In this fragment, the poet suggests this literary genre should be understood on the bases of the notion of paradox and on how this concept relates to the tragic hero.
In order to prove this, I first clarify what the German poet means when he proposes paradox as the easiest way to understand Tragedy. The text is written in the form of a paragraph, and it contains the following five assertions:. This is the interpretation of Beissner 3 , Binder 4 , and Peter Szondi, who asserts that the concept of Nature and its opposition to mankind are essential to understanding this text 5. According to the German poet, the oracle reproduced by Creon in the lines of the play can be read as advice on how to rule Thebes in a proper way.
But this is not the only consequence. The German poet situates this paradox in a dialogue between Creon and Antigone, found in lines of the play. To be more precise: when Antigone buries her brother, she breaks a human law in order to guard the divine law. One can assert that paradox is closely related to the tragic hero because this character is its source. Therefore, understanding the meaning of tragedies through the use of paradox implies comprehending the essential role of the tragic hero in the play.
VI, b, Aristotle defines Tragedy as a mimesis of a completed action. For the Stagirite, the plot is essential for Tragedy and it is even more important than the characters. As he claims in Poet. VI, a, there cannot be a tragedy without action, while there can be tragedy without characters. In the first place, the German poet does not center his interpretation of Tragedy on the plot. In addition, the interaction among characters is what contributes to the change of action, towards a resolution of the conflict.
In addition, he considers that human beings have two possible ways of relating with nature: either through the senses or through knowledge. Struggle, in that the particular at its extreme must actively and increasingly universalize itself towards the extreme of the aorgic, must increasingly tear itself from its center, and the aorgic must increasingly concentrate itself towards the extreme of the particular and increasingly gain a center and become the most particular In other words, Empedocles is the synthesis of the dialectic relation between the aorgic and the organic.
