complete sample essay

    Humanity has a great love of organizing items according to their greatness.  This can be as simple as identifying the Dean’s list, or awarding a gold medal to an Olympic runner.  While the title is certainly earned and the praise enjoyed, there is another dimension to this manner of organization.  By establishing any item as the greatest, the pinnacle of its group, one identifies the priority of the group.  This is an agreeable measure when a set of variables are considered, such as running a distance in the shortest length of time.  However, the issue is less simple when the comparison is between groups with many factors, such as the genres of Theatre: Tragedy, Comedy, and Romance.

            For purposes of argument, consider the nomination of Tragedy as the greatest genre of Western theatre.  The genre centers on the real problems of civilization, creating relevance thousands of years later.  Of course, Tragedy is not considered an enjoyable experience, like Comedy or Romance.  However, it is socially reassuring.  In seeing Tragedies, an audience witnesses the result of socially destructive actions.  This witness addresses unconscious and conscious discord and argues for the preservation of society.  As a result, the audience generally finds comfort and agreement in the condition of society.  This is otherwise known as catharsis, although the purging of negative emotion is the removal of social discord.  Of course, there are works that address the alteration of society, and they can create equal strength to a different cause.  However, that is a separate issue.  Also, Tragedy can appear as an element of Comedy or Romance; these appearances still highlight social issues, creating a reality for the audience.  Since Tragedy is the only genre to maintain social order and quality over time, it is the greatest genre.

            Before crowning Tragedy the greatest genre, one must consider what the genre is composed of.  In Tragedy, the classic formula deals with an issue that is destroying society.  It must be removed for society to return to a positive condition.  Frequently, this removal involves a hero falling from a high place due to a tragic flaw in their character, often resulting in their death or utter ruin.  In contrast, one has Comedy, where characters of lesser social status deal with smaller problems.  Food and drink appear with frequency, especially since the resolution involves a feast and almost always a wedding.  Meanwhile, there is still Romance, which appears almost as a combination of Tragedy and Comedy.  In Romance, the characters are separated physically and emotionally, and through a series of mishaps are reunited.  The problem, however great, is solved, and everything ends happily.  In other words, the protagonists achieve their goals, while the antagonists are punished.  Notably, these genres are not self-contained.  Rather, great works often demonstrate an effective combination.

            For example, one has A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet.  One is largely comic, and the other predominantly tragic.  However, both have comic and tragic elements present.  It is the tragic element that allows humanity to continue to identify with the circumstances of the two works.  In Dream and Hamlet, marriage is an issue.  Claudius and Gertrude, as well as Theseus and Hippolyta, are marrying for power.  With these queens, both men gain new territory.  A sense of unhappiness permeates the two marriages, which questions the social custom.  Addressing social discord, as mentioned, is what Tragedy does.  Despite the separate endings, the negative social factors of marriage are explored in both pieces.  Helena and Demetrius are magically paired, as a simple solution.  She is not the original object of Demetrius’ affection.  Meanwhile, Ophelia is used as a tool to distract and control Hamlet.  If he had married her, he would have been removed from the issues of the court of Denmark.

            Interestingly, Shakespeare exercises an awareness of the role of theatre in discussing social issues in both plays.  Dream has the performance of the tale of Pyramus and Thisbe, whose love ends tragically.  Their demise mirrors the possible outcome of the four lovers, in the misadventure within the wood.  In Hamlet, “The Mousetrap” forces Claudius to reveal his own evil, in slaying his brother to take the crown.  Interestingly, neither production solves the issue of the play. The rude mechanics’ play appears after resolution; “The Mousetrap” only factors into Hamlet’s prolonged reasoning.  This reminds one of the Ancient Greek methods of tragedy, being a civil service financed by the upper class.  Ironically, the financiers were almost the same social rank as the victims of the tragedies.  Although these victims were often the negative factor within the society, it did nothing to alter the paradigms or behaviors of the upper class.  From this, one could argue that Tragedy addresses social issues, but it does not necessarily solve or ignite change.  However, this is still more than Comedy or Romance accomplish.  By showing happy endings and easy resolutions, these genres merely enforce what the audience would like to see.  In a sense, these genres fall on deafer ears.

            Before casting Comedy and Romance to one side, one must consider another element of the genres: their evolution through time.  Each maintains a central quality, but the role has altered by degrees over time.  For example, Tragedy received the greatest focus in Ancient Greece.  The major festivals of the year featured Tragedy in a ratio of 3:1 by comparison to Comedy.  With each Tragedy, negative social factors were explored, and the audience was reminded with society should be maintained.  Comedies meanwhile mocked social ideas and major figures.  The humor centered on specific social issues or ideas and created specific results, a lighthearted release of the taboo.  This controlled release maintained the structure of society, by distracting from issues that could be changed.  After three works discussing the upper class as a negative social factor, such a distraction was very nearly a necessity. 

            In the Renaissance, Tragedy continued to highlight social issues.  However, in the period, there was a single ruler, and she could bring death to negative press.  As a result, Tragic elements were discussed in lighthearted Comedy.  At the same time, comic elements created pronounced release valves, especially in plays discussing royalty in the negative.  In order to create this fusion, characters of the upper and lower classes were combined.  This made the works apply to all members of the audience, bringing the idea of Tragedy to everyone.

            Finally, in the Modern period, one found the classic elements returning to the more evolved Tragedy.  Desire Under the Elms discussed marital discord and power, as did Hamlet, Dream, and Oedipus Rex.  However, it did so with normal people, without noble qualities, and very little humor.  In this evolution, one finds Tragedy the genre of humanity.  At each stage, the characters became more like the dominant class, as opposed to the ruling.  As the only genre to effectively eliminate class barriers, Tragedy evolved into the greatest genre.

            Most interestingly, Tragedy has evolved to the point that classic elements influence Modern works.  Desire Under the Elms explored Greek elements of drama and staging.  The characters are stiff, and many appear one dimensional.  Simeon and Peter are coarse and covered in mud.  Their thought process is slow and deliberate.  Days are required in making a decision, such as taking the money and leaving the farm.  In a similar sense, one has the stoic Ephraim, who centers his world in unchanging values.  When there is conflict, he goes to his cattle, who have no qualm.  In the midst of these flat, simple characters, there is Abbie and Eben, whose relationship to one another is decidedly dynamic.  Together, they are parallel to Oedipus.  Both can sense the unease, the negative issue on the farm.  It is again social, being financial inheritance and marriage.  In a sense, Eben and Abbie attempt to solve the issue: Eben buys Peter and Simeon’s shares, while Abbie makes a son.  Like Oedipus, both figures find their efforts to be the destruction of the farm and the future.  Ephraim releases his cattle and plans to leave, with the money that has already been distributed.  Abbie, confused with Eben’s discord, kills their child, when she should have destroyed Ephraim.  In the end, the pair is banished, like Oedipus, while Ephraim is left to heal the micro-society.  Although none of these figures represent the ruling class, they suffer downfall and enormous loss, in the discovery that they are both the negative social factor.  As they fall, the audience sees the destructive nature of greed and manipulation, creating feelings similar to witnessing the fall of Oedipus.  More importantly, Elms shows the great effect of tragedy: “. . .  an emotional connection between the characters, story and the audience” (LR 02).  This feeling occurs in watching any tragic work from any time, but Elms provides the greatest relevance to a contemporary audience.  After all, the characters are most like the audience watching.  Therefore, there is little ability to distance one’s self from the work.  Sooner, one must accept the shortcomings of humankind.

            In conclusion, Tragedy is the greatest genre because it is the most honest.  In each stage of its development, Tragedy portrayed humans with their flaws.  Like real life, victories were small and losses often great.  With time, tragedy turned from setting the entire world against a single figure.  Instead, the world became an unfeeling force, whose factors existed on the edges of the character’s faults.  At each stage of development, the characters became more realistic, more human.  Throughout, negative social factors are addressed, bringing taboo discussion and discord to the foreground.  This address and purging of unhappiness is healthy and allows society to continue.  With Tragedy, there would be upheaval and eventual anarchy, brought on by anger over Romance’s inability to occur consistently in reality, and through Comedy’s mocking of tradition.  For strengthening and arguing the benefit of communication in society, Tragedy is therefore the greatest genre. [RL]