importance of the polis (city)

• Human ability to live in a community was one of the most important things that distinguished them from animals
• When Aristotle argued that ‘man is a political animal’ (Politics 1.1253a), he meant not that human beings are naturally interested in politics, but that they are designed to live in a polis
• Not surprising that tragedy is interested in how people should live together and how we should handle the conflicts that arise
• Central question explored by tragedy is how the different members of a society should behave
• Since tragedy depicts a world where the normal sources of stability are challenged, social roles are tested or distorted