Tragedy in Things Fall Apart

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…showed last 75 words of 723 total…Though it elicits solemn emotion, tragedy does not leave its audience in a state of depression. Aristotle argues that one function of tragedy is to arouse the "unhealthy" emotions of pity and fear and through a catharsis (which comes from watching the tragic hero's terrible fate) cleanse us of those emotions. Achebe accomplishes this with the successful final epiphany, completing Things Fall Apart as an exemplary model of Aristotelian tragedy, to the greatest extent possible.