Hamartia and the Classic Greek Tragedy of the Clintons

[Ichingcarpenter]

I feel like I'm watching a play with all the elements of a Greek Tragedy with
the Clintons.


In Greek tragedy, the concept of hamartia as an error in judgment or unwitting mistake is applied to the actions of the hero. For example, the hero might attempt to achieve a certain objective X; by making an error in judgment, however, the hero instead achieves the opposite of X, with disastrous consequences.


( Now this one can be observed with both Hillary in her reach for the presidency and Bill's dubious Foundation work )





Aristotle cites the example of Oedipus, who acts to prevent the fulfillment of the prediction that he would kill his father and marry his mother, but by his actions instead causes those very things to happen.

In other cases, a hero might undertake an action with no real objective in mind, but which has disastrous consequences unforeseen by the hero;



Aristotle cites the example of Thyestes, who attends a banquet to reconcile with his brother Atreus, not knowing that he is being fed his own children. In terms of plot mechanics, the hero's hamartia is the cause of his peripeteia, or reversal of fortune.



According to Aristotle, "the structure of the best tragedy should be not simple but complex and one that represents incidents arousing fear and pity--for that is peculiar to this form of art."




This reversal of fortune must be caused by the tragic hero's hamartia, which is often mistranslated as a character flaw, but is more correctly translated as a mistake (since the original Greek etymology traces back to hamartanein, a sporting term that refers to an archer or spear-thrower missing his target)




. According to Aristotle, "The change to bad fortune which he undergoes is not due to any moral defect or flaw, but a mistake of some kind." It is also a misconception that this reversal can be brought about by a higher power (e.g. the law, the gods, fate, or society), but if a character’s downfall is brought about by an external cause, Aristotle describes this as a misadventure and not a tragedy.





Hopefully she will reach Anagnorisis

also known as discovery, originally meant recognition in its Greek context, not only of a person but also of what that person stood for, what he or she represented; it was the hero's suddenly becoming aware of a real situation and therefore the realisation of things as they stood; and finally it was a perception that resulted in an insight the hero had into his relationship with often antagonistic characters within Aristotelian tragedy





This added for cutness




My daughters Dog.

[KittyWampus]

1. she will feel liberated after the pain of letting go of her dream to be POTUS.

All that energy and emotional baggage. All the bargaining and ethical compromises.

So much energy ready to be channeled into something new.

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. I hope that the lesson learned will give her a more noble path

than the one she has chosen in the primaries.
She has the ability and power to inspire humans.


'The unexamined life is not worth living.'
Socrates

[tularetom]

2. I would argue that it is hubris rather than hamartia

As hubris describes a particular character flaw that involves the belief that one is in control of ones own fate and in control of external forces.

Hamartia is a more general anomaly between ones character and the situation in which one finds oneself.

But I do agree that it would be ery helpful for her to attain anagnorisis.

And yer daughter's dog is a cutie.

[Ichingcarpenter]

4. I agree that it was more Hubris than Hamartia

Which contributed to her destiny in the primaries. I still think her hamartia
played into the events where she had to make tough decisions like the war.

Oh, well......... Just finished reading about Euripides and some of his plays

[tularetom]

5. This must be the first time I've written the words "hamartia" and "hubris" in 40 yrs.

Since I took an elective course in classical drama in college.

Pretty good for an ag major huh?

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. 30 years for me

I've been going back to the Ancient Greeks
writings since this despot came to power.

They don't teach about them in the schools here anymore.

[Boo Boo]

7. One problem: in Hillary's case it's a character flaw, not a mistake. /nt