Tragedy - Amazon AWS

Tragedy

Terminology: tragedy, tragic hero, hamartia, hubris, imagery, dramatic irony, motif, symbolism

Learning outcomes…

• What is a tragedy?

• What is the difference between a Greek

tragedy and a Shakespearean tragedy?

• To use terminology to identify the features

of tragedy in my set texts

The history of tragedy…


tragedy

NOUN

1An event causing great suffering, destruction, and distress, such as

a serious accident, crime, or natural catastrophe.

‘a tragedy that killed 95 people’

mass noun ‘his life had been plagued by tragedy’

2A play dealing with tragic events and having an unhappy ending,

especially one concerning the downfall of the main character.

‘Shakespeare's tragedies’

2.1mass noun The dramatic genre represented by tragedies.

‘Greek tragedy’



Origin

The origin of the word ‘tragedy’ comes from the Greek

‘tragōidia, apparently from tragos ‘goat’.

Scholars suspect this may be traced to a time when a

goat was either the prize in a competition of choral

dancing or was that around which a chorus danced prior

to the animal's ritual sacrifice. Other interpretations could

be ‘harvest song’.



The primary source of knowledge of Tragedies is

the Poetics of Aristotle. Aristotle was able to gather first-hand

documentation from theatre performance in Attica, which is

inaccessible to scholars today. His work is therefore invaluable for

the study of ancient tragedy, even if his testimony is open to doubt

on some points.

According to Aristotle, tragedy evolved from the satyr dithyramb,

an Ancient Greek hymn, which was sung along with dancing in

honor of Dionysus. The dithyramb was an ancient Greek hymn sung

and danced in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetics_(Aristotle)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attica

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dithyramb

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymn

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymn

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertility


Satyr play


The original Tragedy was brief and burlesque in tone because it

contained elements of the Satyr play. Gradually, the language

became more serious and the meter changed from trochaic

tetrameter to the more prosaic iambic trimeter. The dithyramb was

originally improvised, but later written down before performance.

The Greek chorus of up to 50 men and boys danced and sang in a

circle, probably accompanied by an aulos (instrument), relating to

some event in the life of Dionysus.[

A Greek chorus is a homogeneous, non-individualised group of

performers, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic

action. The chorus consisted of between 12 and 50 players, who

variously danced, sang or spoke their lines in unison and sometimes

wore masks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyr_play

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trochaic_tetrameter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iambic_trimeter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iambic_trimeter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_chorus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aulos

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_tragedy#cite_note-Easterling3-11

The development of the Greek tragedy


• Aeschylus was to establish the basic rules of tragic drama. He is

credited with inventing the trilogy, a series of three tragedies that tell

one long story, and introduced the second actor, making the

dramatization of a conflict possible. Trilogies were performed in

sequence over a full day, sunrise to sunset. At the end of the last play,

a satyr play was staged to revive the spirits of the public, possibly

depressed by the events of the tragedy.

• Reforms of Sophocles: He introduced a third actor and

introduced scenery and the use of scenes. The chorus became less

important in explaining the plot and there was a greater emphasis on

character development and conflict. The events that overwhelm the

lives of the heroes are in no way explained or justified, and in this we

see the beginning of a painful reflection on the human condition, still

current in the contemporary world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilogy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyr_play

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scenery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scene_(drama)

The development of the Greek tragedy


• Euripides: Increased attention for feelings, as a mechanism to

elaborate the unfolding of tragic events.

• He turned the prologue into a monologue informing the spectators

of the story's background

• Introduced the deus ex machina (plot device whereby a seemingy

unsolvable problem is suddenly and unrepentantly resolved)

• gradually diminished the choir's prominence from the dramatic

point of view in favor of a monody (song, lament) sung by the

characters.

• Euripidean drama is represented by the realism with which the

playwright portrays his characters' psychological dynamics. The

hero described in his tragedies is no longer the resolute character

as he appears in the works of Aeschylus and Sophocles, but often

an insecure person, troubled by internal conflict.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feeling

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_ex_machina



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monody

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realism_(literature)

In Summary


• A form of drama based on human suffering

• Performed in amphitheatres in ancient Greece

• Is a performance, not a script

• Originally used as a form of worship for the Greek god

Dionysus

• Included a chorus (up to 50 people who danced and sang)

• In Greek tragedy, the focus is on man’s insignificance,

emphasising that it is FATE or DESTINY that is the cause of

bringing havoc and ruin to human life. It is the

powerlessness of man against such uncontrollable divide

orders that is the substance of Classical tragedy.



Aristotle

His own definition: Tragedy is, then, an enactment of a deed that is

important and complete, and of [a certain] magnitude, by means of

language enriched [with ornaments], each used separately in the

different parts [of the play]: it is enacted, not [merely] recited,

and through pity and fear it effects relief (catharsis) to such [and

similar] emotions. — Poetics, VI 1449b 2–3

What we know of tragedies today come from Artistotle’s works.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharsis



The Features


Unity of Action

• One single plot without any digressions

• No sub-plots should interfere with the main plot

The Features


Unity of Time

• Ideally 2-3 hours, the time taken for the play to be

performed

• Timespan of the play should not be any longer than

24 hours

• Previous events leading up to the present situation

were recounted on stage.

The Features


Unity of Place

• Setting should be limited to one location

• In comedy, it is often set in a street

• Oedipus Rex is set on the steps before the palace

Othello


Othello, apart from Act I in Venice, is located entirely within the

fortress at Cyprus. Although logically the play covers an

unspecified time lapse of, we presume, two or three weeks, it

proceeds, more or less, by major scenes through the hours of the

day, starting in Venice with the elopement after midnight, the

Senate meeting at dawn, then at Cyprus with the morning storm

and afternoon landings and developments, the fateful drinking

party in the early evening and the murder at bed time. This is not to

say that everything happens in the same day; it obviously cannot,

but the impression is of an abstract day unfolding. The plot is fairly

unified, focusing on Othello and his fate, and dealing with other

people and events only in so far as they are relevant to this focus.

Othello is about as near as Shakespeare gets to classical tragedy.

An Inspector Calls


Arguably we can read ‘An Inspector Calls’ as a tragedy because of

the desperate and lonely fate of young Eva, and we can clearly

see the three unities that make up the play’s structure: we follow the

action as it happens – there are no flashbacks or gaps in the plot;

the action happens over a period of several hours, no more than

24; and the stage is set in the Birling’s dining room, champagne

and all. Tension seems to be at the heart and soul of this play and

without the strict and sturdy walls of the three unities, perhaps as

noted earlier, it might become “disturbed”. Not a breath is allowed

to escape from the dining room and even Eric’s absence serves to

perpetuate the palpable tension in the room; Gerald too is only

allowed to leave with the permission of the Inspector who controls

the action in the play and dictates its course irrevocably.

Shakespearean Tragedy


In comedy, the instincts that lead to disorder are laughed at. In

tragedy, they are viewed seriously, with the dramatist fully

considering the disruptive effects of people's behaviour.

In Shakespeare's tragedies, the society in the play has shifted

so far from any orderly standard of behaviour that it

collapses into violence, and the main character is the principal

victim of this violence. This evil results not just in the death of

the tragic hero, but in the deaths of the innocent, who seek to

be singled out for destruction for no other reason than that

they are innocent.

Shakespearean Tragedy


PATTERN OF SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDY:

Early on we meet the tragic hero, a great figure like a

king or ruler. Through his own actions his life and the life

of those around him is thrown into disarray. In every play,

we are confronted with disorder in the central stages. But

in tragedy this is so extreme that the whole of life seems

close to chaos and meaninglessness. The terrible disorder

leads to the death of the tragic hero.

The Tragic Hero


• The term hero is derived from a Greek word that means a

person who faces adversity, or demonstrates courage, in

the face of danger. However, sometimes he faces downfall

as well. When a hero confronts downfall, he is recognized

as a tragic hero or protagonist.

• Aristotle defines a tragic hero as “a person who must evoke

a sense of pity and fear in the audience. He is considered

a man of misfortune that comes to him through error of

judgment.” A tragic hero’s downfall evokes feelings of pity

and fear among the audience.

The Features


Stature/nobility

• The hero will he an individual of some high rank or

status

• Their tragic fall involves the fate of a whole nation

The Features


Hamartia

• The hero is neither completely virtuous or evil

• The hero’s tragic flaw

• This brings about the hero’s downfall

• Whereas, Greek tragedy presents the hamartia as being

inflicted by destiny, Shakespeare, emphasises the responsibility

of an individual in bringing about his ruin. It is human action

independent of Destiny that causes the hamartia e.g.

Macbeth’s ambition

• Moral purpose: to encourage people to improve their

characters by removing the flaws that can cause a tragedy in

their lives.

The Tragic Flaw in Othello


• Some say that Othello's tragic flaw was jealousy which flared

at suspicion and rushed into action unchecked by calm common

sense.

• A more modern interpretation would say that Othello's tragic

flaw was that he had internalized, that is taken into himself, the

prejudices of those who surrounded him. In his heart he had

come to believe what they believed: that a black man is an

unattractive creature, not quite human, unworthy of love.

• Thinking this, he could not believe that Desdemona could truly

love him for himself. Her love must be a pretense, or a flawed

and corrupted emotion. Iago hinted at these ideas, and

Othello rushed to accept them, because they echoed his

deepest fears and insecurities.

The Tragic Flaw in Frankenstein


• Victor, in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, is another

character whose downfall is caused by a tragic error. His

hubris, or extreme pride and arrogance, decides his fate in

the narrative. He strives to become an unparalleled scientist,

and creates a monster that ultimately becomes the cause of

his disaster.

The Features


Hubris

• Excessive pride/ overconfidence

• The main cause for the hero’s path to destruction

• Usually found in the personality of a character who

enjoys a powerful position, who overestimates his

capabilities that he loses contact with reality

• “Young men and the rich are hubristic because they

think they are better than other people.”

Hubris in Doctor Faustus


An instance of hubris can be spotted in Marlowe’s

“Doctor Faustus”. Faustus’s arrogance and extreme pride

in his scholarship and his irresistible desire to become

superior to all other men of his age forces him to sell his

soul to “Lucifer” by signing a contract with his blood. He

learns the art of black magic and defies Christianity.

Finally, he has to pay for his arrogance and pride. The

devils take away his soul to Hell and he suffers eternal

damnation.

The Features


Peripeteia

• Being hubristic, the hero finds himself heading towards

catastrophe

• This results in a sudden reversal of fortune from

happiness to misery, rich to poor etc

• Culminates, inevitably, in his death

The Features


The Gods

• The hero is involved in an internal religious struggle

• Or a struggle with the god’s themselves

• Exposes the hero’s vulnerability, and his suffering

moves us

The Features


Fate

• Determined by the Gods in Greek Tragedies

• In Shakespearean versions, fate is determined by the

individual

• Death: It's worth remembering that the word "fatal",

meaning "deadly" is rooted in the word "fate". Life is

fatal: it ends inevitably. There is no escaping this fact.

Thus, each and every life carries a tragic fate: we all fall

from a great height, despite all of our greatest efforts.

The Features


The Fates

• Three mythical goddesses from Greek mythology

• Their number became fixed at three: Clotho (spinner),

Lachesis (allotter) and Atropos ('unturnable', a metaphor

for death).

• They controlled the mother thread of life of every mortal

from birth to death. They were independent, at the helm

of necessity, directed fate, and watched that the fate

assigned to every being by eternal laws might take its

course without obstruction.

Fate in Macbeth


• Shakespeare pits the prophecies of the three weird

sisters against his own dramatization of Macbeth’s

internal conflict

• Macbeth may be fated to be king, but he decides all

on his own that he will murder Duncan in order to

obtain the crown. His actions suggest that fate may be

predetermined, but free will determines how a

people reach their destinies.

• Three weird sisters- ‘wyrd’ which means fate

Fate in The Great Gatsby


The fact that the end of Gatsby’s story is known to the narrator at

the start and acknowledged through his retrospective narrative

position gives The Great Gatsby an obvious sense of inevitability.

The frequent use of foreboding and an elegiac narrative voice,

heard when Nick describes “the foul” that preyed on Gatsby and

through his reference to “savage, frightening dreams”, creates the

sense that Gatsby and his dreams are doomed from the start. The

eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are an interesting symbol in regards

to fate. Wilson sees them as the eyes of God warning that God

sees everything. It is possible to argue that Fitzgerald suggests

that God has pre-ordained Gatsby’s end. However, if the eyes

are God’s, then they belong to an unfair God who does nothing to

punish Tom Buchanan, his wife and those with inherited wealth.

The Features


Anagnorisis

• Through suffering, the hero is brought some

knowledge of self-knowledge

• He discovers that the earlier reversal of fortune was

his fault

• Normally occurs near death or when everything is lost

• “A man doesn't become a hero until he can see the

root of his own downfall”- Aristotle

Anagnorisis in Macbeth


One such moment in “Macbeth” occurs in the final scene

when Macbeth, on the battlefield, encounters vengeful

Macduff, who declares that he is not “of woman born,”

but instead “untimely ripped” from the womb of his

mother. This is the moment when Macbeth learns that the

prophecy of witches is about to come true, and that

Macduff would kill him. Though Macbeth realizes that he

is destined, he continues to fight with Macduff, who

eventually kills him.

Anagnorisis in Othello


There is another example in another play “Othello.”

Othello believes only what others tell him, especially

those who come to see him first. He believes in the story

of deceit of Iago, though it is based on words and a

handkerchief, yet he does not trust Desdemona, his wife.

The moment of recognition occurs when he realizes that

he has wrongly killed his beloved wife. Therefore, he kills

himself too.

The Features


Nemesis

• A punishment that the protagonist cannot avoid,

usually occurring as a result of his hubris.

• Poetic justice

• Good characters are rewarded for their virtues

• The term comes from the goddess of revenge in

Greek mythology

• Inescapable punishment

Nemesis in Frankenstein


Nemesis

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the protagonist Victor

exhibits hubris in his venture to become an unrivaled

scientist. After years of experiments, he triumphs in

creating a “monster,” which he calls “Frankenstein.”

Ironically, the thing which he considers his supreme

invention proves his nemesis. Frankenstein ultimately

becomes the source of Victor’s disaster, punishing him

justly for his over-ambition.

The Features


Catharsis

• Relief is felt by the audience at the end

• We pity what the tragic hero has lost

• And feel that the natural order has been restored

• We also feel relief as it puts our own concerns in to

perspective

• ‘emotional cleansing’

• ‘purgation’ or ‘purification’

Catharsis in Macbeth


In Act 1, he is made the thane of Cawdor by King Duncan, which makes him a

prodigy, well-regarded for his valor and talent. However he gets carried away

by ambition, and the supernatural world as well. Subsequently, he loses his wife,

his veracity, and eventually his life. The temptation of ambition robs him of the

essence of his existence as a human being, and leaves behind nothing but

discontent and a worthless life. In Act V, Macbeth gathers this idea in his

soliloquy. He says, while speaking of his life:

“… a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.”

Greek Vs Shakespeare


• Both deal with human suffering

• Fate/destiny vs individual ‘character is destiny’ AC Bradley

• Unity vs variety

• Real vs unreal characters

• Political/religious vs anything else

• Staging: masks and amphitheatres and religious festivals vs stage

• Chorus vs no chorus

• Absence of supernatural vs supernatural

In conclusion


These tragedies force us to ask how qualities like goodness, love,

justice and loyalty can survive in the world, given people's capacity

for evil and destruction.

The moment the façade of order is shattered we see the cruel,

vicious and murderous side of people, the self-seeking, hatred and

violence. The moment the usual social restraints are relaxed, an

overwhelming force of nature is released.

The great tragedies consider the possibility that human beings are

no more than vicious animals.

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