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Craig White's Literature Courses Critical Sources
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 Mask of Dionysus, 2nd century BC |
Tragedy is widely (if
tacitly) recognized as the greatest genre in western literary history. However,
as with the “tragic flaw” of a hero,
the same qualities that make
tragedy great may
also limit it—as with the tragic hero, the strengths of tragedy may be
why the genre fails with popular audiences..
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of dialectic |
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Corresponding aspect that limits appeal, universality, etc. |
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Tragedy appears during "great periods of history," marked by national ambition, confidence in grapple directly with issues or challenges; contrast escapism. (examples: Classical Greece, Renaissance England, Neo-Classical France [18c], Early-Mid-20c USA) |
Tragedy may also signify imperialism and the rise of an overbearing, controlling state; Does a great writer require a great cultural period to write great tragedy? |
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Shelf-Life (i.e. duration or "permanence" of art; see classic, popular, & representative literature) |
Though rarely popular, tragedy's appeal survives longer than comedy or romance, which are immediately popular but age or decay quickly.
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Taste for tragedy must be trained by educators (or possibly educated parents); taste for comedy and romance are more natural, + culturally propagated and reinforced by youth-culture. Schools and libraries retain tragic literature as "timeless," while discarding once-popular comedies & romances. |
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Tragic heroes
(e.g. Hamlet, Oedipus) are more "royal" or noble, more memorable,
individualized, titanic, disturbing and unpredictable than comic or romantic
characters, whose types we recongize but whose names we
often don't remember
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“Give it a rest!”—Great characters can be tiresome, demanding, unsympathetic; Romantic / comic
characters are "easy," |
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Characters or
audiences may learn from tragedy. (Aristotle: “to learn gives the
liveliest pleasure”)
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Most people go to plays or movies to “escape,” not to learn or engage with social problems or human issues (But those who go to learn may have more power and influence.) |
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Complexity
of characters, plots, outcomes more accurately
imitates complexity of
reality; |
Complex morality threatens
strict black-and-white moralities of right versus wrong + irony: humanity at its most heroic reveals its vulnerability to error. |
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Tragedy depicts
and inspires learning and search
for truth (rather than familiar assumptions of truth) + ethical response of
sharing guilt or blame; humans are both good and bad, shaped by free will
and fate |
Sometimes
black-and-white, simplistic right-and-wrong thinking is correct.
Sometimes, as Jocasta warns Oedipus, it's better to stop asking
questions |
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Elite or Popular Art? |
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Lack of
popularity, easy answers, sentimental or sensory satisfaction of
physical sensation or spectacle |
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The break or gap
between greatness and failure exposes or permits insight into human
condition, fear and pity (catharsis), depth of character |
Tragedy lacks comforting
reassurance or confirmation of
comedy,
romance, which give us pleasure
or justify us for being where and who we already are |
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Change or status quo? |
Tragedy deals with larger social or psychological problems; action’s
disturbance of society permits revision of ethics |
Comedy,
romance
personalize problems, reaffirm or evade status quo;
satire may only
challenge violations of status quo. |
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Tragedy gives voice
to or
expresses taboo topics like incest, suicide, child murder while
simultaneously punishing transgressions. Other genres exploit the forbidden while avoiding responsibility for it. |
Expression may
legitimize taboo subjects; also may have less audience appeal than
“escapist entertainments”; nothing is more immediately pleasurable than
to escape or overcome problems and feel righteous. |
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Tragedy suppresses spectacle (blood, gore, special effects) |
Suppression of
spectacle and physicality of
comedy opens to spiritual, intellectual, or imaginative possibilities |
Suppression may deny physicality of human life; may encourage excessive other-worldliness or mysticism |
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If all things
evolve, adaptability can be good;
tragedy adapts to changing history; greatness can be an
elusive or overwhelming quality. (If we can pin greatness down, it stops being greater than us;
"Classic" as book that stays open.) |
Tragedyas a genre
is comparatively difficult to explain except by false “rules” (tragic
flaw, “the unities,” etc.); comedy,
romance, and
satire comparatively
easier to explain by markers, signs. |
Oedipus at Colonus
Eugene
O'Neill: "The
tragedy of life is what makes it worthwhile.
I think that any life which merits living lies in the effort to realize
some dream, and the higher that dream is the harder it is to realize.
Most decidedly we must all have our dreams.
If one hasn't them, one might as well be dead.
The only success is in failure.
Any
man who has a big enough dream must be a failure and must accept this as one of
the conditions of being alive.
If
he ever thinks for a moment that he is a success, then he is finished."