Ariana Gonzalez

What are Spectacle and the Sublime?

            Before taking the tragedy course I knew little to nothing on the topics of spectacle and the sublime.  I figured spectacle had to do with something grand but when asked what was sublime, I immediately thought of the band.  When studying these topics I asked myself how and why they are important to the study of tragedy.  I will look more into the purpose of these concepts and what kind of reaction do they bring to an audience.  Knowing this information will help readers and theater buffs grasp the understanding of tragedy.

            From what I have learned, spectacle is refers to an event that is memorable for the appearance it creates.  It usually tends to be exaggerated, larger than life, or over acted.  For instance Dr. White gave the class “Gladiator” as an example of a movie that is a spectacle.  Though it is an epic film with tragedy the elaborate scenes and fighting makes it more of a spectacle.  One other example stated in class was the “car accidents”.  Some people thought that they were considered tragedies.  I would agree partially because even though car accidents involving death are sad they are more of a spectacle.  Guilty enough, I admit that when driving and there is a car accident I tend to drive slower just to see the amount of damage.  The term sublime is a “phenomenon whose beauty is mixed or edged with danger or a threat usually on a grand or elevated scale” (The Sublime Handout).  Examples talked about in class were the vision of a hurricane destructing homes, and lighting and thunder.

            Now that I have briefly discussed the definitions, let us look closely into the bigger picture on how they portrayed in tragedy.   Spectacle can be portrayed both on stage and off stage.  In Aeschylus’s Agamemnon, on page 48, there is one of the biggest spectacles (in my opinion) read in the course.  The palace doors are open revealing the bodies of Agamemnon and Cassandra and Clytaemnestra is on stage drenched in blood.  Showing the dead bodies and blood on stage screams spectacle.  In the same play we have spectacle that is set off stage.  On page 47 there is a scream that is off stage and we hear Agamemnon yelling for help.  Also we see spectacle on stage and off in John Milton’s Samson Agonistes.  There is the tearing down of the temple that is set off stage and there is the “sound” that many of the characters refer to. 

Sublime, even though different can in many ways work with spectacle.  In Sophocles’s Oedipus at Colonus there are scenes that have both spectacle and sublime intertwined.  For example, on page 49 we see both concepts when the chorus says “Hark! How the thunder rumbles! Zeus defend us!”  The chorus mentioning the thunder and having the sound on stage is a sign of spectacle. What makes it sublime is that it is thunder and not just any thunder but Zeus’s thunder and bolt.  Like a hurricane this must have been a scary but remarkable thing to experience.  In tragedy these aspects create suspense and anticipation of what is to come. 

One thing I found interesting was how tragedy tends to suppress the concept of spectacle.  I used to believe that the author of a tragedy would want spectacle on stage to have the audience more in a state of shock actually visualizing the scene.  But I quickly learned that that was not the case.  It was quite the opposite.  In Sophocles’s Oedipus the King, the reader last hears of Jocasta running into the palace then out of nowhere we read that she is dead on line 1475-1476.  As a reader I found this shocking and unexpected.  The audience watching this would not see Jocasta killing herself but just hear the news.

As a counterpart to that, in Eugene O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra we see the death of Mannon.  On page 316 we read Mannon speaking his last line then dying.  Reading his death gave me a different reaction than reading about Jocasta’s death.  Even watching the scene in class had people laughing.  Watching his death was almost comical.  I believe now that having spectacle on stage loses the shock effect and leaves the audience with no imagination on what happened.

There has been spectacle in every tragic play we have read in this course.  Starting from Oedipus the King to Desire Under the Elms. Whether spectacle is portrayed on stage or off, and it will probably continue to be a main concept in plays to come.  I for one enjoy spectacles and will start to look for them in other tragedies to come.