final exam assignment

LITR 4533 TRAGEDY  Final Exam Samples 2014 (final exam assignment) Essay 2: Special Topics (Topic 1. Tragedy and its Updates)

Jorge Lozoya

Tragedy Forms: Classic and The New Classics

            With Tragedy it is important to keep in mind that we must first apprise ourselves of the time and culture that it was written in and the intended audience of the author. Valuable information that we gain from this knowledge allows us to suspend our own reality and disbelief and become more receptive towards the characters and their predicaments. One important aspect of Tragedy is that the classic works of art seem to be timeless and branch out throughout time and culture and are constantly being taught, examined and even updated for the contemporary audience.

            One dangerous road that these new classics, or updated versions of the originals is coming across is that as time goes on people are becoming less familiar with these plays and their historical background. Take for example the movie Titanic, this is a prime example of history vs. reality. This modern tragedy of a wealthy woman that falls in love with a vagabond and ultimately both against society endure a catastrophic event that ends with one of their death. As recent surveys depict when people are asked about the historic Titanic event, their recollections are of the tragic story of the young lovers Rose and Jack, which are fictional characters. This inaccuracy gives way for looser interpretations of classic novels or plays, which eventually steer off in completely different directions keeping some but losing most of the essence.

            But not all change or updates are bad, one of the most noticeable and claimed aspect of this nouveau genre of Tragedy is that it offers more visual gratification to the audience. In particular, with the regards to the “spectacle”. Aristotle pointed the spectacle out as “[having] 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” (Poetics 6g). I have to disagree with Aristotle on this although the spectacle is sometimes over the top or better left to the imagination of the audience there is something to be said about the “instant gratification” (Notes 7/26) that the audience is awarded for actively participating in the experience.

The spectacle is something that has changed tremendously, Hollywood big budgets allow for technology and aesthetics to come together and present a more demonstrative cohesive story. Yet, the Greeks although they had live action and some sort of minimalistic special effects, one is left to wonder, was this a less effective way to convey the purpose to its audience? “ As Kat Henderson puts it in her 2012 essay, “Forms of Tragedy: From Aristotle to Modern World” in “modern tragedy which is a conglomeration of all the previous conventions…spectacle was kept to a minimum…[and] it can [today] be a large part of the narrative.” Works by O’Neil such as “Desire Under the Elms” and “Mourning Becomes Electra”, show updated versions of the classic Agamemnon and the Oresteia. Yet the betrayal of wife to Husband in Mourning Becomes Electra, is done less gruesome by allowing us to view the spectacle as the wife gives the husband poison while he is having a heart attack rather than killing him with a sword. In “Desire Under the Elms”, the most disturbing even (besides the incest) is the killing of the baby; yet O’Neil leaves this off the stage and picks it back up in the next act after the event has occurred, so the use of spectacle has also become a tool to deal with topics that are taboo to the audience.

            The audience itself has also changed in the way they receive the original Tragedy plays. Audience at the time were fully aware of the outcome of the play, knew the history of the events closely, hence very tough critics for the performers. For modern day readers of these tragedies we are left with little historical knowledge, and instead of it being an almost religious experience we see it as a recreational activity typically of higher-class individuals. For the Greeks at that time, Oedipus was a play performed and written in honor of the God of Spring and by viewing and performing the play they were honoring the god. Audience now goes to the movies as a release from reality and worships the star/ starlet of the film with praises, reviews, and monetary compensation to continue living the fantasy life that the hoi polloi cannot.

What I came in knowing was that Tragedy was an old concept foreign to me and most of my classmates, in comparison to what we have in forms of literature, TV , music, and movies today. That is however, not the truth as I saw unveiled in the course. Tragedy has not died out or been reinvented, it has simply evolved or adapted its principals.  Becoming aware of the originals makes the experience much more in depth and allows the individuals to experience something beyond the normal or physical level (transcendence), which with these changes come Pros and Cons depending on the individual. The spectacle is an important member of Tragedy and whether less is more or more is more the presence of it is undeniably gratifying for the reader. Knowing what is lost or gained with the Original vs Modern seems intriguing but less important to me compared to the appreciation for the Tragic heroes and their flaws, the gods and their capriciousness, and for the stylistic power of writing  which is most experienced and gained within this course.