DEFINITIONS:

HARMATIA: FATAL FLAW LEADING TO THE DOWNFALL OF A TRAGIC HERO OR

HEROINE (EACH PERSON ONLY HAS ONE MOST SERIOUS FLAW)

HUBRIS: EXCESSIVE PRIDE OR SELF CONFIDENCE

GREEK TRAGEDY:

Aristotle defines tragedy as "a form of drama exciting the emotions of pity and fear. Its action
should be single and complete, presenting a reversal of fortune, involving persons renowned
and of superior attainments. The writer presents "incidents arousing pity and fear” which
inspires catharsis or the “purging or sweeping away of the pity and fear aroused by the tragic
action”. The basic difference Aristotle draws between tragedy and other genres, such as
comedy and the epic, is the "tragic pleasure of pity and fear" the audience feel watching a
tragedy. In order for the tragic hero to arouse these feelings in the audience, he cannot be either
all good or all evil but must be someone the audience can identify with; however, if he is
superior in some way(s), the tragic pleasure is intensified. His disastrous end results from a
mistaken action, which in turn arises from a tragic flaw or from a tragic error in judgment. Often
the tragic flaw is hubris, an excessive pride that causes the hero to ignore a divine warning or to
break a moral law. It has been suggested that because the tragic hero's suffering is greater than
his offense, the audience feels pity;

THE OLD GREEK TRAGEDY IS RISING AMONG US. IT IS THE CHASTISEMENT OF

HUBRIS.
• In questions like the above, you must consider BOTH the quotation and the question. The
quotation is likely to offer you the direction/ scope or starting point of the essay, while the
question determines the focus. • In this case, for instance, the question is a character question
on Joan which is a very broad and general one. • The quotation, on the other hand, directs you
to the Archbishop’s characterisation of Joan as a tragic heroine. • Answers which ignore either
aspect of the question tended to be weaker ie you shouldn’t depart from the quotation entirely
and just discuss Joan’s character generally. Similarly, you shouldn’t zoom in on the reference to
tragedy in the quotation and forget that it is not a genre but a character question.

THINK ABOUT BOTH JOAN AS A CHARACTER + REFERENCE TO TRAGEDY

Joan can be viewed as tragic heroine in some ways. She is indeed a superior individual and the
events of the play do indeed trace her rise and fall (ie reversal of fortune) 2. At several points in
the play, she does seem guilty of pride, arrogance and over-confidence. However, the
excessiveness of her pride is arguable. 3. More significantly, if hubris is excessive pride in
defiance of the gods, then one may argue that Joan’s pride is actually firmly grounded in her
unwavering faith in god rather than in defiance of god. 4. It is also arguable that her tragic
outcome is due to her hamartia since she is a flawed individual with several rather than one
major shortcoming (immature, stubborn etc etc). 5. Also, the tragedy can be attributed to
external forces more than (or in addition to) Joan’s character (a point that would have allowed
you to bring in your Church and State arguments/quotes quite easily) 6. Finally, although the
common convention is that ‘the tragic hero’s suffering is greater than his offense, thus leading
the audience to pity’, the extent of Joan’s suffering is debatable since she transcends her
tragedy and eventually, we have more cause to pity the other characters or society at large,
rather than Joan herself who gets a generally happy ending.