Bourgeois tragedy

Aristotle once said that a Greek Tragedy must include an important person that has a flaw. By this flaw, the audience should feel pity and fear. Creon, a character in the Greek tragedy “Antigone”, resembles a perfect example of a tragic hero. This play was written by Sophocles, a historic playwright during the 5th century. It begins with the illegal burial of Polyneices, Antigone’s beloved brother. Creon, the King of Thebes, is coerced to condemn his niece Antigone to death. Being loyal to his city

102Q 25 November 2011 Does Antigone Deserve to Be Punished? Antigone has been acclaimed as a model that challenges authority and insists on just acts. However, according to Aristotle, a tragedy requires a man’s harmartia, which means error. Therefore, as a main character of a great tragedy, Antigone must possess flaws. Antigone’s self-certainty is one of her mistakes that contribute to her tragic fate. She regards burying dead people as absolute just behavior under any circumstance

Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman as Classic Greek Tragedy Miller’s Death of a Salesman is an interesting and complex play set at a time of great change in America. Some people believe that it is one of a few classic tragedies written in modern time. While on the surface this play and characters don't appear to hold the definition of tragedy that Aristotle described. In a modern context I believe it may be very close to fitting that mold. Willy is a person that has always been a dreamer

Death of a Salesman is a Tragedy as Defined in Miller's Tragedy and the Common Man In Tragedy and the Common Man, Arthur Miller discusses his definition and criteria for tragedy as they apply to the common man. The criteria and standards proposed by Miller may be used to evaluate his timeless work, Death of A Salesman. The first major standard of tragedy set forth is:  “...if the exaltation of tragic action were truly a property of the high-bred character alone, it is inconceivable that

Hamlet's Soliloquy             The purpose of a soliloquy is to outline the thoughts and feelings of a certain character at a point in the play. It reveals the innermost beliefs of the character and offers an unbiased perspective as it is merely the character talking to the audience, albeit not directly, and not to any other characters who may cause the character to withhold their true opinions. Therefore, Hamlet's first soliloquy (act 1, scene 2) is essential to the play as it highlights

Death of a Salesman - A Modern Day Tragedy The question which arises within Death of a Salesman is, 'Is this a modern Tragedy?' A tragic play can be commonly observed when a protagonist falls from a great height. His decline is not about immediate death, although in most cases death becomes apparent at the end of the play, e.g. Macbeth. A tragedy shows the suffering of a character and utter compulsion of him if he does not succeed to reach his dream. These plays show the blissful release

Oedipus the King The ancient Greeks were famous for their tragedies. These dramas functioned to “ask questions about the nature of man, his position in the universe, and the powers that govern his life” (“Greek” 1). Brereton (1968) stated that tragedies typically “involved a final and impressive disaster due to an unforeseen or unrealized failure involving people who command respect and sympathy. It often entails an ironical change of fortune and usually conveys a strong impression of

The classic tragedy, as defined by Aristotle, has six major parts. These parts include a plot, characters, theme, melody, spectacle, and language. All stories, according to Aristotle must have a beginning, middle, and end, and must follow a logical sequence according to these six elements.      The plot is the series of events, or sequence in which the action of the play occurs. Plot must follow a cause and effect relationship, which follows a logical pattern. Characters

A View from the Bridge is a dramatic tragedy, which follows the life of a dockworker, Eddie Carbone, in 1950s America who is the main focus of the play. He represents the average, everyday man in society, but his character draws parallels to many tragic heroes in the past shown in Greek tragedies, Shakespeare’s plays, etc. (e.g. Hamlet and Macbeth). A tragic hero is the hero in the story who has positive and negative traits and their negative traits is what eventually leads to the demise and this

Tragedies have been written, told, and acted out for a number of years. Aristotle defined in his book, Poetics that a tragedy is to arouse the emotions of pity, fear, and finally a catharsis, or purging of emotions. A tragic play that perfectly completes this cycle of emotions is Oedipus the King by Sophocles. This play follows a king of the town of Thebes through his journey of the emotions of pity, fear, and finally a catharsis. It is a tale of a man who unknowingly kills his father and fathers