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

?Aristotelian Conventions of Tragedy in King Lear and Brave New World People and in particular readers of fiction will always want happy endings in real life as well as in fictional stories. However, when viewed from the perspective of creators or authors of fictional works, tragic endings and thereby tragic stories will only make a deeper imprint in the minds of the readers. Aristotle came up with some key conventions and if the fictional work, particularly its plot has those conventions; it could be termed as a tragedy. According to him, a best tragic plot will be simple and at the same time complex, incorporating the elements of reversal (peripeteia), recognition (anagnorisis) and suffering (Pathos). If the authors come up with plots that will make the fortunes of the characters or in particular the protagonist change or reverse from good to worse, then make the protagonist recognize the reversal and the resultant grave problems, and finally make him/her suffer due to those problems, it an be tagged as a tragedy. These Aristotelian conventions can be seen in the works King Lear written by William Shakespeare and in Brave New World written by Aldous Huxley. Therefore, this paper comparing both the text will analyze how the protagonists in both the works undergo the above mentioned three conventions of reversal, recognition and sufferings as part of the plot, thus leading to tragic results. In both King Lear and in Brave New World King, the tragedy for the protagonists, King Lear and John gets initiated, when reversal of fortunes and their realization of it occur. In King Lear, the main character of King Lear believes in the open exposition of love, even though it could be a false one, and faces problems because of it, making him recognize his mistake. Nothing only he recognizes his follies, he views himself as a fool for committing those mistakes and states “All thy other titles thou hast given away; that thou wast born with” (1.4.675) and “I am a fool, thou art nothing” (1.4.714). He sees love only at face value and that causes him to trust disloyal daughters, Goneril and Regan, even giving them sizable power to rule the kingdom, thereby avoiding his faithful daughter Cordelia. However, when both Gnoeril and Regan undermine the little power and wealth of King Lear, he starts to recognize his mistake. Thus, from being a sole powerful King who held many titles, King Lear suffers reversal of fortunes, losing his hold on power and wealth. Thus, when recognition occurs to him, he feels gravely distraught; calling himself a fool and even becomes mad. Similarly, John in The Brave New World undergoes reversal fortunes, and when he recognizes the repercussions of his aggressive actions, it leads to tragedy. John becomes very disturbed by the skewed society he sees in World State, and thinks that he could also ‘orient’ in that bad direction, if he does not withdraws from this ‘world’. He even thinks it has poisoned him mentally: “It poisoned me. I was defiled. And then' he added, in a lower tone, 'I ate my own wickedness” (). So, recognizing it, he goes to a lighthouse outside London, where he can live peaceful hermit live. However, reversal of fortunes happens again. Due to intimidation from some people thre, he becomes aggressive and starts attacking everyone particularly the female lead, Lenina. As he adores as well as abhors her, John in a mixed state of mind attacks her, and this sight of genuine as well as rampant emotion, works as a catalyst for the crowd to indulge in extreme beating and chanting, which even devolves into orgy of sex and soma state, with John also taking part. When John wakes up in the morning, he recognizes how reversal has taken place, as he indulged in actions of sex and soma, which he has abhorred till that time. Thus, with reversal and recognition happening quite quickly, John enters the tragic phase. With both the protagonists in King Lear and The Brave New World undergoing reversal of their fortunes and recognizing it as well, naturally they start to undergo sufferings. Lear because of the banishment of his daughters starts to think how he also banished Cordelia, but with good intentions only, while her other daughters’ had only hatred in their minds, “I am a man more sinned against than sinning” (2.4.1565). Lear suffers great mental anguish because of her daughters’ action of withdrawing his knights and servants, thereby depriving him of the identity of King. Also, as he trusted those two daughters so much, he could not bear their backstabbing. Lear’s bad treatment of Cordelia in the beginning appears parallel to the way his cruel daughters, Goneril and Regan treat him. However, the treatment Lear received is worse in the sense that “his intentions were good and not evil”, as he even repents, but quite lately, that he should not have overreacted towards Cordelia. “Woe that too late repents!-” (1.4.785). The sufferings of Lear continue till his death, and he dies with a lot of grief caused by the execution of his loyal and helpful daughter, Cordelia. Thus, Lear dies tragically with a lot of mental agony and grief. On the same lines, John after recognizing his mistake of indulging in unwanted activities ends his life by hanging himself, with the people finding “Just under the crown of the arch dangled a pair of feet” (Huxley 311). When John wakes up in the morning, he realizes how he has committed the same activities, which he was totally against from the beginning. That realization caused him shame and distress, and to prevent from mental suffering, he hangs himself in the lighthouse, with the people finding is hanging body. Thus, John feeling disgraceful ends his life tragically. From the above analysis, it is clear that both the characters of King Lear and John faced tragic ends, following the Aristotelian conventions of reversal, recognition and sufferings. Lear faced reversal and recognition because he wrongly trusted his disloyal daughters, while banishing loyal daughter, Cordelia. John faced the same after seeing for himself the skewed society of the New World, and due to his participation in activities, which he abhorred. Then, in the end, both the characters die tragically, with Lear dying because of the grief of his daughter’s death, and John committing suicide feeling guilty for his actions. Thus, both the characters meet tragic ends due to some mistakes committed by them, however, which they did not commit those mistakes with any evil intentions. Works Cited Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. Doubleday, Doran, 1933. Shakespeare, William. King Lear. Open Source Shakespeare Read More