final exam assignment		 LITR 4533 TRAGEDY
 Final Exam Samples 2014
 (final exam assignment)
Essay 1: Overall Learning Experience

Rebecca Bridjmohan

Tragedy: It’s More Than You Think

            Although every genre has its own way of drawing us in, I have always been a bit skeptical about tragedy. My skepticism was not unwarranted mostly because for me tragedy was a genre that I perceived as being full of gore with its grotesque amounts of blood, brutal deaths, and insurmountable grief. Looking back on the first day of class when we were asked about what our definition of tragedy was, I could only muster up negative thoughts. Furthermore, I could never see the value of tragedy until I read plays from the three tragic playwrights of classical Greece, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, along with insightful excerpts from Aristotle’s Poetics, Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy, and modern adaptations to tragedy courtesy of Eugene O’Neill’s plays Mourning Becomes Electra and Desire Under the Elms. Every play and excerpt that I read helped me to realize the meaning and application of tragedy in a way that I had never experienced before. Tragedy is not a simple genre and it is definitely not black and white, and therefore requires work.

            These key works have helped me to understand that there is more to tragedy other than death and all of the loveliness that accompanies it. Tragedy, as described by Aristotle, is “general conception modes of imitation” or mimesis. And it is through mimesis that we learn our earliest lessons in life. For example, tragedy teaches us (the audience) what happens within society, even though what we may uncover could be considered taboo. For instance, the unfortunate mishap that occurs in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, where Oedipus unknowingly kills his long-lost father and marries his mother, who gives birth to his children. This is not something that happens to be a conversation that is easy to discuss amongst society; however, the complexity of issues concerning family and life in general begs us to take notice. The struggle becomes modernized in O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra, where it is the daughter whose affections for her father have caused an uncomfortable predicament. The daughter, Vinnie, from Mourning Becomes Electra and Oedipus from Oedipus the King face similar struggles, but differ in the way that Vinnie’s fascination for her father is more apparent than Oedipus’s because in the Oedipus story Oedipus is oblivious to the situation until his fate is revealed. Having read Oedipus the King first the Oedipal Conflict established by Freud did not fully win me over with his argument “that we were all destined to direct our first sexual impulses toward our mothers, and our first impulses of hatred and violence toward our fathers; our dreams convince us that we were” (Oedipus Complex webpage). First, because the initial thought was quite repulsive and teetering on forbidden ground but after visiting the Oedipal Complex further through other plays the shock grew into a deeper understanding. Plays like O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra where the play has nothing to do with the gods or destiny is more relatable to society by today’s standards and the Oedipal Conflict becomes more subtle and less revolting. The concept itself is something that I had some understanding of but working it out and seeing it in different plays helped me to rethink my preconceptions and broaden my comprehension.

            With an open mind, I was able to realize that when it comes to tragedy the characters are neither completely good nor absolutely bad. In fact, characters in tragedies sometimes have both qualities, which often make it difficult to root for them, yet it helps us to empathize with them because we can see ourselves in the characters. Humans, as Umaymah Shaid agrees in her essay “The Beauty of Tragedy,” are not “black and white,” and are fashioned through experience. This aspect of tragedy can be seen in Aeschylus’ Agamemnon with Agamemnon’s wife Clytemnestra. Clytemnestra, in the play, leaves little to like about her character, especially when she deceives her husband by having an extra marital affair with his cousin Aegisthus. But as if that is not enough, she also kills both her husband, Agamemnon, and Cassandra, the innocent prisoner of war. All deplorable acts; yet, amidst the treacherous activity and murder, the audience can also understand Clytemnestra’s actions because the play gives the back story of how Agamemnon sacrifices their daughter, Iphigenia. As readers and or audience members, we really want to dislike Clytemnestra and although her actions are heinous we cannot help but connect to the motives of her actions. By connecting, we understand and begin to sympathize and make sense of her murderous deeds. The dilemma depicted in Agamemnon, by both Agamemnon’s actions and Clytemnestra’s, is comparable to any decision that has to be made in order for the “good of the many.” Take for instance, the nuclear attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II, where the decision and ethical justification to drop the bomb is still debated. We are definitely not a society that is black and white, where every decision is clear cut, which brings forth another tidbit of information that I have learned this semester courtesy of tragedy.  

            This new information began with exploration of Aristotle’s Poetics XIII[a] where it says that a perfect tragedy should “imitate actions which excite pity and fear,” which is also known as catharsis. Catharsis, from the psychotherapy definition, meaning the process of relieving an abnormal excitement by re-establishing the association of the emotion with the memory or idea of the event which was the first cause of it, and of eliminating it by abreaction, whereas you have discharge of the emotional energy associated with a psychic trauma that has been forgotten or repressed (Terms/Themes webpage), can be seen in the plays that we have read. With some of the plays that we have read you do not know what to feel but this term and the term sublime help to unravel the complexity of emotions that we cannot help but experience. This course has taught me that fear and pity are normal human responses to our own and each other’s conditions that need expression and exercise. For instance, watching or reading a tragic narrative exercises expression of fear and pity, purges or cleanses our repressed issues and additionally teaches us to manage these feelings or attitudes in a healthy manner (Terms/Themes webpage). So, why is learning about catharsis and the sublime essential to tragedy? Well, without the two ideals we would simply not know how to deal with the complexity of our lives. Take a look at Oedipus the King where the Priest comes to Oedipus in the opening scenes and informs him that “Disease infects fruit blossoms in our land, / disease infects our herds of grazing cattle, / makes women in labor lose their children” (29-31). The disease that the Priest is referring to is serious and it affects everyone so Oedipus asks Lord Phoebus to “…to drive away / the polluting stain this land has harbored –”. Then, at the end Oedipus asks that Creon cast him out as quickly as he can making it seem like Oedipus is the disease cast over the city. And though catharsis, we as the audience who have watched/read the tragedy unfold undergo the same crisis and resolution of disease or uncleanness and healing or purification that Oedipus and his city endure. Tragedy is therapeutic for us and can teach us a balance between the Apolline and the Dionysiac impulses.

            Nietzsche states in The Birth of Tragedy that “Aware of the truth from a single glimpse of it, all man can now see is the horror and absurdity of existence;” (40) which brings me to the fact that tragedy’s appeal lies within the fact that we can learn from tragedy. Umaymah Shahid explains in her final the necessity of learning tragedy by stating, “Tragedy teaches the audience what is truly happening in families and how the ills within this structure affect our society,” and I could not agree more. That being said, it brings us right back to Aristotle’s Poetics section VI[a] where he says, “Tragedy … is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude…,” whereby tragedy imitates real life situations, which is why it is imperative to take notice and make changes if we (as a society) are to coexist and evolve. This concept of learning through the tragedy genre was not something that I had ever expected to embrace that is until this class, although I am grateful to have found a genre worthy of teaching and learning from despite the work and effort that it demands. The evidence of learning that I have uncovered though the works that I have read has left me fulfilled, yet wanting more, and I am hopeful to continue to uncover all that tragedy has to offer.