twentieth century American tragedy: Defining Aristotelian hamartia and its allegorical function in Philip Roth's "I Married a Communist"

Author

• Vicki Lynn Short

Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2002

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Furman, Andrew

Abstract

Philip Roth's novel I Married a Communist exhibits an important thematic current, one which demonstrates how immoderation in individual human character both reflects and proliferates an irrational and insidious political divisiveness, and more importantly, the far-reaching and devastating effects that extremism has on the individual. This theme is clearly derivative of Aristotle's ideas regarding literature and ethics. Furthermore, applying these ideas with those in Aristotle's Poetics, namely the concept of hamartia, I demonstrate how immoderation becomes the impetus for peripeteia, the reversal of fortune that ultimately destroys the novel's tragic hero, as defined by Aristotle.

Extent

73 p.

Comments

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2002.|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Recommended Citation

Short, Vicki Lynn, "twentieth century American tragedy: Defining Aristotelian hamartia and its allegorical function in Philip Roth's "I Married a Communist"" (2002). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009. 476.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general_5/476

Identifier

FADT12911

Format

pdf