Jump to: navigation, search

The Explicator (2013) - Reversal and recognition in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo

Details

Links

Article

Reversal and recognition in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo

Alfred Hitchcock's films are fruitful objects of study in relation to different schools of criticism. Vertigo is such a film that has been analyzed through different theoretical perspectives, including psychoanalysis and feminist criticism. It has also been defined as a “complex melodrama” (Sterritt 24) and discussed as “the apotheosis of melancholic romantic irony that borders on tragedy” (Allen 37). More specifically, the tragic narrative of Vertigo has been compared to that of Orpheus (Brown 32) and of Hamlet (West 1). Although the affinity of Hitchcock's films to Aristotle's concepts of “pity and fear” and “catharsis” has been noted, Vertigo's relationship to the Aristotelian definition of tragedy has not been studied.

Vertigo satisfies Aristotle's prescriptions for a good tragedy. Hence, a discussion of it in relation to his Poetics can provide an effective application of his theory. Of central importance to Aristotle's discussion of tragedy are the elements of plot (reversal and recognition) and character. Aristotle defines perfect tragedy as one in which an intermediate character undergoes a reversal of fortune (from good fortune to misfortune) not because of vice and wickedness but due to an error (100). Furthermore, it is necessary that the reversal result from an error (hamartia in Greek) in order for the tragedy to achieve its effect of pity and fear. Hiltunen, who calls Hitchcock “the master of pity and fear,” points out that for Arist...

[ to view the rest of the article, please try one of the links above ]

Works Cited

  1. Allen, Richard. 2007. “Print”. In Hitchcock's Romantic Irony, New York: Columbia UP.
  2. Aristotle. 2001. “Poetics”. In The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed, Edited by: Leitsch, Vincent B. 90–117. New York: W.W. Norton.
  3. Brown, Royal S. 1986, 5 Mar. 2012. Vertigo as Orphic Tragedy. Literature/Film Quarterly, 14: 32–43. Web
  4. Carroll, Noël. 2007. “Vertigo and the Pathologies of Romantic Love”. In Hitchcock and Philosophy: Dial M for Metaphysics. Ed, Edited by: Baggett, David and Drumin, William A. 101–15. Peru, IL: Open Court.
  5. Hiltunen, Ari. 2002. Aristotle in Hollywood, Bristol: Intellect.
  6. Sterritt, David. 1993. The Films of Alfred Hitchcock, Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
  7. Vertigo. 1958. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Perf. Kim Novak, James Stewart. Paramount Pictures, Film
  8. Vest, James M. 1989, 5 Mar. 2012. Reflections of Ophelia (and of Hamlet) in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo. Journal of Midwest Modern Language Association, 22(5): 1–9. Web

Retrieved from ‘http://the.hitchcock.zone/w/index.php?title=The_Explicator_(2013)_-_Reversal_and_recognition_in_Alfred_Hitchcock%27s_Vertigo&oldid=184507’