Blame is defined as assigning the responsibility for a fault or wrong. In most literary tragedies, the hero is to blame for the tragic fall he or she undergoes. The responsibility for downfall is clear through analysis of a hero's free-willed actions, state of ignorance, and tragic nature. Aristotle assigns the blame of a downfall in a tragedy to the hero based on a mistake he or she makes while exercising free will. Aristotle's description of this tragic error, commonly referred to as Hamartia, supports the belief that the tragic change in fortune a hero undergoes is not due to "any moral defect or depravity"" (Poetics, 21) given by an author, but to a mistake he makes at a pivotal point in a story. For example, a hero commits a crime not because his character was given an inability to tell right from wrong, but because he freely chooses to do so. Interpreters such as Heath back up Aristotle's view on hamartia, stating that while influencing aspects of a story controlled by an author, such as personality, may make the tragic error "understandable ", because the error itself has "no moral content at all", it is still blameworthy"" (Poetics, xxxii). .
Prior to the change in fortune of a hero, an author reveals information that can potentially prevent downfall, and the hero's ability to either act upon or reject this new information constitutes blame for their fall. In Jean Anouilh's Antigone, Creon makes a final plea to convince Antigone that dying for her brother Polynices is foolish, making sure she is aware of the "squalid story " she is about to put her "little bloodstained name to"" (41). Once it is revealed that she would be dying for a traitor, Antigone still refuses to be saved, proclaiming "I've chosen death"" (48), proving that her previous ignorance of the situation was not the cause of her downfall and execution, it was a choice of her own. Similarly, in Oedipus the King, Oedipus is given the chance to learn the truth about his real parents when the blind prophet Tiresias accuses him of being "all unknowing,"" and shouts "you are the scourge of your own flesh and blood"" (Sophocles, 183).
The Greeks define a tragic hero differently. ... Usually it is found that most Greek heroes do not die at the end. ... No Greek hero knows fate like King Oedipus. ... Very often in Greek Literature it is found that one of the heroes in the piece have committed some type of taboo at one time or the other. ... He was blaming others, some at random and became very defensive when he was accused. ...
Greek society had cultural "turnarounds" in the areas of science, literature, art and philosophy. New ideas and new looks were emerging in the society that caused the developing of Greek Theatre and, later, Greek tragedy-the main entertainments of Greeks. ... (Sophocles, V), which reflects both Greek Tragedy and Greek Theatre in several ways. ... But no matter how the heroes try to avoid the calamity the result is disastrous and sorrowful: the prophecy is fulfilled. In the end of the tragedy, when the truth was revealed, Oedipus falls into deep pain and despair blam...
While classical Greek culture, which flourished between 500-330 b.c.e., contributed the most to our knowledge of Greece, earlier and later periods are also worthy of attention. ... We get our first detailed descriptions of the Greek deities in these epic tales. ... After the Mycenae Era, Greece went through a "dark ages.... This is the time of the evolution of city-states for ancient Greece, and the beginnings of Greek colonization. Greeks were farmers, traders, and fishermen, living in the rural areas. ...
One of the greatest philosophers of Ancient Greece was Aristotle. ... The works must be dramatized and evoke feelings of pity and fear from the audience, for the main character or tragic hero as he or she moves toward a destructive end, eventually leading the audience to "explode" at the ultimate downfall of the hero. Based on Aristotle's interpretation of tragedy, one may conclude that the theme of tragic heroism is a recurring and essential theme in the development not only of Oedipus's character but also of the play for it is an element that makes the work of literature ...
According to Frye's theory of modes, literature can be divided into three overall categories of Heaven, Earth, and Hell. ... In an ironic tragedy, the hero is below us in their power or intelligence. ... Pecola Breedlove is a young black girl who is the hero in this analysis. ... The individuals in her community believe she should be, "taken out of school" and she, "carries some of the blame" (189). ... Originating from Greek mythology, this narrative tells the story of an aged and impotent king who rules over a sterile wasteland. ...
Whither can I fly, since all Greece hates the barbarian?""... I have brought you from a barbarous land to Greece, and in Greece you are esteemed for your wisdom. ... Medea is blamed for her own sentence, being told that if she hadn't behaved as a jealous, possessive woman, she could have remained. ... During that one day's time Medea confronts Jason, who blames Medea's banishment on her own temper, rubbing salt into the wound. ... She reminds him that since she is from Colchis and is therefore a foreigner in Greece, without a Greek mate, she will not be welcome elsewhere. ...
In Hong Kong, society usually blames the education system on making our children lack of creativity to invent and explore new things. ... For example, in Kubla Khan, the poem itself is entitled from a Chinese hero during the Yuan Dynasty. ... And the sacred Alph, in fact, is alliterated from the Greek word Alpha, which means the beginning. ... People are bounded in the sense of religion, military, literature, home and heritage of important family ("altar, sword, and pen,/Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,"(4-5) 5). ...
A god can make even a coward a hero (not saying Odysseus was a coward). ... Although I cannot blame him there are only so many ways he can show and prove his greatness to others. In Book 9, Odysseus does battle with a popular Greek Mythology creature the Cyclopes. ... Staying faithful beyond the expectations of his king ever returning is one of the highest forms of loyalty in all of literature. ...
