final exam assignment

LITR 4533 TRAGEDY  Final Exam Samples 2014 (final exam assignment) Essay 2: Special Topics (Topic 9. Teaching Tragedy)

Rebecca Bridjmohan

Teaching Tragedy in Today’s Ever-Changing World

            With all of the new genres popping up overnight, the youth of America are being pulled into genres that do not offer them more than what is to be expected. Romance offers you the “happy ending”, comedy offers you the situation that is sure to cause laughter, and satire offers you humor at someone’s expense, but tragedy offers so much more. Because of its complexity tragedy can intermingle with other genres in order to give you a wide array of emotions. Learning about tragedy helps students deal with their mixed up emotions so that they can make sense of the situations that they read about in a literary piece, in the newspaper, or that they see on the television. Tragedy is applicable to the real world, and since “the purpose of literature is ‘to entertain and inform’” (Horace on Literature: “To Entertain & Inform” webpage) we as teachers need to supply the students with the tools essential to help them to decipher the information supplied by this particular genre that stands the test of time.  

            When I was in school tragedy was not taught in the way in which I was able to gain a clear-cut understanding of the overall story because the emphasis for learning tragedy was solely placed on the characterization of the tragic hero and the tragic flaw. When the emphasis is placed exclusively on narrow aspects of a complex genre it is easy to walk away with misconceptions. When I began this class I had a very limited knowledge and understanding about tragedy which also led me to be closed minded about how to approach the play that we were reading. As Dr. White states on his webpage “Is Tragedy the Greatest Genre?,” “Tragedy is widely if tacitly recognized as the greatest genre in the western literary history. However, as the ‘tragic flaw’ of a hero, the same quality that makes it great may also limit it in corresponding ways.” This is precisely why it is important to not only teach students about the “tragic flaw” and the tragic hero” but to also teach them aspects of tragedy in order to expand their understanding about the actual plot of the story. Aristotle says in his Poetics that “But most important of all is the structure of the incidents. For tragedy is an imitation, not of men, but of an action of life, and life consists of action” and that “[T]he most powerful elements of emotional interest in tragedy – peripeteia or reversal of the situation, and recognition scenes – are part of the plot (6d). I found what Aristotle concludes to be true, especially after reading plays like Oedipus the King. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus unknowingly kills his father and marries his mother in complete ignorance, and then later learns the truth after pressing the Servant who is reluctant to confirm the truth about the king’s death. If I had not known to look into the plot or to pay attention to the recognition element, I would have completely missed the bigger picture of the story and would have only focused on Oedipus’ tragic flaw which is only part of the issue that makes tragedy work.

            Because this genre is complicated and definitely not black and white, I would consider teaching tragedy by first introducing a play like Antigone. Antigone’s plot helps you to look past the characterizations of Antigone and Creon as the tragic hero/heroine and pay more attention to the importance story taking place. Some of the major themes that are revealed, courtesy of plot, are the ideas of state laws vs. “higher laws,” civil disobedience, honor and dishonor, and the struggle of political leaders and citizenry. These themes also surround common issues that can be directly related to today’s society and the world around us. Dr White’s notes on the themes for study and discussion for Antigone say that “Antigone is not a philosophical debate but an enactment of human life, so these themes blend with each other, sometimes right and sometimes wrong – the moral complexity from which one learns more than ideas” (Antigone webpage). And I could not agree more, especially considering the rollercoaster of emotions that I experienced while reading this play which is also why it is essential that students learn to grasp concepts that exceed the initial, superficial reading of a play like Antigone. The civil disobedience concept worked wonders for me and I found that it could easily be related to students’ own experience to rules or laws that they felt were unfair or meant to be broken. Diving into a complicated issue expands students’ thought processes and begs them to look at the bigger picture. Furthermore, anytime you deal with students at a higher level you run the risk of students questioning authority. And while in some cases it is unacceptable, there are instances where questioning authority is necessary like with the Civil Rights Movement or with the most recent controversy of protesting war. But whatever the case, Antigone also illustrates the consequences that accompany following the “Higher Laws” (whatever they may be).

            Although Antigone is a more popular choice of teaching tragedy and I would use it to introduce the elements or themes of tragedy, I would also illustrate to my students how tragedy modernizes by using the plays Hippolytus, Phaedra, and Desire Under the Elms as references. Students need to be able to draw meaningful connections to whatever they learn and by teaching the modernization of tragedy they are able to see classic tragic plays evolved into plays that are more relatable and realistic. With Hippolytus students can get the initial idea of the concepts of lust and continence, betrayal, jealousy and revenge, honor and dishonor, and the relationships between humans and the gods/fate. And with Phaedra you have the same themes but additional characters (like Aracia) to reinforce the plot and the impact of the story. The two plays have the same outcome where Theseus listens to Phaedra and condemns his son Hippolytus to banishment which ultimately leads to his death, the death of an innocent man. The two plays, though powerful in relaying the importance of these essential themes, still prove to disconnect from the real world because of the presence of the gods, who are more physical beings interacting with the characters. But with Eugene O’Neill’s Desire Under the Elms, the play seems more applicable to the real world. By allowing the students to read the three plays, which have the common themes, in the order that we read them students can experience the evolution of classic literature into more modern literature. They can also make real connections with what they read. After all, it is important for them to understand as I have discovered through this course that the same themes or elements continue to reoccur across different mediums and genres because of main concept of mimesis. Therefore, “art (or literature) imitates reality, nature, or life,” (Terms/Themes webpage), and thus we learn.     

            The most important reason and one in which proves that tragedy stands the test of time is that you cannot help but learn from tragedy. Eugene O’Neill says that ‘The tragedy of life is what makes it worthwhile” (Terms/Themes webpage). I believe the most important thing that we learn from tragedy is how to balance the Apollonian and Dionysian. In school you have the arts mixed in with the more concrete basics of learning. Students need to understand that you can have a balance of the two. The Apollonian is based on reason and logical thinking and by contrast, the Dionysian is based on chaos, which appeals to the emotions and instincts. The fundamentals of all great tragedy are based on the tension created by the relationship of these two concepts. Nietzsche claims in The Birth of Tragedy that the relationship between the Apollonian and Dionysian is apparent, from their use in Greek tragedy: the tragic hero or the main protagonist, struggles to make order of his unjust fate, though he dies unfulfilled in the end much like Antigone or Oedipus. Nietzsche also claims that for the audience of such a drama, this tragedy allows us to sense an underlying essence or "Primordial Unity", which renews our Dionysian nature (Glossary to Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy webpage). Recognizing and learning this balance between the Apollonian and Dionysian can help students attain unity and a well balanced state of mind.

            Reading these plays in combination with learning about the concepts and elements of tragedy, I was able to walk away with new insight about what it really has to offer. Unfortunately, my previous experience from high school English class provided me with misconceptions about tragedy because I only learned about the tragic hero and the tragic flaw. These two elements away from the plot do not leave much to be desired so I was easily turned off by this genre. Although, I am glad to report that after reading selections from Aristotle’s Poetics and Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy, along with the other plays, I too have a sort of revival and open mind when it comes to tragedy. So when I have the opportunity to teach tragedy, I hope to right the misconceptions that I walked away with from my high school English encounter and scaffold and modernize the instruction much like Dr. White did in order for my future students to receive the full experience.