ELEMENT OF TRAGEDY Introduction to Oedipus Rex 1 DEFINE:TRAGEDY calamity: an event resulting in great loss and misfortune; "the whole city was affected by the irremediable calamity"; "the earthquake was a... drama in which the protagonist is overcome by some superior force or circumstance; excites terror or pity wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn A drama or similar work, in which the main character is brought to ruin or otherwise suffers the extreme consequences of some tragic flaw or weakness of character; The genre of such works, and the art of producing them; A disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tragedy In general, a literary work in which the central character meets an unhappy or disastrous end. Unlike comedy, which often portrays a central character of weak nature, tragedy often involves the problems of a central character of dignified or heroic stature.... library.thinkquest.org/23846/library/terms/index.html 2 WHAT DOES TRAGEDY OFFER THE AUDIENCE??? Your thoughts? 3
WHAT DOES TRAGEDY OFFER THE AUDIENCE? Can pleasure be derived from watching other s pain? (Paradox) Tragedies as catharsis 4 THREE TYPES OF TRAGEDY Greek or Aristotelian- comes from Greek words for goat and song. Defined as: Tragedy depicts the downfall of a basically good person through some fatal error or misjudgment, producing suffering and insight on the part of the protagonist and arousing pity and fear on the part of the audience. Shakespearian- (hero with flaw that ruins his world) American or modern- ordinary people, often remain passive, but fighting for personal dignity/respect (Married with Children, the Simpsons, the works of Arthur Miller) 5 EARLY TRAGEDY Tragic hero has no option but death. He invokes pathos, or feelings of pity and terror in spectators. Ancient Greek elements present in Shakespearean tragedy 6
THE MIDDLE AGES questions about life and death were answered in religious terms the life, death, and reincarnation became the vehicle for understanding the tragic aspect of human existence mortality is the tragedy we must suffer in exchange for a promise of the afterlife plays portraying the struggles of good and evil also began through stage areas designated as heaven and the jaws of hell 7 WHAT SHAKESPEARE OFFERED not all questions could be answered in Biblical terms this explains the pre-christian settings in many of his plays the soliloquy: latin soli, alone and loqui, speak. The characters explore inner thoughts and longings. Often a portal The concept of universal experiences 8 ARISTOTELIAN TRAGEDY A true tragedy should evoke pity and fear on the part of the audience. According to Aristotle, pity and fear are the natural human response to spectacles of pain and suffering--especially to the sort of suffering that can strike anybody at any time. Aristotle goes on to say that tragedy effects "the catharsis of these emotions"--in effect arousing pity and fear only to purge them, as when we exit a scary movie feeling relieved or exhilarated. The tragic hero must be essentially admirable and good. As Aristotle points out, the fall of a scoundrel or villain evokes applause rather than pity. Audiences cheer when the bad guy goes down. On the other hand, the downfall of an essentially good person disturbs us and stirs our compassion. As a rule, the nobler and more truly admirable a person is, the greater will be our anxiety or grief at his or her downfall. In a true tragedy, the hero's demise must come as a result of some personal error or decision. In other words, in Aristotle's view there is no such thing as an innocent victim of tragedy, nor can a genuinely tragic downfall ever be purely a matter of blind accident or bad luck. Instead, authentic tragedy must always be the product of some fatal choice or action, for the tragic hero must always bear at least some responsibility for his own doom. 9
THE FALL A tragic hero is a great man who is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness but because of some mistake. One of those who stand in great repute and prosperity. The hero is neither a villain nor a model of perfection, but is basically good and decent. Mistake (hamartia): This Greek word, which Aristotle uses only once in the Poetics, has also been translated as "flaw" or as "error." The great man falls through--though not entirely because of-- some weakness of character, some moral blindness, or error. We should note that the gods also are in some sense responsible for the hero's fall. 10 COMPARE TO EPIC Odyssey Iliad Gilgamesh Ramayana Othello Romeo and Juliet Oedipus Rex Modern sitcoms? 11 EPIC VS. TRAGEDY Enactment vs. narration Impact on story? Who is the intended audience? Modern strategies? 12
Achilles Hector Odysseus Gilgamesh Rama COMPARE THE HEROES Othello Romeo Modern heroes... What are the commonalities? 13