...During the Renaissance period, which spanned between 14th century and 17th century, an old genre of literature was reinvented into a newer form that was closer to the mentality and the social development of the time, that being the tragedy. This type of literature has its origins in the Ancient Greek and Roman tragedy, which emerged around 2,500 years ago, in the 6th century BC. Tragedy, by its definition, is “a form of drama based on human suffering that invokes an accompanying catharsis or pleasure in audiences” (qtd. in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy). Tragedy is considered to have been invented for the worshiping of Dionysus , which they considered to be one of their deities . In Greek, “tragedy” is called “tragodia”, which means goat song, being composed of the words “tragos” which means “he-goat” and “aeidein” which means “to sing” which is believed to make a reference to an old custom of offering a goat in competitions of choral dancing or using it for ritual sacrifices, but not before dancing around it. The three big representatives of Ancient tragedy are Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. Their work further represented the inspiration for the medieval tragedy which developed during 14th century Middle Age, inside cathedrals, a highly...
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...Orezina Sonoiki With “Revenger’s Tragedy” being set in Italy, it is almost inevitable that the book will not revolve partly around corruption amongst many other themes. Middleton starts this play on a strong note as corruption starts to flow right from the beginning of the text. Vindice a character filled with anger and bitterness opens the play holding the skull of his fiancée who the Duke poisoned upon her refusal to sleep with him. His hatred of the Duke is shown as he describes him saying: “Duke, royal lecher; go, grey-haired adultery.” Vindice talks about lustfulness, which is a form of corruption. His anger and harsh tone towards the Duke is expected as he feels hurt and he even goes as far as to call the Duke myself, adultery. Vindice is also angry about the discrimination his father faced before his death. Middleton uses his character as an immediate way to reflect the unjust treatment during that period and how corruption was almost seen as the norm. It equally shows how power drunk kings got. Lustfulness is a form of corruption present in the play. The first time we come across lust is when Vindice pours out his feelings towards the Duke. He first of all refers to the Duke as committing adultery as quoted earlier on. He also refers to Spurio, the illegimate son of the Duke as “thou his bastard,” which identifies him as being born of wedlock. This reflects the Duke’s lustfulness even further. Hippolito is another character who draws attention to the acceptance...
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...Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero can be seen in many works of Literature, and has verified its importance towards a lot of authors. His definition basically states that the character comes from a noble figure, occupies a high position in his/her society or kingdom and epitomizes a tragic flaw that ultimately leads to his or her downfall. The term Hubris is defined as excessive pride and self-confidence. It indicates that the person who exhibits it has lost contact with reality and always overestimates his accomplishment, which can lead to his/her downfall. The downfall could be anything from mental disturbance to even death. The concept of a tragic hero can definitely be seen in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Shakespeare’s King Lear. Even though there are differences in both the writing, they also have some similarities. In Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, the title character was the king of Thebes, and his city was infected with a poisonous plague. To discover the source of the plague and to get rid of it, the Oracle of Delphi was called. It turned out to be that the only way to get rid of plague would be to banish the killer of the former ruler of Thebes, Laius, from the city-state. Oedipus was Laius’s and Jocasta’s son, which was given to shepherd and was order to kill Oedipus, because it was found out that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother. He was very shocked after hearing this because he did not believe that he would ever do something like that. Jocasta then...
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...What is the Tragedy of Commons? Who came up with the theory? The tragedy of the commons is the tendency of a shared, limited resource to become depleted because people act from self-interest for short-term gain. Garrett Hardin came up with the theory. Explain how the Tragedy of the Commons could apply to the ocean. The fishermen overfish marine animals from the ocean. It will cause the number of marine animals to decline quickly. It eventually will upset the balance of entire marine ecosystems What is an externality? Who pays for the costs of externalities? Describe one positive externality and one negative externality of living near the ocean. An externality is a cost or benefit of a good or service that is not included in the purchase price of the good or service. Human...
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...In his essay “Tragedy and the Common Man” Arthur Miller attempts to redefine both the genre of tragedy and the tragic hero. According to Miller, a tragedy is defined as a man wrestling with how he defines himself in regards to his environment, and that above all, Miller believes that tragedies should be optimistic. Miller states that the “wound from which the inevitable events spiral is the wound of indignity… Tragedy, then, is the consequence of a man’s total compulsion to evaluate himself justly”. Miller is saying that all tragedies stem from an attack on the main characters dignity, and all tragedies are therefore a result of a man’s attempt to make sense of who he is after having been shamed. By using the word inevitable, Miller seems to...
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...Hamlet Essay Tragedies commonly involve disasters, horrible mishaps and death. The great Greek philosopher Aristotle believed that a tragedy must have action which is pushed along by the character flaw of a “great” man. This idea of a “great” man or a person of high ranking being the protagonist in a tragedy is perpetuated in all of Shakespeare’s work. This leaves to speculate on the average person. The average person is not completely safe from the misery of tragedy. A supporting character is just as likely as any main character to experience tragedy. According to Arthur Miller, the “common” person is just as suitable for tragedy as any “great” person. The ideas of Aristotle and Miller contrast each other however both elements are noticeable in the play Hamlet. When a “great person” or the main character goes through a tragedy, it is rather evident. Ophelia and her father Polonius are considered “common” characters in the play that also experience great tragedy. In Miller’s essay, he outlines three main aspects that a “common” person would exhibit in a tragedy which makes their circumstances tragic. Firstly is the presence of a character that is ready to lay down their life to secure their personal sense of dignity. Next is the fear of being displaced and torn away from ones chosen image of their self. Lastly is being capable of victory. Ophelia and Polonius have chosen images of themselves and what their lives should be like and are willing to lay down their lives for their...
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...Which Play is More Tragic: Hamlet or Agamemnon In my opinion, the play Hamlet is more tragic than Agamemnon. They are both tragedies as they both fulfill Aristotle’s definition of tragedy as they both depict the downfall of a basically good person through some fatal error or misjudgment, which produces suffering and insight on the part of the protagonist and arousing pity and fear on the part of the audience. They also have all the elements of Greek tragedy such as hubris, catharsis, peripeteia, anagnorisis, and hamartia (“Ancient Greek Tragedy”). The most important reason that Hamlet is more tragic, in my opinion, is because the protagonist, Hamlet, is an integral part of the play and his character is much more developed. In Agamemnon , the protagonist, Agamemnon, is a secondary character to his wife who, in my opinion is the main character. Hamlet is a tragic hero, as is Agamemnon, following Aristotle’s criteria for the elements of a tragic hero. For example, they both evoke the audience’s pity and fear, have a major flaw of character and are destined to fall in some way (“Tragedy in Drama”). However, because Hamlet is the main character, we see, hear and understand more of his character. When Hamlet delivers his many dramatic soliloquies about mortality, betrayal, and the futility of life, he shows us his tortured world and the anguish, grief, and uncertainty which eventually takes over his life, leading to his death (“Hamlet Tone”). As the reader, I felt so much sympathy...
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...Perceiving Tragedy A tragedy is considered to be an event causing great suffering, destruction, and distress. Arthur Miller's essay, 'Tragedy and the Common Man', contributes many different ideas on how he perceived tragedy. Trying to fulfil one's lives and personalities is usually how a tragic story happens. Hamlet tries to get revenge on Claudius when he find out what really happened to his father, starting his tragic story. He feels betrayed and is working hard to get his rightful position back. There is always the possibility that Hamlet is going to succeed in his mission. Tragedy is something that happens to everyone that is trying to fulfill themselves as a person, someone that is on a mission to get what they want. Hamlet starts with the plan of trying to get revenge on Claudius when he find out what the complete truth of what happened to his father. This is explained when he says, "As meditation or the thoughts of love, may sweep to my revenge." (Act 1, Scene 5, lines 30-31). He is a tragic hero, in which he goes on this mission of trying to get revenge for himself and his father, and ultimately succeeds, but then dies. He had a plan throughout the play, had many chances to fulfil the plan, but never went through with it. In Arthur Miller's essay, this is explained when he says "The tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing--his sense of personal dignity." (Miller, pg...
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...Hamartia in Oedipus the King According to the Aristotelian characteristics of good tragedy, the tragic character should not fall due to either excessive virtue or excessive wickedness, but due to what Aristotle called hamartia. Hamartia may be interpreted as either a flaw in character or an error in judgement. Oedipus, the tragic character in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, certainly makes several such mistakes; however, the pervasive pattern of his judgemental errors seems to indicate a basic character flaw that precipitates them. Oedipus’ character flaw is ego. This is made evident in the opening lines of the prologue when he states "Here I am myself--you all know me, the world knows my fame: I am Oedipus." (ll. 7-9) His conceit is the root cause of a number of related problems. Among these are recklessness, disrespect, and stubbornness. Oedipus displays an attitude of recklessness and disrespect throughout the play. When he makes his proclamation and no one confesses to the murder of Laius, Oedipus loses patience immediately and rushes into his curse. Later, he displays a short temper to Tiresias: "You, you scum of the earth . . . out with it, once and for all!," (ll. 381, 383) and "Enough! Such filth from him? Insufferable--what, still alive? Get out--faster, back where you came from--vanish!" (ll. 490-492) If an unwillingness to listen may be considered stubbornness, certainly Oedipus would take advice from no one who would tell him to drop the matter of his...
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...era and the theatres were always crowded during a play. Shakespeare wrote mainly tragedies by the end of the 16th century, including Hamlet, Othello and Macbeth. Aristotle's definition of a tragedy is that a tragedy is an imitation (mimesis) of an action that is morally admirable. Aristotle is a philosopher who wrote about poetry, poetry being epic, drama, and lyric for Aristotle, in his work “Poetics”. He said in his work that a tragedy should be composed by an introduction, a middle part and an ending. According to Aristotle the fable (mythos) is more important than the characters in the play. It is so because the purpose with the tragedy, according to Aristotle, is to make the audience feel pity (eleos) and fear (fobos) and as a result achieve an emotional cleansing(Catharsis). In order to bring those feelings to the audience the tragedy must be complex. The tragedy must involve a peripeteia, meaning that a great person experiences a turning point, a reversal of fortune. This turning point must be caused by a mistake, the tragic hero's mistake (hamartia). This reversal of fortune cannot be prevented but it is an unforeseen result of the mistake the tragic hero makes. The tragic hero must during the play achieve a revelation(anagnorisis) that means that the hero will go from not knowing to knowing, and that could be about anything. All these elements are what makes a tragedy a good tragedy according to Aristotle. In 1963 Gustav Freytag, a...
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...Willy and Oedipus Tragedy Essay Oedipus is a play by Sophocles about a man who saves a town from a sphinx, becomes king,weds with his mother, and kills his father. His whole path is driven by fate. Death of a Salesman is a drama by Arthur Miller about a salesman named Willy Loman who has this big dream to be successful. He ends up failing and commits suicide. Both Oedipus and Willy are exquisite tragic figures, but Willy is superior because he has a higher relation to the audience, had a chance to make it, and Oedipus had no control over what happened to him. Aristotle and Arthur Miller had very different views on what a tragedy entaled. Aristotle thought that a tragedy must start out great, but end in a tragedy. It must have magnitude and...
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...example of a tragedy. The primary reason it is considered a tragedy is because he dies in the end and is unable to see the full outcome of his actions. However, the reason for his death was his tragic flaw of error in judgment. According to Aristotle a tragic hero must have certain characteristics that make him a tragic hero. For example the definition of a tragic hero is, “A character of noble stature and has greatness. They must occupy a high status position but must also embody nobility and virtue as part of his innate character.” (Litonline) This is exactly the type of person that hamlet portrays to be. Another characteristic of a tragic hero that Hamlet has is his downfall that is his own fault. This is a result of his free choice, which in fact was triggered by some error of judgment or some character flaw that contributed to his lack of perfection. Although Hamlet is depicted as being predominantly great, it is clearly evident at the end that he is not perfect. Although his fall is considered tragic because it resulted in death, his fall is not pure loss. Since there was some increase in awareness, gain in self-knowledge, and discovery on his part, his reason for doing what he did was not a waste of time because it had meaning that other people were able to learn from his errors. Although Hamlet arouses solemn emotion because of his death, tragedy is not meant to leave its audience in a state of depression. Aristotle argues that one function of tragedy is to arouse...
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...29.09.2012 ‘Tragedy is an imitation of an action’ is what Aristotle said about the theater genre, tragedy. I have been curious about the ‘imitation of an action’ part and asked myself question such as what could the’ imitation of an action’ as a phrase in this context of tragedy mean so, under the light of the emphasis our instructor put on the chapter ‘the definiton of tragedy’ in ‘Aristotle’s Poetics’ reading that we were assigned to read and since I wanted my question to be cleared and I also wanted to understand the foundation of tragedy and prepare myself, base knowledge wise, for readings that were to come, I started my reading with that particular chapter. Through the chapter I partially understood, through my own reading without anyone’s help, the combination of artistic beauty of changing the places of the words, harmonious rhythms of songs that provide an emballishment to the ongoing play on the stage and the crucial components such as ‘the soul of tragedy’ and another component as important as the plot that I am not too confident about whether I absorbed its meaning and relation with other parts of a tragedy, that element is thought. I think through the chapter I found an answer to my question of what is imitation of an action, let me expand my question for beter understanding and my own answer through the information I gained through my reading . I think my question of what imitation of an action is pretty straightforward to understand, in literal base I know...
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...1500-words (about 5–7-pages) essay that addresses one of the plays from the Drama Unit. A minimum of six citations, including the primary source and at least five secondary scholarly sources, is required for this assignment. Before you begin writing the essay, carefully read the guidelines for developing your paper topic that are given below. Review the research paper Grading Rubric to see how your submission will be graded. Gather all of your information, plan the direction of your essay, and organize your ideas by developing a one-page thesis statement, outline, draft, and bibliography for your research paper. Format the thesis statement and the outline in a single Word document using MLA, APA, or Turabian style (whichever corresponds to your degree program). You have the opportunity to receive helpful instructor feedback if you submit your thesis, outline, draft, and bibliography by the end of Module/Week 7. The research paper is due by the end of Module/Week 8, and should include a title page, thesis statement, and outline, followed by the research essay itself and your correctly documented sources page. Guidelines for Developing Your Paper Topic Chapters 40 and 41 provide helpful pointers for writing about plays and for developing research papers. Be sure to review both chapters thoroughly before you begin doing any further work for this assignment. Choose one of the prompts below to address in your paper: 1. Write an essay explaining how Sophocles’ Oedipus...
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...Elianne El-Amyouni Dr. Sabah Ghandour English 244 Comedy and Tragedy in Drama “All tragedies are finished by a death. All comedies are ended by a marriage,” (Byron, N.D.). To some degree, Byron is somewhat correct. Of course, there are dramatic texts considered under the category of “tragedy” that do involve death while there are also those that do not. In Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba, the play tragically ends with the death of one of the main character’s daughters. On the other hand, Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, although including tragedy and sadness in the ending, did not involve death. Likewise with comedies, although some classics do end in marriage as in Chekhov’s The Brute, comic endings can vary greatly. Moreover, plays over time have varied greatly in their morals, structure and form, and belong to a much larger scale than only death and marriage. Musical Greek dramas, biblical re-enactments of Medieval drama, pastoral drama of 16th century Italy and the “Theatre of the Absurd” are all contributors to the definition of drama. While Byron may not have been completely serious when coming up with this saying, it is unfair to limit the end of all tragedies to death and of all comedies to marriage, especially since the categories of drama vary greatly. First of all, a common genre in dramatic plays is tragedy. Garcia Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba is an ideal example of Byron’s “tragedy”. The play discusses the sexually repressed lives of a group of young women...
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