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Aristotle’s theories

Aristotle was a ancient greek philosopher who lived from 384 B.C – 322 B.C. Aristotle was thought of as one of the greatest philosophers in the time creating and writing great theories in may subjects including logic, ethics, physics and politics to name a few. One of Aristotle’s theories that links directly to the play “King Lear” is his tragic hero theory. Aristotle states that a “Tragedy is a form of drama exciting the emotions of pity and fear. Its action should be single and complete, presenting a reversal of fortune, involving persons renowned and of superior attainments, and it should be written in poetry embellished with every kind of artistic expression.” The writer presents “incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to interpret its catharsis of such of such emotions”. Aristotle describes the tragic hero characteristics to make a fatal flaw (Hamartia), a reversal of fortune (peripeteia), discover that the reversal of fortune was brought by the hero’s own doing (anagnorisis), have excessive pride (hubris) and the characters fate must be greater than deserved. These attributes are all found in King Lear throughout the play.

The first aspect of a astortian tragic hero as said above is that the tragic hero makes a fatal flaw (experiences hamartia). This occurs for King Lear in the play. His fatal flaw or hubris is his arrogance, excessive pride and ignorance that leads him into making poor judgement decisions. The first Example of this is how he lost his daughter Cordelia due to his arrogance. At the start of the film, Lear announces that he will be passing the kingdom on to his daughters when he says “Tell me, my daughters— [Since now we will divest us both of rule, Interest of territory, cares of state—] Which of you shall we say doth love us most, That we our largest bounty may extend. Where nature doth with merit challenge. Goneril, Our eldest born, speak first.” he then wants his daughters to publicly declare there love and affection for him, his other daughter goneril and regan create large speeches to confess there fake love in order to try win as much of the kingdom as possible whereas cordelia doesn’t refusing to be fake refuses to take part even though she has the most amount of love for her father. Lear’s pride takes over and he banishes Cordelia from the kingdom. This fatal flaw of his pride taking over makes Lear’s most loyal servant Kent question Lear’s actions when he tells Lear that “Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least”. this results in Lear also banishing Kent, the one man who will do almost anything for him from the kingdom. this is the fatal flaw that allows regan and goneril to slowly take over the kingdom and leading to the eventual death of cordelia and Lear. Shakespeare uses Lear’s hubris to help relate to the audience. this is because everyone has at least once let their pride take over causing them to make the illogical decision. This makes the audience feel bad for Lear as they have been in his footsteps and they know that he has made the wrong decisions and will pay for his excessive pride in the future.

Throughout the play we experience the second aspect of the aristotelian tragic hero, King lear’s peripeteia. peripeteia is the reversal of fortune or change in circumstances. this occurs for King Lear in the play as at the start of the play he is the King and has the diving right to rule meaning what he says goes with no execution. The peripeteia that he experiences brings him from being the most powerful man in the land, to a powerless old man. Shakespeare uses many language devices to explain and show Lears reversal of fortune. The first device that Shakespeare uses is switching the way that Lear talkins in the play from verse (talking with a rhythmed structure) to prose (talking ordinarily). Verse in the play is used towards the start of the play by Lear. The significance of verse in the play is that verse being a rhythmic language is harder to say so therefor it takes a more intelligent person to speak in verse. it shows that Lear is very intelligent and a superior man to those who speak in prose. As Lear’s peripeteia sets in he stops speaking in verse and starts speaking in prose. Shakespeare uses this to show us that Lear has lost his intelligence as he no longer speaks with rhythm and that he is no longer a superior person as he is now one of the many many ordinary people that speak in prose. another device shakespeare uses to display Lears reversal of fortune is the use of animal references. Towards the start of the play whilst Lear is in an argument we hear lear warn kent to “come not between a dragon and his wrath,” Lear refers to himself as a dragon is seen to be the most dominant and feared animal in the food chain as he in the most dominant and feared in the kingdom. as Lear’s peripeteia kicks in he no longer calls himself a mighty dragon as his power has gone. Another way that shakespeare shows peripeteia is using the chain of being. Lear is referred to as “poor, bare, forked animal”. this is an example of animal imagery that shakespeare uses during the scene as he takes all his clothes off he sis comparing himself to bare and forked animals. the the great chain of being animals are well below humans and almost at the bottom of the chain, just like Lear now that he has lost all of his power and is borderline worthless.

Another aspect of a aristotelian tragic hero that King Lear displays throughout the play is anagnorisis. Anagnorisis is the moment in a tragic play where the character recognises that there downfall is due to their own doing. It is the moment where the character changes from ignorance to knowledge and admits to their wrongs. This happens to lear as he explains that he is ” A very foolish fond old man, fourscore and upward, not an hour more nor less; and, to deal plainly, I fear I am not in my perfect mind,”. at the start of the quote we see that Lear admits that he is a “foolish fond old man,” this s the wist time throughout the play where Lear admits that he isn’t the most knowledgeable and smart man in the play and admits that he is foolish and makes mistakes just like everyone else. Lear also explains that he fears that he is “not in my perfect mind.” This once is Lear admitting that his mind and decision making is not perfect as he believed it once was. This is Lear’s anagnorisis as he realises that all the wrong that has occured is because of his own doings. Shakespeare uses anagnorisis in the play to show that Lear is no longer blaming anyone or anything for his actions anymore and is admitting to his failures. This change from a confident and powerful king to a sorry, regretful and broken old man creates pity from the audience. This pity attaches the viewers to Lear as a lot of people can relate with making a mistake and regretting it.

As Shakespeare uses these three devices being Lear’s hamartia being his hubris, peripeteia and his anagnorisis throughout the text he draws out various emotion whether is anger, pity, fear or even relief from the crowd as all tragic heros should. This release of the emotions from the audience creates catharsis of there strong repressed emotions that have been built up over time. Maintaining and keeping a large level of emotions creates stress which can lead to anxiety. keeping these sometime painful emotions in your system can greatly affect your physical and mental health. not only can the physical and mental health be affected but it can also hinder your decision making in the future which can lean to even more stress and emotional build up. This not only makes the King Lear play a fun play to watch in your spare time, but it also helps to discharge emotions leading to better mental and physical health.