Anagnorisis
The critical moment of recognition or discovering, preceding peripeteia
Arete
Magnanimous pride, courage, spine of a fish, ridge of a mountain, ear of wheat
catastrophe
sudden disaster, overturning the event that switches the plot from ascending to descending action
catharsis
discharge or cleaning of pent up emotions
hamartia
tragic flaw
hubris
excessive and selfish pride, arrogance
pathos
pity and fear
peripeteia
a sudden turn of events, reversal in action, sudden change, a falling
aristole's definition of tragedy
the imitation of an action that is SERIOUS and has MAGNITUDE, complete in itself. In language with pleasurable accessories, each kind brought separately in the parts of the work; in a dramatic, NOT in a narrative form; incidents arousing from PITY and FEAR, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions
parts of tragedy
1. prologue 2. episodes 3. exode 4. choral portions (parode ends the prologue, stasimon separates episodes, commos (lamentation), paeans (prayers)
perfect plot
single not double issue, change in hero's fortunes must be NOT FROM MISERY TO HAPPINESS but HAPPINESS -> MISERY, cause of the hero's change must lie NOT IN ANY DEPRAVITY but in some GREAT ERROR ON HIS PART.