THE BEAUTY OF FAILURE: HAMARTIA IN ARISTOTLE'S POETICS

In Poetics 13, Aristotle claims that the protagonist in the most beautiful tragedies comes to ruin through some kind of 'failure'-in Greek alpha mu alpha rho tau iota alpha There has been notorious disagreement among scholars about the moral responsibility involved in.mu a.t.a. This article defends the old reading of alpha mu alpha rho tau iota alpha as a character flaw, but with an important modification: rather than explaining the hero's weakness as general weakness of will (alpha kappa rho alpha sigma iota alpha), it argues that the tragic hero is blinded by temper (theta upsilon mu omicron zeta) or by a pursuit for fine, good and desirable things-that is, by what may be labelled 'qualified' weakness of will. The upshot is that alpha mu alpha rho tau iota alpha ends up as being less blameworthy than 'proper' alpha kappa rho alpha sigma iota alpha, but still explains why morally outstanding people are unsuitable for the most beautiful tragedies.