A good tragedy will evoke pity and fear in its viewers, causing the viewers to experience a feeling of catharsis. Catharsis, in Greek, means "purgation" or "purification"; running through the... ... middle of paper ... ... Oedipus a great tragic hero of classical Greek while Thelma and Louise remained as one of the action play with different meaning of tragedy than Oedipus but still able to get the attention. Therefore, how the human emotions between the characters in two stories as well as the audiences and the character were manipulated by the characters for the same action in different way is shown by both of these stories and so it is very important to theater producers and actors and students like us to continue study and play till this time of 21st century to define the art, life, and theater in better way as well as to understand it in different angle. Works Cited Cohen, Robert. Theatre: Brief Version.
The three great main playwrights of tragedy were Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Aristotle had argued that tragedies cleansed the heart through pity and terror, purging of their petty concerns and worries by making them aware that there could be nobility in suffering. He had called this experience “catharsis.” Lastly, Satyr plays, were short plays that were performed between he acts of tragedies and made fun of the plight of the tragedy’s characters. They are mythical half-human, half-goat figures and actors in
The play Othello is Shakespeare's own version of a classic Greek tragedy. A classical dramatic tragedy derives its essence from the ancient Greek plays that were often popular in Athens. These plays would typically consist of the downfall of a famous Greek character in history/legend, or the breakdown of a hero. Typically the hero is forced to struggle against overwhelming odds, and fate only that this characters downfall would be so imposing that regardless of these forces of nature and fate that destroy him, that he would rise and regain glory due to his moral victory. These tragedies would invoke terror and pity on the audience, in a sense a tragedy could be considered a form of a catharsis, literally cleansing the soul as it is performed, even though the horror typically disturbed audiences, at the same time it cleansed their soul and purified the spirit.
The definition of tragedy in Webster’s dictionary is, "drama of elevated theme and diction and with unhappy ending; sad event, serious accident, calamity." However, the application of this terminology in Shakespearean Tragedy is more expressive. Tragedy does not only mean death or calamity, but in fact, it refers to a series of steps that leads to the downfall of the tragic hero and eventually to his tragic death. Lear, the main character in King Lear was affirmed as the tragic hero because the play meets all the requirements of a tragedy. In order for a character to be qualified as a tragic hero, he must be in a high status on the social chain and the hero also possesses a tragic flaw that initiates the tragedy.
Oedipus' character is labyrinthine in the sense that it raises controversies; many readers and critics might look at Oedipus as a hero who is doomed to his tragic end by misfortune and fate rather than by his tragic flaws. At first blush, this looks like a drawback that is enough to render the play inappropriate for an original model of the theory of tragedy. However, as a matter of fact Sophocles' plays contribute much to the formation of the ground on which the theory of tragedy is based. Actually Aristotle lays the foundations for the critical study of drama in his Poetics by drawing on Sophocles' plays most of the time, especially on Oedipus Rex. It is a fact clearly evident from this contextual standpoint that Oedipus Rex and consequently Oedipus, the hero of the play, serve as the most original incarnation--typical example--of the theory of tragedy.
Sophocles in his tragedy Oedipus Rex creates a mood of dramatic irony using the dualities of sight and blindness, and light and darkness. This dramatic irony highlights Oedipus’ hamartia and in doing so Sophocles enhances his message that arrogance and is wrong. In order to understand much of the foreshadowing in the play, should keep in mind who the audience Sophocles was presenting his play to. The play was originally preformed in front of the Greeks around 400 B.C. Oedipus Rex is based off the Greek legend of Oedipus, a story that the audience of the play watching Oedipus Rex, would have been familiar with.
In most dramatic plays, tragedy usually strikes the protagonist of the play and leads him, or her, to experience devastating losses. While tragic instances can be avoided, there are other instances where one’s fate and future is out of the protagonist’s control. In Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles and first performed around 249 BC, Oedipus cannot escape his destiny and even though he tries to overcome and circumvent prophecy, he finds out that supernatural forces will get what they want in the end. Oedipus meets the criteria of a tragic hero set forth by Aristotle and his fate within the play demonstrates that one does not always have free will in their lives. Traditionally, in Greek drama, tragedy is meant to reaffirm the concept that life is worth living and that people are in constant opposition with the universe.
Creon as the Tragic Hero in Antigone This essay will compare two of the characters in “Antigone”, Antigone and Creon, in an effort to determine the identity of the tragic hero in this tale. To identify the tragic hero in Sophocles’ renowned play “Antigone”, we should first consider both the elements present in Greek tragedies and what characteristics define a tragic hero. Aristotle’s definition of tragedy is: “Tragedy is a story taking the hero from happiness to misery because of a fatal flaw or mistake on his part. To be a true tragic hero he must also elicit a strong emotional response of pity and fear from the audience. This is known as catharsis or purging of emotion.” In most cases the tragic hero begins the play with high status, which is often lost in the exodus of the play.
Brutus also suffered a downfall that would classify him as tragic hero according to Aristotle. The plot of Caesar’s downfall and after his death added to the tragedy of the play. Thought within the play further proved the Tragedy of Julius Caesar to be, in fact, a tragedy by Aristotle’s definition, rather than a historical play. Following along Aristotle’s Definition of Tragedy in which the tragedy deals with a vey serious issue of great magnitude, Julius Caesar’s downfall fits the description. The character of Caesar held great arrogance and a sense of immortality.
Hamlet¡¦s situation, for example, is considered a tragic one although it differs from the relatively simple plots found in the earlier Greek tragedies. He is a nobleman, revered by his countrymen, who strives to alter the world around him. Ultimately, he must forfeit his own life to see justice done. The plot that unfolds in Shakespeare¡¦s drama includes politics, murder, and domestic strife, but still evokes pity and terror in the audience, precisely as intended by the early tragedians. Students can analyze the elements of tragedy in Hamlet, comparing and contrasting Prince Hamlet¡¦s plight with that of tragic heroes in Greek tragedies and in modern tragedies.