lear and Brave New World Essay - 1”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/english/1437010-aristotelian-conventions-of-tragedy-in-king-lear.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Aristotelian Conventions of Tragedy in King Lear and Brave New World

King Lear by W. Shakespeare and A Brave New World by A. Huxley

This paper is aimed at providing a comparative study of King Lear" by William Shakespeare and "brave new world" by Aldous Huxley.... The researcher of this essay aims to pay special attention to the irony in both King Lear and A brave new world in different ways.... This research will begin with the statement that irony, or what happens when something is said, or done, and what happens is the opposite of what was supposed to happen is found in “King Lear” by Shakespeare, and “A brave new world” by Albert Huxley, in more than one place, and in more than one form....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Othello an Aristotelian Tragedy and a Tragic Hero

Definition of a tragedy in order to explain the structure of drama Aristotle introduced the first literary theory in the form of “Aristotle's Poetics” explaining his understanding of tragedy and comedy and their various elements.... Othello as an Aristotelian tragedy in section 2 of “Poetics” it is mentioned that, “Every tragedy falls into two parts, the complication and the unraveling or the denouement.... Definiton of tragedy A.... It helps in explaining the concept of tragedy II....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Tragic Heroes in Brave New World, King Lear and The Crucible

In brave new world, John the savage is the tragic hero who is a typical character endowed with strange qualities that distinguish him from other characters in the novel.... In brave new world, John suffers from the contradiction between his beliefs and that of the new world.... Though he knows that his mother belongs to the new world which is opposing, he shows his affection especially on the death bed.... Similarly ‘king lear is also a tragic hero created by Shakespeare....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

The Disintegration of Social Order in King Lear, Brave New World, and The Crucible

This paper analyses the disintegration of social order in King Lear, brave new world, and The Crucible.... The so-called happy world in The brave new world strengthens the impression of how dangerous individualism is for the stability of society.... King Lear, brave new world, and The Crucible are few examples from literature which show disintegration in the social order.... Similarly, the so-called happy world in The brave new world strengthens the impression of how dangerous individualism is for the stability of society....
4 Pages (1000 words) Research Paper

The Abuses Faced by Children in the United Kingdom

· new local management boards – chaired by council chief executives with members from the police, health, social services,... Health secretary Alan Milburn said, “"Victoria's death was a tragedy.... This paper is a review of the United Kingdom's child protection policy....
9 Pages (2250 words) Essay

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

In the novel, the author details the… Indeed, the author has explored various themes in the novel using diverse characterization as well as key elements that have shaped the course and meaning The novel details the community as cemented through stability in its beliefs and cultures, which guide the thinking in the world.... This is a utopian perspective, with abstract goals that the world hopes to meet through its defined identity.... Indeed, the characters mostly identify the subject of stability, whose craving desire to achieve this state make bio-engineers design ways that would see the same kind of individuals produced in the world without any distinctions....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Green in Shakespeares Tragedy of King Lear

This paper, Green in Shakespeare's Tragedy of king lear, stresses that the increase in the environmental debates has led to the fuelling of interest in the wide study of literature.... In his book, The Tragedy of king lear, many aspects presage the green literature.... This paper, therefore, analyses the review of the play, The Tragedy of king lear with regards to the theory of Green Literature, how ecocriticism relates both literature and the environment....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Othello: An Aristotelian Tragedy and a Tragic Hero

This coursework "Othello: An Aristotelian Tragedy and a Tragic Hero" demonstrates a comparison between Shakespeare's Othello and Aristotle's theory of tragedy and tragic hero.... hellip; Shakespeare's play “Othello” is inspired by Aristotle's concept of tragedy and Tragic Hero because the former incorporates all the characteristics of a tragedy explained by Aristotle.... Consequently, in “Othello” which is a tragic love story it is observed that Shakespeare incorporates almost all the elements of tragedy identified by Aristotle....
7 Pages (1750 words) Coursework
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us