Aristotles Poetics and Medea by Euripides - Essay Example

Aristotle was the first to formulate the foundations for further critical investigation of drama nature. He is the author of the theory of tragedy, where he carefully defined and described the elements of a play which, from his point of view, were the most crucial for it to be classified as a tragedy. Different tragedies created by many different authors are usually considered through the prism of Aristotle's theory of tragedy. A splendid example of tragedy according to Aristotle is Medea created by Euripides. The given paper will prove that in The Third Episode of Medea we can see all three elements of classic tragedy.

The Third Episode of Medea contains all the elements necessary, from Aristotle’s point of view, for a play to be called a tragedy. Among others, these include, Jason’s mimesis, dialogues, the structure of the plot, peripeteia. Another evidence of the tragedian character of Euripides’ play is a scene of pain. In the Third Episode, we can see the mimesis when Medea repeats Jason’s wrongdoings in a burning desire to revenge him and make him suffer. She makes a plan how to force Jason to suffer as much as Medea did felt when he has broken his oath. So here we can observe one of the main elements of a tragedy according to Aristotle.
Another key element of a classical tragedy is dialogue, which Medea uses when speaking to Aegeus and asking him to “Swear by the Earth on which you tread/Swear by the Sun, my father’s father dread/Swear by every god and godhead” to always defend her. This utterance is a dialogue as it is said in a highly poetic, elevated tone.
Peripeteia of this tragedy also purely corresponds to Aristotle’s requirements stated in Poetics. It can be observed in the scenes where Jason leaves everything to start a better aristocratic life and Medea, in her turn, acquires a new life in a new home with Aegeus. A reversal in this place here shows us that Medea, being responsible for multiple murders, much more deserves compassion than Jason. In this tragedy, we can see another reversal when Medea has to kill her sons although it was she who gave them birth.
The scene of suffering is also an integral part of any traditional tragedy according to Aristotle’s Poetics. In Euripides' tragedy, there is too much suffering, due to this reason Aristotle called Euripides the most tragic of the playwrights. Here we can observe sufferings when Jason sees his sons’ blood seeping from under the door. It was Medea’s plan to make him suffer – with this purpose she killed her children, the only part of Jason she still had. She wanted to get rid of him completely and at the same time make him feel grief and agony.
The Third Episode of the tragedy shows vividly all the elements in which Euripides’ Medea adheres to Aristotle’s guidelines. So, Medea represents a classic tragedy and can be taken as an example for analysis.
In spite of the fact that Aristotle himself considered Medea to be one of the best samples of classical tragedy, Euripides’ masterpiece contains a few elements which do not satisfy Aristotle’s views. For example, Aristotle reproached Euripides for partiality to the method of "God from the machine”, which consists in the fact that the denouement does not escape from the plot, but is achieved with god’s help. Aristotle wrote: “... the denouement of the plot should follow from the plot, but not, as in Medea, through the machine.” And if the denouement of the conflict so often required the sudden appearance of supernatural forces, then it was not due to Euripides’ inability to find a more convincing composite course, but due to the fact that the poet had not seen in contemporary world solutions for many intricate human affairs. The poet is abhorrent to every theatrical convention.
According to Aristotle, a real tragedy, arousing in the viewer sympathy and fear, makes discharging of these effects, directing them into the harmless bed of aesthetic emotions and creating a feeling of relief, the so-called catharsis. There are no doubts that after immersion into Euripides’ tragedy one can feel the very catharsis Aristotle had in mind