Drama has always fascinated people. Seeing other people’s fates presented on stage has for ages held an incredible attraction for the audience because it not only satisfies human curiosity, but it also functions as a means by which dramatists can take up current and relevant issues of the time and visualize these concerns in a comprehensible as well as literarily graspable way. Witnessing the action on stage and riding on an emotional ‘roller coaster’ during the play can lead to a certain relief at the end of the dramatic built-up, a relief of emotional stress. Human beings have developed two ways to handle this reduction of tension: laughing and crying. According to Aristotle, tragedy, in particular, is to evoke pity and fear when seeing the tragic hero fall and make the audience leave the theatre clarified and purified by this experienced catharsis.
Aristotle uses this term in a medical sense. For him, fear (phobos) arouses the audience to an emotional climax, pity (eleos) breaks down the bottled-up sensations and leaves the audience pleased and relieved by this ‘controlled working off’2. Gelfert defines tragedy as a ‘societal psychotherapy’.
When we accept this definition of tragedy as an attempt to assimilate social
tension in general, the production of tragedies must have had its peak in times of
intense political, social, religious and other tensions in particular. Gelfert calls such a
place a seismic centre where two ideological plates collide, leading to an eruption in
the form of a tragedy. One of these tragic ruptures took place in the seventeenth
century, at the transition from Elizabethan to Jacobean England. Political events as
well as social and religious changes caused the people to be captured in between an
old and a new order. Due to ongoing wars as well as inner and outer political issues,
the arising Renaissance came to England much later than to continental Europe.
Therefore, the medieval conception of the world was still very common and
widespread, while the new ideology was moving in.
This paper investigates the Aristotelean theories of tragedy with Ben Jonson's play "Sejanus His Fall", particularly the issue of the tragic hero.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Influences on Elizabethan and Jacobean Tragedies
2.1. Political and philosophical influences
2.2. The medieval world view
2.3. Machiavelli’s Il Principe
2.4. Literary influences
3. Ben Jonson’s Sejanus His Fall
3.1. The basic dualism of good versus evil
3.2. Evil in the play
3.3. The tragic hero
4. Conclusion
Research Objectives and Themes
The primary objective of this paper is to examine Ben Jonson's play "Sejanus His Fall" (1606) as a tragedy that reflects the transition between Elizabethan and Jacobean England. It explores how Jonson navigated the tension between traditional medieval worldviews and emerging Renaissance ideologies, while also questioning to what extent the play adheres to Aristotelian tragic principles amidst a climate of radical political change.
- The clash between medieval hierarchy and Renaissance individualism.
- The influence of Machiavellian political theory on Jacobean drama.
- Jonson’s representation of moral dualism and the corrupting nature of power.
- The role of the tragic hero and the subversion of the Aristotelian catharsis.
- "Sejanus His Fall" as a socio-political mirror of the seventeenth-century crisis.
Excerpt from the Book
3.1. The basic dualism of good versus evil
The first aspect examined is the basic dualism that is underlying the play. When studying the play, it becomes obvious that Jonson, who had been a firm supporter of Elizabeth I. and was very critical about Jacob’s absolutist reign and the rise of the gentry to unknown power. In the play, Jonson confronts the virtues that represent the old values with the vices, which correspond with the ‘new’ values. These old values can be summed up with dignity, fearlessness, goodness, honesty, gallantry, temperance, innocence, spirit and wisdom. The new order is marked by corruption, greed, hunger after power, dishonesty, calculation, insatiability, intrigue, passivity and egotism. These vices and virtues are corresponding with Sejanus’s inner life and his outer appearance. The audience can see what he really is in contrast to what he seems to be. Interestingly enough, Machiavelli has a passage in his Principe that describes exactly what Jonson was trying to convey:
But it is necessary to know well how to disguise this characteristic, and to be a great pretender and dissembler. [….] Therefore it is necessary for [the prince] to have a mind ready to turn itself accordingly as the winds and variations of fortune force it [….]. Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are […]; because the vulgar are always taken by what a thing seems to be and by what comes of it; and in the world there are only the vulgar […]17.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: This chapter introduces the fascination with drama as a medium for social psychotherapy and outlines the historical transition from Elizabethan to Jacobean England as the setting for Jonson's work.
2. Influences on Elizabethan and Jacobean Tragedies: This section analyzes the unstable political climate, the shift in worldviews, the impact of Machiavelli’s political philosophy, and the reception of Aristotelian concepts on tragedy.
3. Ben Jonson’s Sejanus His Fall: This core chapter investigates the fundamental dualism of the play, the nature of evil within the characters, and the problematic classification of Sejanus as an Aristotelian tragic hero.
4. Conclusion: The conclusion synthesizes the findings, arguing that Jonson’s work serves as a warning against social mobility and political corruption, transcending simple classical formulas to address contemporary seventeenth-century anxieties.
Keywords
Sejanus His Fall, Ben Jonson, Elizabethan Tragedy, Jacobean Era, Machiavelli, Aristotelian Poetics, Chain of Being, Political Corruption, Renaissance, Medieval World View, Tragic Hero, Power Politics, Social Upheaval, Catharsis, Moral Dualism.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this academic study?
The paper examines Ben Jonson’s tragedy "Sejanus His Fall" within the context of early seventeenth-century political and social instability in England.
What are the primary themes discussed in the work?
Key themes include the clash between medieval and Renaissance worldviews, the rise of corruption in power structures, and the depiction of the "ideal prince" versus the reality of Machiavellian political pragmatism.
What is the author's primary research goal?
The goal is to determine if Jonson’s play can be classified as an Aristotelian tragedy and how it functions as a mirror for the radical changes occurring during the transition from the Elizabethan to the Jacobean reign.
Which methodology does the author utilize?
The author uses a comparative literary analysis, evaluating Jonson's text against Aristotle's "Poetics" and Machiavelli's "Il Principe," while also drawing on historical context and secondary scholarly literature.
What content is covered in the main section?
The main section analyzes the dualism of good and evil, the characterization of the protagonists Sejanus and Tiberius, and whether the play succeeds in eliciting an Aristotelian catharsis.
What primary keywords define this research?
Important keywords include Sejanus, Ben Jonson, Renaissance, Machiavelli, Aristotelian tragedy, political instability, and social hierarchy.
How does Jonson portray the character of Sejanus compared to a traditional tragic hero?
Unlike a traditional hero whose downfall results from a specific error, Sejanus is portrayed as thoroughly evil and megalomaniacal; his destruction is the result of persistent vice rather than a tragic mistake.
What significance does the author assign to the ending of the play?
The author suggests that the ending leaves the audience in horror rather than offering relief, as it implies that the corrupt systems represented by Sejanus are inherently replaceable and persistent.
How does the work interpret the "Chain of Being" in the context of the play?
The "Chain of Being" represents the stable, divine order of the medieval world; Jonson uses this framework to critique the rise of the gentry and their attempts to ascend social ranks they were not originally intended for.
- Quote paper
- M.A. Susanne Fiebig (Author), 2005, The Aristotelean theories of tragedy with Ben Jonson's play "Sejanus His Fall", Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/86294
