LITR 4370 TRAGEDY Midterm1 Samples 2017 (midterm1 assignment) Model Answers to Part 2. Learning Essay 1.

2. Write opening draft of Essay 1 (overall learning experience) on final exam (3-4 paragraphs, 1.5-2 double-spaced page equivalent)

Authors & titles (alphabetical order; scroll down for essays):

Kimberly Bronson, "Tragedy and Comedy: Going Steady"

Katie Morin, "Tragedy: A Learning Process"

Clark Omo, "The Tragic and Comic Experience"

Calyssa Rosene, "Would you Look at That: Tragedy can be Relatable"

Faron Samford, "Relearning Tragedy"

Kimberly Bronson

Tragedy and Comedy: Going Steady

          Tragedy is commonly misunderstood in many ways. It can be difficult to get a firm grasp of exactly what tragedy really is, so to help understand it better, it is compared to comedy. The two certainly have similarities, but their differences really shed light on the two genres that would otherwise be hard to see. It helps to think of comedy and tragedy as partners rather than opposites, as they work together to define each other and they make more sense together than they do apart.

Comedy, according to the Genres course site, typically begins with a problem, often a mistaken identity or misunderstanding of some degree. The consequences in comedies are never lasting or permanent, which is the angle for hilarity. For example, in Lysistrata, it would be tragic if the men in the play remain pained by their sexual desires, but since they agreed to the women’s terms, they will no longer suffer and the audience gets a chuckle. It is common for comedies to end with a resolution or at least the feeling of one. A good example of this is Shakespeare’s comedy, Much Ado About Nothing. Claudio publicly shames his wife-to-be, Hero, based on a rumor planted by Don Pedro about her chastity. In the end, however, we see that this action has no consequences when the pair end up marrying. The play ends with (almost) everyone happily dancing, similar to the ending of Lysistrata. The pattern between these two plays is not coincidental, but a common element found in comedies.

Tragedy, similar to comedy, also begins with a problem. The difference is the characters revolved around the problem. As detailed on the course site, many issues in tragedies often evolve from an error in man, but there is not a distinction between “good” and “bad” characters, but both intertwined within the tragic hero. An example of this is in Agamemnon, where he sacrificed his daughter, which to many is an unforgivable crime. But once the reader realizes that this while this was an “evil” choice, the only other option was just as bad, or worse. Tragedy is not about making the right or wrong choice, but about making the best choice from two terrible options. Agamemnon chose his kingdom over his family, but in his mind was probably doing his best to choose both.  Unlike comedy, tragedy is essentially timeless, as events that fall under the “tragic” category are things that will be considered tragic to audiences of any time period.

It can be surprisingly difficult to tell tragedy apart from comedy at times. This is because some classic tragedies have a high amount of melodrama that, to a modern audience, may seem comical. An example of this would be when we hear Agamemnon yell “I am slain” after Clytemnestra murders him. Another example of severe melodrama is in Mourning Becomes Electra. The death of Ezra Mannon is plagued with a nearly comical level of dramatics, as he points to Christine and hints at her guilt before he dies.

Comedy and Tragedy are two very different genres that are respected in their own ways. They are often looked at as opposites, but when compared, we can begin to understand each one more. There is a lot to learn about both genres, but the best chance we have of gaining this knowledge is by looking at them as partners.

Katie Morin

2/20/2017

Tragedy: A Learning Process

          Admittedly, before having enrolled in this course, my knowledge of tragedy was rather limited. I primarily associate the term “tragedy” with Shakespeare’s Hamlet because it is one of my favorite works of literature in general, regardless of the genre it falls under. To be rather blunt, I have, up until now, always associated tragedies with death—after all, what is more tragic than death, itself? However, over the past few weeks, my knowledge on the subject has increased significantly, and I look forward to garnering an even deeper understanding of tragedy as a whole, in addition to its relation to other genres, including comedy and romance.

          In general, tragedies are so relatable because they are reflective of human nature. Personally, this concept is one of the most appealing aspects of tragedy. Tragedy is raw and exposes the faults of humanity. It shows the good and the bad, regardless of how unhappy or uncomfortable audience members may become.

In contrast, comedy, although relatable at times, is rather one-sided in that it shows primarily the good, pleasant things people enjoy reading and/or viewing. This is not necessarily a bad thing. No one wants to dwell on the negative occurrences in their own lives, so comedy makes for a nice break from reality and day-to-day monotony. Comedy is fun and exciting, and makes us forget about life’s struggles momentarily. Additionally, according to Aristotle’s Poetics, “Comedy is . . . an imitation of characters of a lower type . . . .  It consists in some defect or ugliness which is not painful or destructive.  To take an obvious example, the comic mask is ugly and distorted, but does not imply pain” (V). This is indicative of comedy’s tendency to make light of even serious situations. Characters may have struggles or conflict, but there are no real consequences, pain, or otherwise long-lasting effects from these situations – there is nearly always a happy resolution where everyone walks away joyous and unscathed. In tragedy, however, actions do have very real consequences, and these consequences are very rarely temporary.

          Characterization is also something that varies among the two genres. So far, learning about the various types of characterization has been one of the most interesting aspects of this course. In comedies, characters are often very superficial, and because of this lack of depth, are often seen as good or bad. In tragedies, however, characters are not seen solely as one or the other, but often a combination of both. This duality of characterization is reflective of human nature, and this could be a reason why tragedy is a bitter pill for some to swallow, as characters and their motivations/struggles have the tendency to “hit close to home.” Comedy is fun to watch, but tragedy is oftentimes more relatable, not necessarily because of the overall conflict (most of which seems to occur in times of nobility, and therefore more difficult to sympathize with), but because of the feelings and emotions these characters experience.

          An example of this mixed characterization can be seen in Aeschylus’ Agamemnon. The story’s protagonist, Agamemnon, is forced to decide between sacrificing his daughter, Iphigenia, or remain at a standstill and unable to sail to Troy and lead his men to victory. Much to the audience’s horror, Agamemnon ultimately agrees to the sacrifice of his daughter, therefore painting him as somewhat of a villainous character. However, later on he appears to be remorseful and seems to acknowledge the horrible act he has committed, and he regains some of his humanity. Although what he has done is awful and unforgivable, it is difficult to not feel some level of sympathy for him as he struggles with his decision. Agamemnon can be seen as good or bad depending on one’s perspective, and this mixed characterization contributes to Agamemnon’s classification as a tragedy.

          A seemingly subtle difference between tragedy and comedy is also seen in a piece’s treatment of spectacle. Spectacle, according to our course website, “is an old-fashioned word for a concept that, in different words, lives today in popular speech—e.g., ‘special effects,’ ‘costume design,’ ‘stunts,’ and ‘computer graphics.’” The lack of spectacle is common amongst tragedies, where murders or otherwise graphic scenes are performed off-stage. In tragedies, spectacles are concealed and hidden away from the audience, leaving much to the imagination. However, in comedies, spectacles are often performed in plain view of the audience. For instance, in the play Lysistrata, which focuses primarily on sex (or rather the lack thereof), there is a great deal of verbal innuendo, but also spectacles in the forms of nudity, obscene gestures, and vulgar bodily functions. While these scenes might have a place in works of comedy, they are less likely to be seen in tragedies, as the storyline is of greater importance than visual aids.

          Another distinction worth noting is comedy’s tendency to focus on moments/incidents relevant to very specific times in history or “pop culture.” According to our course’s site, “Since such everyday phenomena age rapidly and become old-fashioned or obsolete, comedy's attention to such realistic details makes most comedies age rapidly.” It goes on to state that although tragedy “is concerned with essential human problems,” it “sometimes seems isolated from everyday events (in classical tragedy, by being associated with noble families).” This distinction between the two genres only further contributes to the concept that comedy is generally a temporary “feel good” form of entertainment, whereas tragedy and its dealings with matters concerning human emotions and struggles is more timeless.

On the very surface, it appears as if tragedy represents what we know life can become, which is why we may shy away from it, so comedy makes for a nice escape from an otherwise harsh reality. However, it would be difficult to truly appreciate either genre without its counterpart to compare it to. As with most things in life, balance is key.

Clark Omo

23 February 2017

The Tragic and Comedic Experience

Tragedy and comedy are two genres that interlace continually throughout our culture. Whether it be in the next modernization of Hamlet, the latest sitcom on ABC, or the upcoming installment in the Indiana Jones saga, tragedy and comedy have infused themselves into the very roots of the aesthetic realms of our culture. My experience in this class has so far taught me that. In their purest forms, comedy and tragedy, through incredibly and undeniably distinct from one another, both have lessons to teach and tell. Tragedy reflects upon the ambiguity, duality, uncertainty, and darkness that permeates the consciousness and human motivation. Comedy, in contrast, likes to shed a light on the common problems that humans face every day, inflate them to preposterous proportions, and then solve them with a method that is overly convoluted and opposite of common sense. Yet despite how different they are, both comedy and tragedy have their merits and value as respective genres, and both have lessons to teach that are essential in understanding story, character, narrative, and the art of storytelling itself.

Tragedy is perhaps the best when it comes to understanding character and plot, and, through them both, human nature. As we have studied so far in Oedipus Rex, Agamemnon, Mourning Becomes Electra, and the other installments of the Oresteia Trilogy, tragedy possesses an obsession for motivation and human flaw serving as the driving force to their plots. Such is true in Agamemnon, where the eponymous character sacrifices his own daughter in order to lead his troops successfully. This action, in response, causes his wife, Clytemnestra, to conspire with her lover to enact revenge upon Agamemnon when he returns home. A similar event occurs in O’Neill’s modern rendering of this story in Mourning Becomes Electra. In both these plays, human action, and therefore motivation, serves as the catalyst that begins the steady cascade of events that follow. Because General Manning went to war under the pretense that his wife, Christina, had no love for him, he leaves his wife and goes to war. This leaves Christina alone to seek love from Captain Brant, who both conspire to have General Manning murdered to upon his return home. As seen from both these plays, human action often bears a consequence. And this theme is one of the many essential lessons Tragedy wishes to convey. By teaching this lesson, Tragedy touches on the complexity of motivation and consequence, and thus fulfills its purpose as a genre. Furthermore, the aspects of consequence are dealt with in The Libation Bearers, where Electra and Orestes conspire to and slay Clytemnestra and her lover in revenge for their father, and then the Furies descend upon Orestes to act vengeance upon him in the next sequential play, The Eumenides. Yet, perhaps opposite of expectations, the Eumenides ends with the Furies transforming into forces of good and democracy making its way into the life of the Greeks. This is a happy ending by most means, and therefore proves that although Tragedy is by nature tragic, its outcomes and storylines are not set in stone.

Opposed to the much more somber tones of Tragedy, Comedy takes a much more lighthearted approach to the everyday issues that most living human beings are faced with in their normal lives. Such can be seen in Lysistrata. Sex is a common part of human life, and rarely does the fate of society hang upon its practice or lack thereof. But in Lysistrata, this fact is turned upside down when the wives of Athens and Greece go on a sex strike in order to convince their warring husbands to sue for peace and end the Peloponnesian War. And so ensues a myriad of ridiculous events involving scatological humor, gross innuendo, and exaggeration. Lysistrata, like many other comedies after it, takes a common part of human life, exaggerates its importance and impact, and then follows up with a convoluted plot that ultimately results with a major problem being resolved by ridiculous means. Yet in following this pattern, Comedy reflects the tendency of humans to assign more importance to events that do not deserve nearly the amount of attention they are given. Not only that, but through such a significant event as the Peloponnesian War ended by such a ridiculous method, it reflects the negative opinion one could have for the war. The war itself is ridiculous, so what better way to solve the ridiculous with the equally preposterous? Such is how Comedy likes to express the truth of reality: often the problems we humans face can be solved by simple means, but we by nature tend to overcomplicate things.

Tragedy and Comedy are two extremely essential genres to understand, and this course has so far taught me that much. Tragedy expresses the darkness and uncertainty that humans face in life, along with the flaws that plague our personalities and desires. Comedy analyzes common human pitfalls such as exaggeration, inflation, and complication by taking serious events and problems and solving them by comedic and impossibly simple means, or by taking a small problem and growing it into a big one. Both genres have their merits and purposes, and both accomplish them exactly how they were designed to. Comedy and Tragedy are enduring and as ever-powerful since the days of the Greeks. And I have no doubt that after I finish this course, I will continue to see them reiterated time and time again in our culture.

Calyssa Rosene

Would You Look at That, Tragedy Can Be Relatable

          Upon entering this class I had no idea what to expect. The only experience I have had in terms of reading or experiencing tragedy is the little bit of Shakespeare that we all have to encounter in high school, or so I thought. As it turns out, aspects of tragedy can be hiding in all kinds of literature. Tragedy isn’t necessarily a play or a film doused in death and murder and bloodshed. It can be anything that is unanticipated or unwanted in terms of an event or happening. According to Aristotle’s Poetics, “Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete and of a certain magnitude.” One thing I always got wrong about tragedy was that it can’t have aspects of comedy when in reality the two can certainly be intertwined. In fact, tragedy can consist of many genres and emotions at one time. Tragedy can make you laugh, cry, and even fuel a rage fire inside of you all at the same time. It’s almost as though you’re watching a Spanish soap opera unfold in front of you with over-dramatized interactions.

          In the course so far we’ve covered The Oresteia trilogy of Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Euminides, as well as part one of Mourning Becomes Electra and Lysistrata. I had a very brief encounter with Agamemnon in my early high school years, but I had no idea it was part of a trilogy in which the tragic story continued. Reading the trilogy in its entirety was definitely a journey because it followed the story all the way into the afterlife. In Agamemnon there were moments throughout the story that felt like a challenge from the horror movie franchise of Saw. For example, Agamemnon had to murder his own flesh and blood daughter in order to save the lives of his men on their journey to Troy. This created a war within me because while I couldn’t fathom the idea of killing my own child, I also couldn’t imagine losing a ship of many men to the winds of an angry Goddess I had to appease. Tragedy aspects really have a way of messing with your conscience and it really makes you think about “what would you do” scenarios.

          In “Mourning Becomes Electra”, we see a highly dysfunctional family that has many twists and turns. Christine Mannon is the mother of Orin and Lavinia as well as the wife of Ezra Mannon, who hates her husband and essentially her daughter, plotting to murder her husband so she can live happily in the arms of another. As I said, it’s like a Spanish soap opera. However if you compare Christine wanting to poison Ezra to Agamemnon killing his daughter Iphigenia, the two are not anywhere near the same platform. One could almost call Agamemnon’s sacrifice brave, because he had to make the hard decision of choosing many lives over one who was of importance to him, while Christine poisoning Ezra was out of selfishness. One thing still remains, that tragedy doesn’t just include Shakespearean sword fights and duels to the death, it encompasses human emotion and life events as a whole. While there’s still much more to learn in depth, I have already encountered so much new information on the genre itself.

          The most recent work we are reading is the comedy Lysistrata, which is definitely a series of relatable events. In summary, Lysistrata and the women of Sparta swear an oath to withhold sexual relations from their husbands until a peace treaty is signed to end the Peloponnesian war. How is this modernized? How many times have you heard a woman say “do this or no sex for a week”? It’s portrayed in modern media, and I’ve even heard it from married couples I am acquainted with. While there isn’t much tragedy involved in Lysistrata, looking over all the works we’ve covered so far everyone can find something that they can relate to. In Agamemnon, we may have been faced with one of the most difficult decisions of our lives while knowing we chose the right thing. Through Mourning Becomes Electra, the theme of jealousy stands as well as betrayal. Finally in Lysistrata, there’s a sense of strength and bonding through the women of Sparta coming together to help one another, and these are all things we can experience and relate to in the modern world.

Faron Samford

Relearning Tragedy

          When you think of tragedy, some of the first titles that come to mind are plays, such as; Hamlet, Oedipus Rex, and Romeo and Juliet.  Combining a theatre background with subsequent literature studies, I felt really comfortable with my knowledge of tragedy coming into this course. These texts are used frequently in both types of classes. What I realized while preparing a discussion lead assignment for Eumenides and The Libation Bearers was that while I could classify a work as a tragedy, I had never studied the genre specifically. Learning about the three categories of classifying genre has made me realize that I had always been taught tragedy primarily along the lines of the subject/audience identification for the term tragedy, as opposed to the narrative genre

Considering a work a tragedy was a way to signify that a king like Agamemnon or some other character in a high position in life would come to their downfall, often due to a tragic flaw that the character could have avoided. I had somehow managed to miss the idea that the restoration of justice, as in The Eumenides where the revenge cycle that had caused the deaths of Agamemnon and Clytaemnestra is finally put to an end by the ruling from the court of Athens. This counters the popular idea of tragedy as “someone dies at the end,” and gives the characters the chance at a more positive way of life after the end of the text. Reading The Homecoming, where O’Neill has updated the Oresteia to post civil war United States, shows how the nature of tragedy can change over time. The motivation behind the murder of Ezra is based on Christine’s love for Adam Brant, a more relatable theme at the time than the revenge cycle portrayed in the original Oresteia.

Reading Lysistrata as comedy to directly compare with the elements of a tragedy really made clear the contrast between the treatments of ideas between the two. The contrast that stood out to me more than any other was how war was treated as a nuisance that was keeping their husbands busy and not at home with them. In Agamemnon, the herald describes the actual hardships of war, “wretched quarters, narrow berths, the harsh conditions” (Agamemnon 667). The way the comedy treats war as something that is just happening, but the characters don’t seem to be suffering any long term consequences from war is a stark contrast to the suffering that’s depicted in the tragedy where there are real consequences to the events.

As we look further into tragedy and move into comparing it with romantic works will give an even greater understanding with the ability to compare it a second genre.