LITR 4370 TRAGEDY Final Exam Samples 2015 (final exam assignment) Model Answers to Part 2. Complete Learning about Tragedy Essay

Part 2. Complete "Learning about Tragedy" Essay: Revise, improve, & extend essay begun in Midterms 1 & 2 on learning experience with tragedy, extending to include Hippolytos, Phaedra, and Desire Under the Elms. (Revise / improve midterm2 draft & add at least 5 paragraphs for 12+ paragraph total.) 

Shelby Hollen

Tragedy 101

Before I took this course I thought tragedy was going to be all about the bad things that happen to people, or that people in the past have done. I did not view tragedy as being humorous, just plain right sad and depressing. Which is one of the reasons why I wanted to take this class. I knew there had to be more to what tragedy is than just depressing stories about how someone killed someone else. Not to my surprise I was right—there is so much more to tragedy than just sorrow.

            One thing that I have learned so far in this class is how well I can relate to the stories. I never would have thought before taking this class that I would relate as easily to tragedy, I do not view myself as a tragic person, honestly. But once I started reading all the different plays I realized that everyone could relate to tragedy. Tragedy is about loss, pain, and coping, which is something that everyone has gone through at some point in their lives if not more than one time.

            I have heard of some of the plays we have read in class before, like Agamemnon, but not actually read it myself. I am glad this was the first play we were assigned to read actually. It was something I really did not know anything about, I had heard of it but was not aware of how it would turn out. I must admit there were certain parts in the play that I had to close my jaw while reading. For example, when Agamemnon had to kill his daughter in the beginning, yes this was a tragedy; a parent never wishes to live to see their child die. But even in this tragic moment I learned that he was being a hero in a sense at the same time. He had to kill his own flesh in blood but in return saved many more as well.

            When it comes to tragedy it does not always have to be dark. For example, in Mourning Becomes Electra, I personally thought this story was a more detailed but lighter version of Agamemnon. While reading this play I saw it in a new light. I thought that the killing of Ezra was more of a crime of passion in love than just revenge. When reading it in Agamemnon I felt that the murder was more revenge than out of love. Now that I am reading more tragedy I am learning that the tragic event is done as a consequence or retaliation. This class has started to teach me to look more in depth at the characters, before I viewed tragedy as the bad guy, there was always a bad guy who was going to come in and ruin something for some reason, in result causing a tragedy. But I was wrong: there really is not a bad guy in tragedy just humans.

            It amazes me how much more I have learned in just a short eight weeks about tragedy. Just when I thought I had learned enough about tragedy and was ready to move on to the next part of the class there was still so much more that was yet to come. In the last five weeks I have be reintroduced to Oedipus the King and then introduced for the first time to Antigone and Oedipus at Colonus. When I saw that I was going to have to reread things I have already read and learned about before, I honestly was a little put out. I did not want to have to reread something I have already studied and been taught. However, after rereading I realized there was so much more to the story than what met the eye to a young high school girl.

            When reading Oedipus the King I did roughly remember reading the story in High School. However, I did not remember it being so gruesome. Before rereading it I completely understood why this was chosen for a tragedy course.  It is a tragic story. Oedipus kills his father, but does not realize it was his father. If that is not tragic I’m not sure what is. Then he goes and marries his mother, and has children with her. In my opinion this is more disturbing than tragedy. However, looking at it now that I am older and have found love, it is a tragedy that he marries his mother. He fell in love with this woman who he thought he would spend the rest of his days with. Then his hopes and dreams for the future are shattered the minute he finds out who she really is. Then ending their fairy tale by Jocasta killing herself and Oedipus gashing his eyes out. This is not how I remembered feeling about it in High School.

            I was not aware that there were sequels to the Oedipus plays. Antigone was an interesting play. I felt like I really connected to the play more when I saw the few clips of the play that were shown in class. This play was honestly not one of my favorite plays of the semester after just reading it. I understood the dramatic scenes better once I saw it portrayed but the characters. The scene that really made me realize that tragedy can affect family so badly was when Creon and Haemon have their fight about Antigone. This scene in my opinion was tragedy in its best. The way that Haemon stood up for Antigone was passionate. But then when he told his father that he would have to kill him as well if he was going to kill her, turned it into sort of a romance tragedy. But then his father was so stubborn that he would not at least come around to his son’s way of thinking just this one time, was tragic. Creon ended up pretty much portraying to the audience that his way was more important that having his son in his life. This was relatable to anyone who has gone through a tough time with their parents, because they may have not agreed or understood their decisions or way of thinking.

            Oedipus at Colonus was a play I did not even know existed until a few weeks ago. This play was more of a journey in my opinion. Unlike the other plays where there were trials and tribulations going on, and then adding in some tragic moments with conflicts, this play seemed like it was the happiest it could be for a happy ending for Oedipus. Besides the few conflicts Sophocles added in there. I felt really bad for Oedipus this entire play. Here he just wants to end his life where he wants to and Creon is demanding he come back to Thebes to end the plague that he started. But the most heartbreaking this in my opinion in this plat was the fact that his daughters were the ones taking care of him and getting him to Thebes, while his sons fight over the thrown. I did not view this play as an overall tragic play, however. I saw it as a play that overcomes regret, by letting go of the past. I really enjoyed The Gospel at Colonus, I thought it helped understand the play in a more modern way. This is a play that I would love to be able to fit in a High School class.

            My misconception of what I remembered plays being like, that are completely different now that I am an adult and have experience more life altering situations makes me understand this subject so much more. I have been blown away by all the information I have learned and how I can apply this information in my future classroom. Every time I learn more it gets me that much more excited to be in my own classroom and teaching my students. One of the most valuable things I have learned so far in this class is not just about tragedy and what it is, but that its interpretation is different for everyone, and that is something that should be embraced. 

          One thing I did not expect to like was Nietzsche’s Birth of Tragedy. However, I was not always fond of having to analyze what he was really saying while reading it. I very much enjoyed listening to my fellow classmates’ interpretation of what he was saying. It made me get a better understanding of him and made the readings a little easier the more I read them. This is something I want to take and use in my own classroom. There will be times when we have to read something that is challenging. Having students work together on understanding it gives them a better understanding of it and they walk away with so much more than they would have before.

          Desire Under the Elms was one of my favorite plays we read this semester. I really enjoyed the videos of the play even more. It is a more relatable play because it is not hundreds of years old. It is scandalous in the sense that Abbie and Eben want each other. It gives the reader some drama, and speculation. This is a play that I feel would be very easy to teach in High School. One of the things I will take away from this course is, there are plenty of really good modern plays that can be taught alongside with the traditional plays.

          As a student who is pursuing a teaching degree I have learned so much more than I ever thought I could this semester. I have not only learned about the genres, terms, themes, and Nietzche, but I have also taken into consideration a teaching style that works so well. There are many times that I go to different classes and always pick out what I feel like does not work, and I find it odd to admit that there is not one thing about my time in this course that made me feel that way. This course did not just teach me about literature; however, it taught me how to become a better teacher as well.