Aristotle's "The Poetics"

Aristotle wrote this book to analyze all of his parts and then draw conclusions about them. He studied each part carefully, and took a lot of time emphasizing what each part meant. Most of "The Poetics" is mainly about about tragedy and epic poetry. Aristotle defines poetry as a mimetic in that it creates a representation of objects and events in the world.
There are several words Aristotle mentions in the book, and I want to shed some light on some specific ones, and I'll dig a little deeper into the meaning of each word. First is tragedy. Aristotle defines tragedy as a work that arouses pity and fear. In other words, if a work doesn't scare the reader or make them feel extremely sorry for someone, then it's not considered a tragedy. Aristotle also describes tragedy as having three characteristics: 1.) it is mimetic, 2.) it is serious, 3.) it tells a story that is an appropriate length, 4.) it contains rhythm and harmony, 5.) rhythm and harmony occur in different combinations in different parts of the tragedy, 6.) and it arouses feelings of fear and pity as stated above.
Our pity and fear is brought on most when it is family members who hurt one another instead of the people they hate or some random strangers.
Another word is hamartia. Aristotle used this word in "The Poetics" when describing something being taken as a mistake or an error in judgement. The mistakes can either be accidental, or on purpose, it doesn't really matter. The mistake usually happens with the hero of the story, and usually takes place during the plot of the tragedy. Usually the protagonists makes a big decision with good intentions, but the outcome always winds up being the opposite of what the hero wanted.

Catharsis is another word I want to talk a little bit about. Aristotle describes it as a purge of emotions of pity and fear that is brought upon by the viewer of the tragedy. This idea of purgation, in its various forms, is what we usually mean when we call something cathartic. People talk about watching football, or hockey, as a catharsis of violent urges, or even a fight with your friend a useful catharsis.
The last word I want to talk about is deus ex machina. This pretty much means that a god or some higher form of position comes in and saves the day, and ends the tragedy. Most of the time, we consider it a miraculous act that solves everyone's problems. Aristotle doesn't like this technique at all to use to solve all the problems that occur in the tragedies. He feels this way because he thinks that everyone should figure out how to solve their own issues by themselves with no divine intervention.