The movie that I think falls into the realm of an Aristotle tragedy is Atonement. In Atonement, Cecilia, a young woman from a wealthy family falls in love with Robbie, a young man who works for her family, a relationship that is kept secret as it would be inappropiate since they are from different social classes. However, the woman’s sister, Briony, who has a very active imagination, finds out about the relationship, misconstrues what is taking place, wrongfully accuses Robbie of rape and sends him to jail. In jail, he is given the choice to live out his sentence or fight in World War II. He chooses to fight and eventually dies on the battlefield. Cecilia, who is heartbroken, moves to London, where she becomes a casualty of the London bombings that occured during the war. Briony, knowing that she caused the death of her sister and her sister’s lover, puts her pain into writing and becomes a successful author. Her last book is autobiographical, and she recounts the role she played in the destruction of two lives. However, instead of writing that Cecilia and Robbie die, she ends the book by saying that they survived the war and she apologized for her mistake, and in doing so atones for her past.
This movie technically has three different tragedies, one for each of the main characters. Robbie commits hubris by going after a woman he is not supposed to, and he pays with his life. Cecilia commits hubris by yearning for a man she is not allowed to have, and she too pays with her life. Briony commits hubris by snooping (which is how she discovers the relationship), and she pays by having to live with the guilt of her actions. The movies somehow implies that the guilt faced by Briony was more of a punishment than the death that Cecilia and Robbie face because they die knwing the truth and the fact that they still love each other, whereas Briony does not atone for her sins and has to live with the pain. The concept that death is actually a respite may not necessarily fit into the Aristotelian tragedy, but the concept that the guilty are punished is definately evident. Also, there are some histrionic moments, which is expected as it is a dramatic and spectacularly depressing movie, which I am sure Artistotle would cringe at, but the dramatic moments do not detract from the storyline or the message, and are definately conducive in making a good tragic story.
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