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LITR 4370
TRAGEDY
Midterm2 Samples 2015 (midterm2 assignment)
Model Answers to Part 2. |
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Part 3. Begin Research Report: Write at least
3-4 substantial paragraphs with two sources toward completion of
your Research Report on selected special topic
(to be completed on
Final Exam)
A Grand Performance: Why Spectacle is Essential in Theatre Arts
For this assignment, I am choosing to change my topic from Families in Tragedy
to a topic focused on Spectacle. I am changing my topic because over the course
of the semester, I have become interested in how spectacle is used or repressed
depending on the work and the genre. I feel that spectacle in and of itself is a
legitimate art form, and I would like to take this research opportunity to
further understand the art of it.
According to the course website, “spectacle is…a
concept that in today's popular speech lives in different words—words and
phrases like "special effects," "costume design," "stunts," and "computer
graphics"” (White).
I am particularly interested in how spectacle has
evolved since Ancient Greece. I also want to take a thorough look at how
spectacle has been used and applied in tragedies. For example, I know that in
Shakespeare’s classic
King Lear, the
protagonist spends a substantial amount of time out in a storm. That storm has
the potential to be quite the spectacle, even though tragedies tend to repress
it. My aim is to make more of a case for spectacle in more serious genres.
Spectacle, I feel, seems to not get the credit that it really deserves.
Aristotle goes so far as to say that “…spectacle has,
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” (Aristotle’s Poetics). I will be conducting further research, which will
highlight the importance of spectacle and how it is more essential to accenting
poetic works than is conventionally thought. As previously mentioned, spectacle
has evolved considerably since Aristotle’s time, and I plan to shed light on
theatre’s relationship with spectacle and how it relates to tragedy.
Finally, I want to touch on the sublime and its
relationship to tragedy and spectacle. The course website defines the sublime as
“a concept in Aesthetics--the
branch of philosophy concerning the nature of beauty (or its counterpart,
ugliness). For an audience, beauty is that which gives us pleasure (or ugliness
gives pain)” (White). Especially in modern times, spectacle is almost essential
in creating something sublime (at least in theatre). My aim is to use the
powerful emotional appeal of spectacle to justify its need in more serious
works. I will conclude by stating that I intend to find many credible examples
of spectacle within both classic and modern day film and theatre and expound
from there.
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