The Typical Structure of Tragedy in Aristotle’s TheoryAn analytical Study

There are many books that deal with Aristotle›s Poetics either through explaining it, commenting on its content, or interpreting it. However, those books have contributed to confuse researchers and people interested in theater, drama, and criticism. What maximized the confusion are factors like those pertaining to the different versions available of the translation of the book and also the different interpretations of Aristotle's concepts and terms of reference. Additionally, Aristotle's fragmented style and inaccurate account of some ideas and concepts in relation to drama did not make the issue of studying Poetics any easier. Accordingly, the researcher aims to provide a comprehensive study through arranging sections and parts of the book in a coherent and streamlined way, while endeavoring to keep Aristotle's basic principles and ideas intact and unchanged. In the process, the researcher places emphasis on Aristotle's most important ideas in relation to tragedy. The researcher begins his study by dealing with the main thoughts that Aristotle presents in his book and then moves to discuss the less important ones. He, as such, starts with the general definition of tragedy, and then moves to discuss issues that are found in different sections and branches to reveal the associations between the seemingly fragmented parts on types of action, characters, , the plot, and the purpose or function of the tragedy. The researcher makes use of Aristotle›s book, Art of Poetry, which has two translations by both Abdel-Rahman Badawi and Ibrahim Hamada. The searcher selects paragraphs from both translations depending on what seems to be more true to the original Aristotelian text. In addition, the study offers a practical reading of Sophocles› Oedipus the King by utilizing Aristotle's theory to account for the reasons that lead us to believe that the legacy of Aristotle is very crucial till the present time.