The Tragedy of Macbeth
Elements of Tragedy according to Aristotle
The Tragic Hero
 The hero must be of high estate (i.e. they must be
someone important like a general or a ruler). The
death of ordinary people isn’t considered tragic in
the literary sense. Their demise must have an impact
on society.
Macbeth: The Tragic Hero
 The character of the tragic hero leads to their destiny
The tragic sequence: character deedcatastrophe
Conflict: While the action in a Shakespearean tragedy
involves the conflict of opposing forces, the most
imp0rtant conflict is the internal conflict of the
protagonist. Often, the tragic hero is placed in a
situation in which the courses of action open to him
are at war with the moral order he has accepted.
Tragic consequences arise from inner conflicts that
test the protagonist’s integrity.
The Tragic Hero Continued
 The tragic hero must suffer and die. Their
suffering evokes feelings in the audience of pity and
fear which must be purged at the end.
 The struggle is ethical, and spiritual. It never
involves the mundane.
The Tragic Hero Continued…
 The tragic hero must have a quality that makes them
both great and causes their downfall. This is
sometimes called the “fatal flaw” or Hamartia.
With the greatness of the tragic hero is also the
central feeling: the impression of waste.
The Tragic Hero continued…
 The tragic hero is exceptional as is his nature. In his
nature there is an intensification of ordinary
qualities. In almost all, we see a marked onesidedness, a predisposition in some particular
direction: a total incapacity, in certain
circumstances, of resisting the force which draws in
this direction; a fatal tendency to identify the whole
self with one interest, object, passion, or habit of
mind.
Elements of Plot in Aristotelian Tragedy
The Perepeteia
 Peripeteia is a reversal of circumstances, or turning
point.
The Anagnorisis
 The anagnorisis is where the hero changes from a
state of ignorance to knowledge where the hero
recognizes the nature of things fully.
The Catharsis
 The audience must be purged of feelings of pity and
fear at the end of the play. Things are set right at the
end. This is called the catharsis.
Additional Factors
 Abnormal conditions of the mind
 Chance or accident
 The supernatural
 Elements of humour