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The term ''hamartia'' derives from the Greek ἁμαρτία, from ἁμαρτάνειν ''hamartánein'', which means “to miss the mark” or “to err”.〔"Hamartia". ''Merriam-Webster.com''. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 28 September 2014.〕〔Hamartia: (Ancient Greek: ἁμαρτία) Error of Judgement or Tragic Flaw. ″Hamartia″. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Online''. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 28 September 2014.〕 It is most often associated with Greek tragedy, although it is also used in Christian theology.〔Cooper, Eugene J. ″Sarx and Sin in Pauline Theology″ ''Laval théologique et philosophique''. 29.3 (1973) 243–255. Web. Érudit. 1 Nov 2014.〕 ''Hamartia'' as it pertains to dramatic literature was first used by Aristotle in his Poetics. In tragedy, hamartia is commonly understood to refer to the protagonist’s error or flaw that leads to a chain of plot actions culminating in a reversal from their good fortune to bad. What qualifies as the error or flaw can include an error resulting from ignorance, an error of judgement, a flaw in character, or sin. The spectrum of meanings has invited debate among critics and scholars, and different interpretations among dramatists. == ''Hamartia'' in Aristotle’s Poetics == Hamartia is first described in the subject of literary criticism by Aristotle in his Poetics. The source of ''hamartia'' is at the juncture between Character and the character's actions or behaviors as outlined by Aristotle. "Character in a play is that which reveals the moral purpose of the agents, i.e. the sort of thing they seek or avoid."〔Aristotle. "Poetics". Trans. Ingram Bywater. The Project Gutenberg EBook. Oxford: Clarendon P, 2 May 2009. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.〕 In his introduction to the S. H. Butcher translation of ″Poetics″, Francis Fergusson describes hamartia as the inner quality that initiates, in Dante's words, a ″movement of spirit″ within the protagonist to commit actions which drive the plot towards its tragic end, inspiring in the audience a build of pity and fear that leads to a purgation of those emotions, or Catharsis.〔Fergusson 8〕〔The Internet Classics Archive by Daniel C. Stevenson, Web Atomics. Web. 11 Dec. 2014. http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/poetics.html〕 Jules Brody, however, argues that "it is the height of irony that the idea of the tragic flaw should have had its origin in the Aristotelian notion of ''hamartia''. Whatever this problematic word may be taken to mean, it has nothing to do with such ideas as fault, vice, guilt, moral deficiency, or the like. ''Hamartia'' is a morally neutral non-normative term, derived from the verb ''hamartano'', meaning 'to miss the mark,' 'to fall short of an objective.' And by extension: to reach one destination rather than the intended one; to make a mistake, not in the sense of a moral failure, but in the nonjudgmental sense of taking one thing for another, taking something for its opposite. ''Hamartia'' may betoken an error of discernment due to ignorance, to the lack of an essential piece of information. Finally, ''hamartia'' may be viewed simply as an act which, for whatever reason, ends in failure rather than success."〔Jules Brody, "Fate, Philology, Freud," ''Philosophy and Literature'' 38.1 (April 2014): 23.〕 In Greek tragedy, for a story to be ″of adequate magnitude″ it involves characters of high rank, prestige, or good fortune. If the protagonist is too worthy of esteem, or too wicked, his/her change of fortune will not evoke the ideal proportion of pity and fear necessary for catharsis. Here Aristotle describes hamartia as the quality of a tragic hero that generates that optimal balance. "...the character between these two extremes - that of a man who is not eminently good and just, yet whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty." 〔Aristotle. "Poetics". Trans. Ingram Bywater. The Project Gutenberg EBook. Oxford: Clarendon P, 2 May 2009. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「hamartia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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