Aristotelian Conventions of Tragedy in King Lear and Brave New World Essay - 1

Aristotelian Conventions of Tragedy in powerfulness Lear and Brave mod World - Essay ExampleAristotelian conventions such as a characterized Recognition of Self, and Suffering, both of which work to together to give tragical drama much of its emotional impact, argon found to be driving forces in these master works. King Lear and Savage John, respectively, reveal their statuses as tragic heroes through their bel ingestd recognition of their have got self-awareness and the detriment they undergo in order to reach that self-recognition. In this essay, both Shakespeares King Lear and Huxleys Savage John will be analyzed in terms of these two Aristotelian conventions of tragedy in order to show how both Lear and John flirt tragic heroes in some of literatures best forms. Both King Lear and Brave New World follow the Aristotelian convention of Recognition of Self. In Aristotles formulation, this requires that heroes undergo some low 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) tooth root of his knowledge 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 ancestry 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 move through his hand because it smells of mortality (1001). Through a realization that his own power is limited, Lear is able to reassess his manners and the loyalty of others, but not before the war breaks out across his former kingdom by those fighting to right the wrongs la rgely 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 societys 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 control 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 suffe ring 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