 final exam assignment |
LITR 4533
TRAGEDY
Final Exam Samples 2010 Essays & Excerpts on Part A: Overall Learning Experience |
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Brittany Fletcher
Essay #1
When this course
began, I had crossed paths with only Shakespeare’s tragedies and a handful of
movies that could be considered “drama.” When I thought of tragedy, I could only
think of Romeo and Juliet or
Hamlet. By having immersed myself in
the course, I have begun to open my eyes to how much more tragedy can be and is.
My experience in this course has opened doors that transcend beyond Shakespeare
and has exposed me to more expansive definitions, playwrights, and other genres
that tragedy has a hand in. Critics and
playwrights from Aristotle to Eugene O’Neill use mimesis and spectacle to make
tragedy matter.
The first step to
seeing the importance of tragedy is really grasping the meaning of the tragedy
genre, or just genre in general. Taking the definition of genre and expanding my
thoughts on how certain genres intertwine with each other to further expand the
art itself was very enlightening and beneficial in the class. It is often that a
piece of literature or art is enhanced when the parameters of genre are blurred
and even slightly skewed. For example, the idea that it is okay to laugh on the
way to a funeral; it happens. This behavior comes out from human nature and is
an apt illustration of the relationship between tragedy and comedy. The film
Steel Magnolias portrays exactly this
in the death of the daughter played by Julia Roberts. There is a profound
sadness in the film when she dies but when the women are sitting after the
funeral, they somehow find laughter in the midst of it all; it is a bittersweet
moment of friendship and love that shines through. I have learned that regarding
relationships or anything for that matter, the blending of genres can serve to
booster the overall genuineness or mimesis of a piece of literature. It was
rewarding to be able to really learn thoroughly why genres tend to run into one
another in order to enhance the overall main idea of a work.
Although I learned immensely about genres and how they can be
blended together, I also grasped an understanding of how mimesis can give
tragedy meaning by creating real-life and relatable situations for the
characters to develop in. The word mimesis was completely foreign to me until we
read part of The Poetics in class.
Aristotle writes in his The
Poetics that “First, the
instinct of imitation is
implanted in [humanity] from childhood, one difference between [the human] and
other animals being that people are the most imitative of living creatures, and
through imitation we learn our earliest lessons; and no less universal is the
pleasure felt in things imitated.” I had never even heard of the definition but
using the term often in class discussions over the reading and
connecting it to imitation or human nature furthered my education in
tragedy. I always find that a good and authentic representation of human
behavior really tickles my fancy. This aspect of tragedy is relatable because
the audience can invest in characters’ flaws because humans have good and bad
qualities. Reading or viewing characters with their “good and bad” parts
manifest always renders these characters more authentic. This also can have a
negative effect on viewers or readers because not all people want that certain
mix. Some people would rather have a starkly good innocent hero save the day or
the quintessential caricature of the evil guy destroying the world.
The romance genre provides room for
characters that show these embedded characteristics of starkly good and starkly
bad, but tragedy mixes characters so that they have several traits that are more
closely related to reality.
In tragedy mimesis can also bring out the lack of perfection
in characters, showing the audience that a flawless hero cannot exist. The
beauty of tragedy in my opinion comes from this value of providing no room for
genuine heroes. In Adrian Hernandez’ essay from 2008 he exclaims that “The
tragedy preys on our inherent emotions. While we’re conditioned to want a
positive outcome where good conquers evil, the tragedy satisfies our carnal
desires to see the mighty fall and experience pain and suffering through those
whom we might despise.” Tragedy can entertain us still by watching that certain
tragic flaw play out or viewing a character go through turmoil and not end up
with a happy ending because of the intrinsic truth that life might not always
have a happy ending in every situation. In tragedy we find the imitation or
“mimesis” of what reality can actually be at times and why it is so crucial and
captivating while learning about the tragedy genre.
Along with the aspects mentioned previously, authors play a
large part in creating characters and themes to give tragedy its name and
importance. Eugene O’Neill, the American playwright, is among one of the many
great ones. When I began this course I had never been introduced to his work or
heard of who he was. Now that we have come to the end of the course, I admire
O’Neill greatly. He has an intense and personal manner of really grasping
characterization and illustrating the disturbing aspects of human nature.
He uses tragic mimesis to point out how humans have intermingled emotions
that might not always have a resolution in life. O’Neill knows how to make the
reader cringe in disturbance but yet his intimate treatment of his characters
keeps the reader engaged in the play. O’Neill’s plays
Mourning Becomes Electra and
Desire Under the Elms really
demonstrate that unsettling characterization of human nature in dealing with
family issues and traumatic choices. He uses
mimesis to portray the rough edges around human nature that many people become
too blind or voluntarily ignorant to see. Eugene O’Neill has won my affections
while being in this course and dealing with the tragedy genre itself because he
illustrated the definition of mimesis.
Spectacle also
makes tragedy matter. While taking this course, I began to see how spectacle can
be used in many different ways, either being repressed or illustrated immensely
throughout literature or film so the definition began to make sense to me.
Spectacle can form in subtle ways to appear in certain characters’ actions or
behaviors. For example, in the film
When Harry Met Sally Meg Ryan makes a
spectacle of herself when she pretends to have a fake orgasm in the diner scene
to prove her point to Billy Crystal that indeed woman can effectively “fake it.”
The character can give a whole new meaning to “Don’t make a spectacle of
yourself” which can be translated into making a huge and more or less obnoxious
scene of yourself. Aristotle writes in
The Poetics that “The spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its
own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with
the art of poetry.” Spectacle can also be and often is repressed in tragedy for
the sake of pulling the overall semantics of the piece of literature to the
front for the reader. Spectacle can also
contain large scenes of bloody gore or bombs exploding scraps of metal to bits
and pieces. The meaning of spectacle is for pure pleasure seeking shock value
but it can frequently be the least artistic route to employ. Spectacle can be
used in many different ways to enhance the plot which is the heart of tragedy.
This course has
really challenged my views on how tragedy matters by providing me with terms and
definitions that push me to look beyond just the popular works of Shakespeare
and into Eugene O’Neill. The elements of spectacle and mimesis make tragedy
captivating in the sense that they can either entertain or be relatable. Mimesis
helps illustrate tragedy and imitate the heart wrenching parts of life while the
repression of spectacle helps tragedy develop the message of the overall piece
of work in a more meaningful way. Before
this class the genre of tragedy seemed unfulfilling and extremely pessimistic
but after this journey through LITR 4533 I now know that tragedy can matter so
much more.
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