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LITR 4370
TRAGEDY Model Assignments Midterm2 Samples 2017 (midterm2 assignment)
Model Answers to Part 2. |
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Part 2. Learning about
Tragedy 2: Revise, continue, improve, & Extend Essay
begun in Midterm1
. . . to include Sophocles's Family of Oedipus plays.
(Index)
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.
The
narrative genre of comedy, per 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 not be comical if the men in the play remained pained by their sexual
desires, but since they agreed to the women’s terms, their suffering ends and
the audience gets a chuckle. It is common for comedies to end with a resolution
or at least the feeling of one such as this. Another 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 ends up marrying. The play ends with
(almost) everyone happily dancing, similar to the ending of
Lysistrata. The pattern between these
two plays is not merely coincidental, but a common element found in comedies.
Tragedy, like comedy, also begins with a problem. The difference in these
narrative genres 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.
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.
The difference is the level of excess,
and determining at which point it becomes a spectacle, which will be explored
more ahead.
In
Hamlet, tragedy and comedy walk
together to offer a perfectly balanced play. Tragedy takes the front seat,
however. Hamlet has come to truly understand the circumstances that led to his
father’s death, and whether he truly loses his mind or leads us to believe he
has, he carefully calculates his revenge. A tragedy narrative “consists of an
attempt to discover the truth” (course sites: Intro to Genres), which Hamlet has
achieved after speaking with the ghost and is now seeking to restore justice. In
The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche
claims that both the Dionysiac man and Hamlet “have truly seen the essence of
things, they have understood, and action repels them; for their action can
change nothing in the eternal essence of things, they consider it ludicrous or
shameful that they should be expected to restore order to the chaotic world”
(39). Instead of restoring order, Hamlet wants to restore justice and get his
revenge by any means necessary.
In
some tragedies, the truth seeks the tragic hero rather than the other way
around. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus
is faced with the truth thanks to Tiresias, but he is unwilling to accept it as
such. It isn’t until the truth is impossible to ignore that he finally is
willing to understand it. He does, however, have no hesitations when it comes to
absorbing the consequences of his truth, which is another aspect of tragedy as
outlined on the course website. Where comedies and romance narratives escape
problems, tragedy faces them head on, even if it causes a great deal of
discomfort for the audience. The play ends with Oedipus banished from the land
that he once ruled because of his incestuous relationship with Jocasta. This is
a typical way for a tragic narrative to end, but there are other conclusions
that are equally true to tragedy.
Oedipus at Colonus
depicts a classic tragic ending with the death of the tragic hero, and thus,
there is an impression that there will be some level of transcendence. The
ending of Oedipus at Colonus is one
that does not symbolize unity, like a comedy narrative would be expected to. The
blood curse that affected Thebes is now hoped to be put to rest with Oedipus’
death, although reading the next play in the series reveals that this may not be
the case. A comedy will consist of characters that make a spectacle of
themselves, while tragedy will make a spectacle out of the characters and their
actions. Instead of a low-comedic character making a fool of himself, Oedipus is
made to look like a fool because of his identity and circumstances. The thunder
making itself heard is taken as a dramatic sign that Oedipus will reach his
fate. The death of a tragic hero wouldn’t be the same if it didn’t make a
spectacle of him.
Sometimes a tragic hero is not easily defined within a production. Unlike comedy
or romance, tragedy has characters that do not necessarily fit a standard mold
of “good” or “bad.” For example, in
Antigone, there is more than one possible choice for a tragic hero. Some
would consider Creon as the play’s hero, although he has more flaws than one
knows what to do with. He is evidently set on making his force known to all by
demanding that anyone who touches Polynices’ body will be put to death. When
Antigone challenges this, he has every intention of following through with his
orders despite the circumstances. He can, however, be excused from some of this
tyrannical behavior considering he is a new leader, and one that did not expect
the position to begin with. Antigone is a stronger component for the tragic
hero, in my opinion. She is faced with an extremely difficult choice, as many
tragic heroes are. She must either silently grieve her brother’s death, knowing
his body is left out in the open to rot and without any proper burial rights, or
she must sacrifice her own life to honor her Polynices. Being the strong
character that she is, she unapologetically goes against Creon’s desperate
attempt to assert him power and honors her brother. She is willing to face the
consequences without any attempt to conceal her actions. She is a strong image
of a tragic heroine, and an empowering one at that.
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.
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