Who is the true tragic hero of The Madea, Madea, the Princess of Colchis or Jason, the King of Iolcus? The tragic story is about a woman Madea, who gives up her home, her family and everything else in her life for Jason. Against her father's wishes, she helps Jason defeat his quest for a golden fleece. Madea eventually marries Jason and raises two sons. Unfortunately, Jason abandons Madea and marries the beautiful girl from Corinth. Madea went from lover and accomplice to an obsessive and proud monster. Madea becomes furious and hatches a plan to make everyone around her suffer, including her children but especially Jason. Looking at the story of The Madea, we can see that the plot is a tragedy, which is important because of the murders Madea committed. Madea's obsessive pride and inability to separate herself from her and Jason led her to destroy everyone she loves. Jason can't be the tragic hero because he brought the situation on himself. Madea gave up her family and her life for him and Jason doesn't appreciate what she did for him to escape and marry him. Aristotle's De Poetica defines tragedy as mimetic, serious, and contains rhythm. A tragedy also contains six elements; plot, thought characters, singing, diction and spectacle. Tragedy arouses feelings of pity and fear, then transforms those feelings into catharsis. According to the ideas expounded by Aristotle, for a tragedy to arouse pity and fear, the life of a tragic hero takes a bad turn. Quoted by Aristotle, he describes the perfect plot of a tragedy: “A well-constructed plot should therefore be single in its outcome, rather than double as some claim. The change of fortune should not be from bad to good, but, conversely, from good to evil. (17). The plot in M...... middle of paper...... too bad because her husband Jason abandons her but the choices she made were extremely bad. The public always knew that Madea had evil characteristics when she murdered her brother and threw away the pieces of his corpse without shame or dignity to buy time in her escape with Jason. In conclusion, Madea and Oedipus the King both have the same criteria stated by Aristotle in The Poetics. Both tales evoked a sense of catharsis in audiences, regardless of the complex plot. Madea and Oedipus took extreme measures for the people they loved and discovered that nothing was worth it. Their noble nature of helping others and getting involved leads them to downfall and leaves them alone and depressed. Works Cited Butcher, SH The Poetics of Aristotle trans. Pennsylvania State University: The Classic Electronics Series, Copyright 2000-2013. Internet. February 24 2014.