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Grasp of tradegy
It is a tragedy when a character fails to adapt to change, or see their own wrong doings. In both Oedipus, Antigone, and Before the Law one of the most important things brought to the story is the Law and how they are enforced. In Oedipus he is a tyrant leader who threatens everyone when trying to get information to uncover the unsolved murder. Oedipus shows the fact that he'd rather be feared than loved by his citizens. When the truth is uncovered and the citizens no longer fear him that is when the tragedy occurs. In Antigone she challenges the law because she realizes that the only way for this law to change is for someone to challenge it to prove that the bad law. The tragedy occurs in this play when Creon is unable to change. You're never going to be able to lead well if you are unable to change your ways. In Before the Law the story speaks of a man who is too afraid to challenge the rules and so nothing happens. In a way this is a tragedy for his life is wasted waiting to be able to reach the law. We are taught that rules and laws are put in place to keep us safe but there are some rules that need to be challenged and they will never change until someone has the courage to speak out. People are more willing to blindly accept rules rather than to stand up for what is right.
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The main character in tragedies almost every time is very self centered and and concerned with self preservation, rather than having a sense of whats right. In situations like in Oedipus or in Antigone the main characters are too obsessed with what the citizens will think of them to do what is just. Antigone is punished because she wants to show her brother respect and although that would be praised by anyone else, a ruler must have authority and be feared. If Creon were to show mercy on Antigone then he would appear a weak leader and he doesn't follow his own rules. Although what would have saved Creon from the tragedy that is Antigone, is if he were to see that his law made was outrageous, that is his nephew Antigone's brother. As Hamion said “In the winter floods you can see how the trees that give way save every stream, and how those that strain are destroyed, uprooted. In the same way, the man who tightens the halyard and doesn't slacken it, is capsized (49)". If a person cannot see their own wrong doings and change then they will fall from power. In this case Creon did fall, he lost the people he cared for most, his wife, and son. After being warned not once but twice that his way would lead to misery only when he had learned his lesson was it too late for the story to have a Disney type "happily ever after". But the whole reason for a tragedy is for the main character to learn an important lesson and if there and typically a person or two end up dead in the end... in this case three. "Take me away, a poor fool. I killed you both, son and wife. No, nowhere to look, not to lean, but slides from my hands. It leaps on me, it crushes (73)." Creon has lost everything and now he begs forgiveness for he cannot stand sorrow from the death of his wife and child as well as he cannot accept that he has lost his respect in society. What all tragedies have in common is the characters longing to belong and the society's reluctance to accept him or her. Since the day you were born you were told by your parents, loved ones, teachers, that you are in control. But that is far from the truth, the outside world impacts your every decision. When you are given an option you use social cues and what is accepted by society. You'll never actually know what you want because the bigger need is for you to be accepted by everyone else. You don't pick something because it is necessarily what you want but it is what you want others to envy you from. A tragedy comes in when you find out that what you have is not what others envy but something they detest. Oedipus is a tragedy because society detested his interactions with his wife and mother. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy for the same reason the families detested their love. When you are given an option and choose the wrong one that is a tragedy. "Tragedy is not, then, as Aristotle said, the imitation of noble actions, for, indeed, no one knows what a noble action is or whether or not such a thing as nobility exists in nature apart from the mind of man (Joseph Krutch 3)". This is an interesting point of view for how does a person come to power without the approval of others. Once someone is given the power of nobility then they have to act as how they think that others want them to act. There is a constant tug and pull of what the followers want and what the leader thinks they want. But the idea of nobility only exists when people are willing to follow, if people don't follow. "And yet, nevertheless, the idea of nobility is inseparable from the idea of tragedy, which cannot exist without it. If tragedy is not the imitation or even the modified representation of noble actions it is certainly a representation of actions considered as noble, and herein lies its essential nature, since no man can conceive it unless he is capable of believing in the greatness and importance of man (Krutch 4)". Tragedies share a common thread of nobles being rejected by the rest of society in some way. Whether it's Romeo and Juliet and their forbidden love or Oedipus and his instinctual love. The people that put them into power had a different idea of what made them noble and when they found out that that's not how their idea of a noble should act they instantly turn on the nobles. Oedipus is a true example of a tragedy for nothing ever goes right for anyone. The town is going through turmoil, and Creon uncovers that the only way to save the town is to solve a murder. Then the tables turn and another tragedy unfolds, Oedipus begins to uncover that not only was he adopted but he murdered his biological father. This makes the tragedy difficult for Oedipus for he promised that he would punish whoever murdered the previous king. A common trait in a Tragedy is that a character must have a flaw, Oedipus possesses one of the most interesting flaws that devours the story for he is married to his mother. This makes it hard to pity him for his flaw is so original. At the beginning of the tragedy the town worshiped Oedipus making him king after he saved the town. But after the truth is uncovered the entire town instantly turned on him. He has lost all respect, all honor that he once had. The more that is uncovered the more Oedipus believes that he is a monster like the town says he is "O Polybus Corinth, native land, as once supposed, you raised a lovely thing in me, but evil festered underneath. Behold an evil man with evil roots (82)!" He thinks he is evil but who a man loves doesn't make him evil (even if it qualifies as incest) what matters are his actions. He just saved a whole town from being destroyed but because he married his mom who is not a social norm the whole town turns on him. Scared with grief for the monstrosity that he had done he gouges his eyes out. "Meanwhile the brooches never ceased to rise and fall. He struck his face so many times his face was soaking in blood that poured from them, and not a sprinkling here and there, a blinding storm, a hurricane of gore (78)." He thought gouging his eyes out would make the towns people happy, he was punished. But they said that wasn't good enough and he must be exiled or killed. For such a personal problem it is upsetting to see how appalled the towns people are. The true tragedy at the end is not that Oedipus got exiled but how his daughters will live the rest of their life as the butt to society, those girls who's parents are Mother and Son. A tragedy contains people who have lost not losers. Now some may wonder, what is the difference? Well a loser is someone who accepts their failures and doesn't learn from them, or assumes that their failure is because the world hates them. Someone who has lost is a person who has failed, or has lost a person and changes in a way after. In Hamlet he has lost his father, not making him a loser for he instantly changes after the death of his father, he is depressed and tries to do something about it. He seeks revenge on his father's death. When thinking of a the difference between a tragic event and a tragedy a tragic event is like a loser, something bad that happens but in some cases nothing is learned from. A tragedy is like someone who has lost for there is opportunity to grow and learn. As earlier defined a loser is a the idea of a meritocracy comes to mind. A person is more likely to accept that they're made to fail if they think that it's because they deserve it. But if a person were to think about the thought of meritocracy they would have a hard time to see how realistic it actually is. There are many people who have been successful for the wrong reasons. It is impossible to make sure that everyone gets what they deserve. Although that is ideal some good people aren't successful and bad people are sometimes very successful. Merit isn't a form of currency. People are able to learn more form their own failures. Tragedy is not a idea found in novels, or stories, but something that can be found in everyone's life. No one is perfect or has a perfect life bad things happen to everyone. "[Arthur Miller thinks] the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, to secure one thing-- his sense of personal dignity (Arthur Miller 4)". A man is nothing without his dignity, with no one to accept him or view him as worthy a man is not a man. In society today people put a big emphasis on how others think of them. A man feels like an outlaw when he goes against the social norm and is not accepted by a majority. It takes a strong man stand up for something he believes in that is not widely accepted "laying down" their social life in the process bringing that feeling of tragedy into thought. "The quality in such plays that does shake [them], however, derives from the underlying fear of being displacer, the disaster inherent in being torn away from our chosen image of what and who we are in this world (Miller 10)". It is a tragic event when a man is pulled from his comfort level for there is a fear of not feeling as though he belong. Although when being torn away there allows a man to grow and see new possibilities, to learn. A man will always want to restore his place in society if it is ever lost. "For, if it is true to say that in essence the tragic hero is intent upon claiming the whole due as a personality, and if this struggle must be total and without reservation, then it automatically demonstrates the indestructible will of man to achieve his humanity (Miller 18)". The pressure society has put on fitting in, having friends, being normal is a tragedy for everyone has weak moments where they aren't up to society's standards. The fact the man feels the need prove himself worthy to be accepted again when he strays from the social norm is the real tragedy in our society. Sometimes you are born into a tragedy making it difficult to learn from it. Although that isn't the case for me I live in a loving household, although my parents divorced two years ago I still have two parents that love and support me. Some people don't have it as nice as I do. So for those people when it shows up on the news that a girl is getting in trouble for a picture she posted they might think 'so what? why aren't the people in my life getting trouble for hurting me?' But for me I can recognize the tragedy in the story and especially in this example learn from it. “The commons dilemma stands as a model for a great variety of resource problems in society today, such as water, forests,[16] fish, and non-renewable energy sources such as oil and coal (Tragedy the Commons)." In the world today the tragedy is that students don't think about the consequences before they post pictures on the internet. Common tragedy gives all audiences a snapshot into what is going on at the setting of the tragedy; for this girl posting the picture she's getting in trouble with the law or government making the tragedy public. This girl's picture she posted went viral meaning hundreds of people liked her picture, pointing out a flaw in society saying it is okay to post mean pictures that put other people down or bully people. |
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