Theatre I Ms. Vernon
Catharsis, Hubris, Hamartia, and the Tragic Flaw
Catharsis – the cleansing of emotion – usually tragic – through the artistic experience
Catharsis was described by Aristotle in The Poetics. It is the reason we go to scary movies, the reason we are interested in tragedies including murder mysteries and crime shows, is that we need to deal with these emotions. Of course, we’d rather not have to deal with them in real life, so the artistic experience allows us to go through the fear or pity or grief or anger and let it wash through us. We come out as a clean slate after.
Hubris – proud behavior in excess; this arrogant behavior indicates a blindness to one’s own flaws
Hubris is usually associated with “pride goeth before a fall.” This means that undue pride, the kind that is overboard or blinds you to yourself or others, usually leads to a bad end. In ancient Greek myth Icarus ignored his wise father’s warning and flew to close to the sun and died. That’s hubris
Hamartia – the error in judgment that leads to the tragic flaw; an unwitting mistake
Hamartia is more complex than hubris. In the twentieth century the tragic flaw began to replace it but there are subtle differences. Hamartia can be traced to a specific moment in which the wrong choice was made - someone doesn’t listen to good advice or trusts the wrong person – and then that leads to the tragic events. Usually the error in judgment is closely related to character, so hamartia and tragic flaw and really intertwined.
Tragic Flaw – the element of personality that leads to the conflict and therefore the tragedy; integral to the character
One could also relate the spine of a character to the tragic flaw. Oedipus’ tragic flaw is the same characteristic that made him a good king. He is persistent, and when he senses a wrong he has to correct the injustice. This is helpful when solving the Riddle of the Sphinx or dealing with subjects, but that same tenacity makes him follow his story to the bitter end, even when he knows it is going to lead to horrible things. Our greatest strengths are usually our greatest weaknesses as well.