ENGL 1616 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Hudson River Chain, Hubris, Serialism
Document Summary
Foul/ unruly weather- indicator and foreshadowing of a big change. Storm= moments where the status quo changes: or foreshadowing of a larger change. Aristotle: poetics, first formal attempt to quantify and qualify great earth. His ideal traged(cid:455) (cid:449)as oedipus re(cid:454) arroga(cid:374)(cid:272)e/ hu(cid:271)ris (cid:449)orked agai(cid:374)st hi(cid:373) High born person, a greater than life figure. Tragedy (cid:272)a(cid:374)"t be about a common person because they do not fall very far. Noble and powerful people can be targeted because they must fall: because of a flaw, miscalculation, overreaction etc. A higher person, the more mistakes- the bigger the fall. Shakespeare does not entirely follow aristotle ~ he is selective with the ideas that he uses. Aristotle kick started the idea of the great chain of being. The great chain of being is a central and dominant motif. God is at the top of the great chain of being and then after making its way down the ladder of humanity.
