Fences Play According to Aristotle Essay

Using Aristotles descriptions of Tragedy, I screen Fences by August Wil discussion as a sad lam. The elements of tragedy, troy weight Maxson as a sad bomber, and tragic plot were evident through turn up the walkaway. Also, the feeling of purification at the end-which is proper of tragedy, was clearly identifiable.I. Fences fits into the tragic genre based on the points given by Aristotle. In Poetics, he defines tragedy as the imitation of an live up to that is serious and also as having magnitude, comp permite in itself. Aristotles idea is that the plot has a fount middle and end and in all parts go on each other in concise fashion. o In the beginning, the bomber is a garbage homophile, who previously was given a chance to participate in professional baseball, becomes the first black to drive a garbage truck, is loved by his married wo earth, looked up to by his friend, Bono and receives de creationded respect from his sons Lyons and Cory. o In the middle, the subm arine confesses to his wife that he is going to be a pop music to another womans child.He struggles with his son Cory and ultimately loses the love and respect of his family. He give in to ask pink wine to help him raise his botch up and be her mama. He also admits to the infant that he is f correctlyen. suffice II gibe 3 p. 73 And right now your daddys sc bed cause we sitting out here and personalt got no home. o In the end, the hero dies. By then a l nonp beilly man who is no longer respected by his family nor has the curiosity of his friend. Troys believes fate is his d protestfall. He thinks the rubric of his skin is the decisive factor in the workplace, the performing field and the street. (Pereira 42) A complex plot includes turnabout and recognition.o Troy is happy and stress unaffectionate when with Alberta. Even when he tells Rose, she continues to stay with him until later when she issues an ultimatum. symbolize II Scene 1 pg. 66 Im responsible for it. I loc ked myself into a type trying to quarter by care of you all that I forgot about myself. His belief of providing for his family and his refusal to accept that other hoi polloi had ideas and times were changing kept him stagnant in look. o Alberta then dies during childbirth. Troy sees how he has woolly every liaison and challenges cobblers last to stay away until it is ready to take him.II. Using Aristotles description of a tragic hero in Poetics, Troy Maxson,the m suffer(prenominal) percentage in August Wilsons play, Fences, is an example of a tragic hero. Aristotle describes a tragic hero to be a man who is not eminently honourable and just, yet whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, still by well-nigh geological fault or valetudinarianism. This means the hero need not be perfect nor a villain, but basically good and decent. His downfall ordinarily results from a tragic flaw or error in judgment, not due to wickedness. In Chapter 15 of Poetics, A ristotle says the character allow be good if the nominate is good. o Troys intentions for his family are good. He provides a paycheck to his family, handing the m onenessy over to Rose each Friday, he hopes Lyons to get his own job and support his wife and stay out of trouble, and he wants Cory to be educated and find a good job to support himself. o Act 1 Scene 3 pg. 39-40 Its my job. Its my responsibility You understand that? A man got to take care of his family.You live in my house rest you behind on my bedclothesfill you belly out up with my foodcause you my son. You my flesh and blood. not cause I like you Cause its my duty to take care of you Aristotle says the second thing to aim at is propriety. o In the book, August Wilson, The Afri wad-American Odyssey, Kim Pereira says Troy becomes a buckle down to bitterness which stunts the development of his skilful potential as a father, husband and friend. o Troys believes responsibility is the greatest virtue and his aim i s to be a provider for his family. While Troys behavior is dominating and unaffectionate, his aim is to be the provider of his family and to make sure that they do not start out the injustices he did. o If a hero is one who goes into a battle that he may or may not win, Troy Maxson possesses, in full measure, the warrior spirithe wants complete satisfaction or nothing at all.The promise of change is empty he cares all about change itselfThe supposed realities of the social world around him matter little, for he dances to an internal rhythm, answering a call for self-authentication that springs from a cultural, even cosmological, dimension. (Pereira 38) Aristotle then says in his descriptions, Thirdly, character essential be true to life for this is a translucent thing from goodness and propriety, as here described. oTroy fits a character who would give way lived in the 1950s, having experienced discrimination, an opprobrious father and a changing society towards African-Ame ricans in that period. o Troy says in Act 1, Scene 3 pg. 37 The white man aint gonna letyou get nowhere with that football game noway.Troys beliefs ran true to his experiences all through the play. The last characteristic of a tragic hero is that he must be consistent. o Troy was consistent in his belief that the black man could not get ahead in America. o He behaved and well-read from the examples given by his own father. o The events of almost a century had underscored the mark between de jure and de facto. Legally, blacks had been free for ninety four geezerhood, but practically they had little or no approaching to any of the benefits that ordinary citizens take for granted-recourse to the law, equal profession opportunitites, education. (Pereira 36)III. Troys tragic flaw is in trying to protect his family and discover himself in the process. His frailty is colored by his experience with racism (especially in professional sports) and his in energy to accept that times are changing. Troy says Cory should make his own way in the world, but it is he who wont let him take a chance. Troys liking to prevent his son succumbing to the same outcome in sports ends with Troy trapping him into the same lifestyle by not allowing him to grow and refusing to believe that times have changed. o I dont want him to be like meI want him as far away from my life as he can get..I decided seventeen years ago that boy wasnt getting tangled in no sports. Not after what they did to me in the sports (39 Fences). Troys excuse for betraying Rose is because he has been standing on first base for ever. He doesnt relate this to anyone else in his family who have stood right behind him. Troy has inherited the legacy of affright of emotional commitmentTroy has never learned to receive and give true love (Monaco)IV. despite his flaws, or, perhaps, because of them, he taught his family how to take the straights with the crooked to recognize and play to their strengths not to mak e the same mistakesto take life as it comes along and keep putting one foot in front of the other. As all of them move toward their individual destinies, they have a surer comprehend of who they are and a greater instinct for choice because of Troy Maxson. (Monaco) Like his father, Cory believes that denying his father is the way to get rid of that shadow (Fences 89). o When Cory decides to go to the funeral, he has cometo accept his fathers faults and looked to the man himself.Singing the song of Blue with Raynell..Cory demonstrates that he can embrace the song of his father without becoming his father. (Monaco) Wilson shows that it is only through the willingness to face and accept the forces of the past that the protagonists will be given hope, power, and ultimately, deliverance.(Monaco) Troy is contained by death while the others are able to move on in their lives. o Cory has joined the Marines and is getting married, Rose is involved with church and raising Raynell, Gabrie l is in the hospital, Bono is happily married to Lucille and Raynell has a family. Troy is contained by death.The play Fences definitely fits Aristotles description of Tragedy. Troy Maxson was a tragic hero, although he gave us reasons to believe he was not worthy of this title. In the end, his lessons and actions are what spurred his family into excerption and healing and gave them a positive outlook and the ability to move forward in the changing next ahead of them.