LITR 4370 TRAGEDY Model Assignments Midterm2 Samples 2017 (midterm2 assignment) Model Answers to Part 2. Begin Research Report

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)  (Index)

Katie Morin

2/22/2017

Then and Now: The Evolution of Tragedy 

          With time comes change, and literature is no exception to this rule. While certain characteristics of tragedy have remained true to the original genre throughout the years, others have evolved or been abandoned altogether in order to give us the more contemporary brand of tragedy we have grown accustomed to see today. The genre’s evolution over time is also more evident when taking into consideration the transition from Dionysian concepts to those of the Apolline. While modern-day tragedy narratives still have their merit, when in comparison to original works of tragedy, their deviation from “the classics” becomes more apparent and their modifications have the potential to either detract from or enhance a work of tragedy’s intended meaning or purpose.

          I opted to write about this topic because of how much I enjoyed reading Eugene O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra, a retelling of the Oresteia by Aeschylus. While I can certainly appreciate Agamemnon, the first segment of the Oresteia, I found myself much more engrossed in The Homecoming, the first installment of Mourning Becomes Electra. While both stories follow a similar storyline, their differences (some subtle and some less so), are indicative of just how much tragedy has evolved over the years. 

          On page 14 of his Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche writes:

“To the two gods of art, Apollo and Dionysus, we owe our recognition that in the Greek world there is a tremendous opposition, as regards both origins and aims, between the Apolline art of the sculptor and the non-visual, Dionysiac art of music.”

The Dionysian style of art, with its focus on the chorus, unity, chaos, and music/dance, is opposed by the Apolline, with its individualism, order, and visual arts. This division between Dionysian and Apolline styles has become especially distinct when comparing the evolution of tragedy over time. The chorus, a Dionysian concept, gradually faded over time, being replaced with individual actors – individuation instead of unity. This change is seen in Mourning Becomes Electra, whose “chorus” is made up of a trio of townspeople, each having their own name, identity, thoughts, ideas, etc. However, in Agamemnon, members of the chorus are unnamed, and whenever one speaks, they are speaking for the entirety of the group. This change is also noted on our course’s website, which states: “Choral functions of background information and commentary may be reassigned from ‘community of elders’ to marginal groups or individuals.” This is especially evident in Mourning Becomes Electra, where the townspeople are described as being similar to a chorus, but really are distinct individuals as opposed to being a “true” chorus.

          Additionally, as discussed in class, a potential danger to the modernization of tragedy is “losing the myth.” In Agamemnon, Clytaemnestra’s motivation to kill her husband, Agamemnon, derives from her resentment towards him for sacrificing their daughter, Iphigenia, to the goddess, Artemis. The magnitude of his crime against kin is so great that audience members may feel sympathy for Clytaemnestra, and perhaps consider her killing of her husband to be just. Alternatively, in Mourning Becomes Electra, Ezra Manning’s wrongdoings are never explicitly stated, so his murder might not seem justified to some. One of the benefits of modern-day tragedies is that they might be easier to relate to given their more recent or realistic settings/contexts. However, in instances like this, the magnitude of Ezra Manning’s wrongdoing, whatever it may be, pales in comparison to that of Agamemnon’s, which can be attributed to the loss of the “myth” as seen in classic tragedies.

          The absence or presence of spectacle in works of tragedy is also something that has evolved over time. According to our course’s website, spectacle is defined as being 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.’” More specifically, when concerning works of tragedy spectacle is commonly associated with scenes depicting exaggerated behavior, blood, gore, violence, or death. The site goes on to read that “The genre of Tragedy usually (but not always) represses spectacle, or at least manages it so that its sensational appeals don't overwhelm the subtler, more spiritual or intellectual qualities of plot and character.” In essence, original works of tragedy shied away from spectacle because they believed it detracted from the overall meaning of the narrative. However, in modern tragedies, the presence of spectacle has gradually become more prevalent and acceptable.

          This transition from the absence to the presence of spectacle is especially noticeable when comparing Agamemnon’s murder to that of Ezra Manning’s. In Agamemnon, the story’s protagonist is murdered off-screen, and although his dead body is show to the audience, the “spectacle” of his murder is hidden. In contrast, Ezra Manning’s death in Mourning Becomes Electra is fully displayed to the audience from start to finish. The whole ordeal is somewhat exaggerated and graphic, leaving little to the imagination unlike Agamemnon’s demise. An interesting aspect of tragedy that has seemingly remained the same, though, is its relatively “tame” depictions of spectacle in its modern-day adaptations. In her 2016 essay, “Tragedy and its Updates: Human Beings under the Microscope,” Angela Copper also reflects this sentiment and writes, “Ezra’s onstage death involves an increased level of spectacle from the events of Agamemnon, the spectacle is still repressed in a sense—instead of stabbing her husband to death as Clytaemnestra does in Agamemnon, Christine poisons Ezra and he dies without a drop of blood spilt.” Although the presence of spectacle has become more prevalent among modern-day tragedies, it would appear that old conventions concerning spectacle still affect tragedy’s modernizes as well. In this instance, there seems to be somewhat of a balance: classic conventions with a modern-day twist.

http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/LITR/4533/models/2016/F/3Copper.htm