Old Tragedy Versus New Tragedy

A Tragedy as a literary Work is described in which there is a hero that is basically moral individual destroyed by some character flaw and by force beyond his or her control. That hero is a tragic hero who experiences an inner struggle because of this flaw. Because of his charter flaw and his struggle to do what is right, John Proctor is a tragic hero.

A tragedy typically illustrates the downfall of the protagonist, who is usually a person of good standing, through one or a series of tragic incidents that he or she does not have control over. The protagonist usually has a wish to achieve some goal but encounters obstacles along the way. The outcome is that the protagonist is unable to overcome these challenges and therefore suffers a change in fortune and experiences a tragic ending.

In order to gain a proper perspective on the concept of what a tragic hero is, we must synthesize information from the following play’s, “The Death Of A Salesman”, and “Oedipus The King”. Both plays takes the stance on the idea that validates the ultimate notion,  “tragic hero. From Willy’s hubris personality to his questionable and mysterious death, to Oedipus dynamic and complex choices and kingly personality that determines his fate. A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgement that leads to his/her downfall. In other words, even though both characters made incredible contributions and left a very noble legacy, their choices and decisions determined their ultimate fate. In today’s world tragic heroes are commonly present,

What is a tragedy? A tragedy is a drama in which the protagonist is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances. In the play Othello, William Shakespeare uses the literary device characterization in sequence to convey that Othello’s tragic flaw is the main reason that brings Othello to his downfall --- death. The causes of the tragedy of Othello are Othello’s gullibility to Iago, jealousy of Desdemona’s affair, and male pride.

The definition of tragedy is great suffering, destruction, or distress like a disaster. The term is commonly used in our society but where did it come from. Aristotle, an ancient greek philosopher, laid the foundation for the definition of a tragedy that we still use today. His idea of tragedy is a character who makes a judgment error that inevitably lead to his or her own destruction. He called this a tragic hero. Aristotle's’ idea was based on five specific characteristics. The characteristics were hamartia, peripeteia, anagnorisis, hubris and lastly, the character’s fate must be greater than deserved. The book, Oedipus The King, written by Socrates, fits Aristotle’s idea perfectly. Oedipus is an ideal tragic hero because he goes through all the five specific characteristics throughout the book.

Most readers are aware of the many famous deaths or acts of death within the Shakespearean plays. And when the main characters die in Shakespeare’s plays, indeed, the readers would categorize the play as a tragedy. The problem with any tragedy definition is that most tragic plays do not define the tragedy conditions explained or outlined by Aristotle. According to Telford (1961), a tragedy is a literary

Literature utilizes the readers’ need to connect with a character. More often than not, with authors making their characters relatable in one sense or another that could be transferred into multiple stories. This idea of relatability is the core of the tragic hero, a trope used often in literature including in stories such as Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Shakespeare's Othello, and August Wilson’s Fences. Each from different years, authors, and genres, yet each utilizing the tragic hero to further their individual themes through depicting the greatness of a godlike man and his fall to lowest points within humanity.

Tragedy is defined as an event that causes suffering, destruction and death. When one is not fully aware of their knowledge, terrible events will correspond to what one has done. In the short story Mermaids by Richard Van Camp, the human suffering of Torchy resembles an Aristotle tragedy. Firstly, Torchy demonstrates hamartia when he is gambling. Additionally, the outcome of Torchy’s hamartia leads him to peripeteia which Torchy runs out of medicine. Lastly, Torchy wonders if he is a villain and this shows anagnorisis. Torchy’s actions ultimately lead his life to a downfall that is caused through accidental events, and this overall demonstrates the concept of an Aristotle tragedy.

When we think of the tragedy, we think of something bad happening to someone. This cannot be a tragedy. To know what tragedy is we have to take a look at what Arthur Miller thinks of as tragic.

When hearing the word Tragedy, it would not be surprising if several different individuals would immediately think of several unique examples of the word. Perhaps one is an opera enthusiast who immediately thinks of Puccini’s La Boheme. Another is a war enthusiast that thinks about History Channel’s new episode highlighting the harshest and bloodiest battles of World War One. Even a third one obsessed with Greek mythology could generate a handful of examples of tragedy. Tragedy, like love or comedy is a universal theme that can be used to entertain, enlighten and excite its audiences. William Shakespeare, a world renown writer, was a master of this genre writing works, including Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and Hamlet. Another lesser known

    By definition, a tragedy is a story that details the downfall of a protagonist. Most often, the protagonist (tragic hero) is a member of high society who is faced with an oppositional force, be it internal or external. In his Poetics, Aristotle states that "tragedy is the imitation of an action; and an action implies personal agents, who necessarily possess certain distinctive qualities both of character and thought; for it is by these that we qualify actions themselves, and these- thought and character- are the two natural causes from which actions spring, and on actions, again all success or failure depends...." This quote illustrates an aspect of tragedy upon which many works are based, including

Hundreds of years ago Greek plays were very popular. People would plan to go to these plays for entertainment and to have fun with their friends. These plays would also help to teach the audience all about Greek mythology. The main character in these plays often had something tragic occur at the end, such as death. This character was the referred to as the “tragic hero.” A couple hundred years later a Greek philosopher named Aristotle described tragedy with 4 simple elements, nobility of the character, the flaws of the tragic hero, the start of the tragic hero’s downfall, and his/her punishment. In Things Fall Apart, Oedipus, and Antigone there is a character that shows this definition of tragedy by the end of the book and or play. This is usually caused by something called hubris, excessive pride. Things Fall Apart, Oedipus, and Antigone all fulfill Aristotle 's definition of tragedy.

What is the correct definition of tragedy anyways? Many people would define tragedy as a disaster, but according to the book The Cambridge Guide to World Theatre by Martin Banham, the word tragedy is “a word whose meaning changes with time and place” (1002). In Medieval times, “tragedy came to mean the downfall of a person of high degree” (Banham 1002), but in recent times, the meaning of the word tragedy has many definitions. According to Banham, “realists refused to limit tragedy to privileged protagonists” (1002). Two famous tragic plays that I found to have a genre of tragedy are Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl. In both of these plays, the downfall was not of a person of high degree but there was a

According to Aristotle’s definition of tragedy, the plot of a tragedy is above all the most important element, and for one to write a successful tragedy, one must have an excellent plot. In his Poetics, Aristotle lists four

Aristotle defines a tragedy as a ‘representation of an action which is important, complete and limited in length. It is enacted not recited and by arousing pity and fear, it gives an outlet to emotions of this type.’