Aristotle is one of the most important Western philosophers in history who has influenced our society in many ways. Many of Aristotle's teachings have influenced our world for many years and continue to have a tremendous impact. Some of the subjects influenced by Aristotle include: logic, physics, government and poetry. Aristotle's study of poetry focused primarily on the elements of good tragedy. Some of its elements have been used in Greek tragedies and modern films. The Greek play Medea and the modern film No Country for Old Men use elements of Aristotle's philosophy, while using similar and different techniques, but both achieve effective tragedy. In Aristotle's book, Poetics, he defines tragedy as “an imitation of a serious action, complete and possessing magnitude; in embellished language, each species of which is used separately in the different parts; in the mode of action and not narrated; and act out of pity and fear” (Aristotle 1149). Tragedy creates a chain of cause and effect actions that clearly gives the audience ideas of possible events. The six parts of Aristotle's elements of tragedy are: plot, character, language, thought, spectacle, and melody. According to Aristotle, the most important element is the plot. Aristotle writes in Poetics that "it is not for the purpose of presenting their characters that agents engage in action, but rather it is for the sake of their actions that they assume the characters they have » (Aristotle 1150). Plots should have a beginning, middle and end that have a unity of actions throughout the play, making it complete. Additionally, the plot must be complex to make it an effective tragedy. The second most important element is character. Characters ... middle of paper ... although both demonstrate the elements in different ways, they both achieve effective tragedy. Now after knowing Aristotle's philosophy on tragedy one can examine any type of poetry, play, film and tragic analysis if the elements are represented. It is interesting to see how much Aristotle's philosophy influenced poetry in the art of the Greek tragedy Medea and the modern film No Country for Old Men. Works cited by Aristotle. Poetic. Trans. Gérald F. Otherwise. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1967. Dorsch, TR, trans. and ed. Aristotle Horace Longinus: Classic literary criticism. New York: Penguin, 1965. Ley, Graham. The Ancient Greek Theater. Chicago: University of Chicago P, 1991. Reinhold, Meyer. Classic drama, Greek and Roman. New York: Barrons, 1959. Puchner, Martin. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Flight. A. New York: WW Norton &, 2012. Print.