Erin Byrd

Tragedy: Eternally Appealing Lessons

            The one great thing about tragedy is that despite the fact that people know it deals with subjects that are not pretty, funny, or nice, it deals with real life, the ugliness and human nature, and that is something that we can all relate to.  Tragedy teaches lessons, and those lessons are hard to forget or ignore because of the ways in which it comes across.  I believe that although the sound of tragedy is “dismal and depressing”, we as human beings know that tragic things happen every day, and maybe part of the attraction to it is the fact that we want to see others going through something horrible, and see how they deal with it.  As I said, there is always a lesson to be learned through tragedy, and it is almost impossible to experience a tragic work, be it a play, movie, etc. and not be transformed in some way. 

            I love and respect tragedy, and while I would not want to experience or see it every day, I feel very strongly that I would not be the person I am today without the tragedy I have seen in life, in movies, and in literature.  The other genres such as comedy, romance, etc. have many good points as well, but I cannot think of a single comedy or romance movie that I walked out of feeling like life as I knew it had changed.  However, when I have read or seen a play such as Oedipus or Agamemnon, I view people and life in a different way, because of the lessons which can be learned by looking at the characters, what they went through, and how they dealt with it. 

            As for the components of tragedy and/or a tragic work, plot, character, and spectacle, I would have to say that I agree that the plot is the heart, soul, and guiding factor of the tragedy.  However, I feel like the character would have to be tied with or come after in importance, the spectacle (or lack thereof).  When you leave a spectacle scene out of a work of art/literature, it lends a lot to the effectiveness of whatever it is that is being depicted or described.  As we agreed in class, the imagination is much more effective in describing those spectacular scenes, so leaving them offstage is always better for the playwright.  For example, when Oedipus gouges his eyes out, hearing about it makes me cringe, but if I had seen it, it would have just grossed me out, which is a totally different effect.

            As far as the Oedipal conflict is concerned, I will only say that it is one of those things about human nature that we are attracted to the sick and twisted or distorted versions of life, and this is one of those things that whether it is factual or truthful or not, people will always talk about it and make works of literature about it, perhaps in an attempt to explain or find some sort of answer for themselves or the audience about the whole idea. 

            In conclusion, the purpose of tragic art for a “feel-good” society is to remind us that real life is by nature not always good, pretty, easy, or funny, and they should not expect it to be.  People are naturally attracted to it for its raw reality and the no fluff aspect, because even though in general we do live in a “feel-good” society, we also understand the importance of the lessons to be learned through others’ tragedies, and it is definitely better to go see it or read about it than to actually go through it.