final exam assignment

LITR 4533 TRAGEDY  Final Exam Samples 2012 Essays & Excerpts on Part A: Overall Learning Experience

Sarah Hardilek

7 July 2012

Part A. How to Survive a Greek Tragedy

           According to the course site, tragedies begin “with a problem that is significant to society, its leaders, or its representatives” and end “with the resolution of the problem and the restoration of justice.” From this definition, it is clear to see that tragedies do not necessarily have to end in despair; rather tragic events are more likely to occur purely from the nature of the problem. Indeed, it is quite possible to end a tragedy on a festive note, such as with the ending of The Eumenides. By looking critically at Greek tragedies and identifying those aspects that make their stories tragic, we have been able to see where the characters went wrong and what exactly caused these misfortunes to befall our heroes, or heroines as the case may be. What if you were to wake up one morning and discover, to your dismay, that you have been thrust into a tragedy? The knowledge acquired in this course might have helped you to avoid even being in such a situation, but since you are beyond that point now, the least you can do is try to stay alive. Although the genre of tragedy can encompass any number of unfortunate events, you can at least avoid most of the happenings we discussed in our readings.

First and foremost if you want to survive a tragedy, it would be wise not to kill yourself. I know tragedies deal with the worst possible scenarios, but possible mental scarring aside, if you can just make it through the main storyline, your life will ease up significantly. Antigone unfortunately did not take this path. After it is discovered that she has defied her uncle’s orders, Creon sentences her to be sealed in a tomb and starved to death despite the objections of his son Haemon, who is betrothed to Antigone. Not wanting to die a slow and miserable death, Antigone wastes no time in hanging herself. Indeed, Creon barely has time to finish his discussion with Tiresias and have a change of heart before Antigone is found dead by Haemon, who then proceeds to kill himself. As in this instance, suicide in Greek tragedies often leads to more death. This situation should be easier to avoid, but since we as humans are heavily emotion driven, it is not. However, if you do find yourself doomed to die a slow death in the dark, at least give your punisher a reasonable amount of time to realize how ridiculous he’s being before doing the deed yourself.

Another thing to keep in mind if hoping to survive a tragedy is to avoid the parameters of a prophecy should one be bestowed upon you. For example, if you know of a prophecy that says that you will kill your father and marry your mother, you would do well to avoid marrying woman more than ten years older than you. In the case of Oedipus the King, the titular character had been told of this very prophecy by an oracle when he was still a young man. Upon hearing of this, he leaves his home in the belief that his parents are truly his birth parents and that by avoiding them he can avoid the prophecy. It is on his travels that he inadvertently kills his birth father. While this can be excused since it is identified as self-defense, Oedipus was not careful enough to avoid marrying a woman considerably older than him. Although he did try to avoid his fate, Oedipus should have ruled out marriage altogether to anyone more than a handful of years older than him. In tragedies, things are rarely as they appear to be just as in life things can easily be misunderstood. Since we have discussed mimesis and how it is an exaggeration of reality, you would do well to be on the lookout for any number of cases where things are not quite as they appear to be.

The next thing you should be sure to do while stuck in your tragic reality is to listen to Tiresias. Tiresias made an appearance in a few of the classic tragedies we studied this semester and he always has words of wisdom to offer. Unfortunately, he is utterly ignored in each of his appearances, at least at first. We first read about him in Oedipus the King when he is summoned by Oedipus so that he can locate the murderer of the previous king, King Laius. Tiresias is less than forthcoming in this case since he knows the truth about Oedipus. When he eventually does give Oedipus his information, however, Oedipus refuses to believe it and angrily sends Tiresias away. Although the words of Tiresias could not have prevented the prophecy from coming true, perhaps the rest of the situation could have ended more smoothly had Oedipus accepted Tiresias’ truth. On a side note, it is interesting that Oedipus blinds himself after ignoring the truth given to him by a blind man. Perhaps Oedipus hoped that by blinding himself he could avoid the deception caused by the blinding beauty of the world and focus instead upon inward truths and intuition. In Antigone, Tiresias confronts Creon about his imprisonment of Antigone. Since Creon disregards his words at first, his pardon of her comes too late. Tiresias makes his next appearance in Bacchae. Although he is not quite the majestic figure of wisdom he has been associated with in this story, Tiresias still has a decent concept of truth. He chastises Pentheus for his pride and refusal to accept Dionysus as a god, warning him to respect his cousin-god at the very least. Once again this wisdom is ignored, causing Pentheus’ horrific death, which leads me to my final and most important strategy for surviving a tragedy; do not anger the gods.

Perhaps the most obvious words of caution when trying to survive a tragedy is the concept of staying in good favor with the gods. Continuing with the example from Bacchae, Pentheus pompously disrespects Dionysus throughout the tale. He even goes so far as to have the god arrested. It is no wonder he was punished in such a gruesome way. Another example can be seen in the Oresteia. Although the events of Agamemnon are attributed to the family curse of violence, it could also be possible that Artemis was still furious with Agamemnon for sacrificing his daughter in such a heartless manner. However, a clearer example of incurring wrath from the gods appears at the end of The Libation Bearers and throughout The Eumenides when Orestes is set upon by the Furies after committing matricide. Despite the fact that he was avenging his father, the Furies do not easily forgive the murder of family members, particularly parents. Fortunately, Orestes was able to survive and even have a happy ending. The final example we discussed of godly wrath appears in Hippolytus. Furious at Hippolytus for favoring Artemis over herself, Aphrodite causes Hippolytus’ stepmother Phaedra to fall in love with him, thus causing Hippolytus to shun Phaedra, which causes her to incriminate Hippolytus of lusting after her, thus causing Hippolytus to be exiled, ultimately causing Phaedra to confess and kill herself and Hippolytus’ body to be broken. The gods are traditionally hot tempered individuals and if you find yourself caught in a tragedy, you should do your utmost to keep them on your side rather than against you.

           Speaking as someone who is not trapped in a literary world of tragedy, it is easy to say that I could survive a tragedy based upon the common denominators involved in the tragedies we studied this semester. It is all well and good to say that keeping the above situations in mind will help you to survive a tragedy, but there really is no guarantee that you would emerge victorious just as in life there is no guarantee. Tragedy persists today because it is the closest imitation of real life. This topic of mimesis has been in the background of all our texts this semester and this is the reason people continue to devour tragedy.