Essay on "Tragedy"_Literary forms & Criticism

Unit-II
Drama
“Tragedy”

The term is broadly applied to literary, and especially to dramatic, representations of serious actions which eventuate in a disastrous conclusion for the protagonist (the chief character). More precise and detailed discussions of the tragic form properly begin—although they should not end—with Aristotle’s classic analysis in the Poetics (fourth century BC). Aristotle based his theory by reference to the only examples available to him, the tragedies of Greek dramatists such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. In the subsequent two thousand years and more, various new types of serious plots ending in a catastrophe have been developed types that Aristotle had no way of foreseeing.

Aristotle defined tragedy as “the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself,” in the medium of poetic language and in the manner of dramatic rather than of narrative presentation, involving “incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish the catharsis of such emotions.”

Senecan tragedy was written to be recited rather than acted; but to English playwrights, who thought that these tragedies had been intended for the stage, they provided the model for an organized five-act play with a complex plot and an elaborately formal style of dialogue. Senecan drama, in the Elizabethan Age, had two main lines of development. One of these consisted of academic tragedies written in close imitation of the Senecan model, including the use of a chorus, and usually constructed according to the rules of the three unities, which had been elaborated by Italian critics of the sixteenth century; the earliest English example was Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton’s Gorboduc (1562).

Introduction

Tragedy

A serious play or narrative in which the hero becomes engaged in a conflict, experiences great suffering and is finally defeated and dies.

 Aristotle's definition

The classical conception of tragedy, as defined by Aristotle in his poetics, involves a hero of noble stature whose fortunes are reversed as a result of a weakness (or tragic flaw) in an otherwise noble nature.

1. Introduction

A tragedy is a serious play in which the hero is engaged in a conflict, experiences great suffering and is finally defeated and dies. The classical conception of tragedy, as defined by Aristotle in his Poetics involves a hero of noble stature whose fortunes are reversed as a result of weakness or tragic flaw in an otherwise noble nature. The effect of dramatic tragedy, according to Aristotle, is to arouse in the audience feelings of pity and fear in such a way to produce a catharsis or purging of these emotions. Basically tragedy is a story with an unhappy ending.

2. Greek conception of tragedy

In Greek language, the word 'tragedy' means "a goat song'' and the word came to be used for plays because of the practice of awarding goats to winners in a dramatic contest. For the Greeks, tragedy simply meant, "One of the three serious plays presented before the satyr play at a dramatic festival".

3. Aristotle's Definition

Aristotle defined tragedy as "the imitation of an action, serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude, in a language beautified in different parts with different kinds of embellishment through action not narration, and through scenes of pity and fear bringing about the "Catharsis” of these emotions". It is basically an imitation of an action with the function and emotional effects of tragedy. It is serious in action. The action must be complete. The basic action must be in accordance with the laws of probability and necessity. It must be of a certain magnitude. It must have an orderly development of action to a Catastrophe. It must be an organic whole.

4. The Plot of Tragedy

Aristotle in his definition of tragedy, defined the plot of tragedy on two levels; i) simple and i) complex. Simple plots have continuous movements and in them there are no violent changes. Complex plots have peripeteia and anagnorsis. Peripeteia means that human actions produce results exactly opposite to what was intended. It leads to one's own defeat. Anagnorsis is the realisation of truth. The plot should also arouse the emotions of pity and fear.

5. The Functions of Tragedy

The end of tragedy is to give pleasure. Aristotle considers pleasure as an essential moral function of tragedy. The pleasure of tragedy is caused by Catharsis of the emotions of pity and fear. Tragedy gives incidental pleasure as it directs and controls the emotions. It guides man's emotions to goals. It corrects emotional responses it frees the individual from anxiety, worry, etc. Tragedy gives 'pure' pleasure as well. It imitates action and life, its pain and misery. There is a total emotional identification of the spectator with the person who suffers on the stage. The unity of the plot, the direction, and the spectacle, etc. are other sources or pleasure in a tragedy.

6. Importance of Plot and Character

Tragedy according to Aristotle, is not an imitation of men, but of men in action. Action implies a process, the process of change from happiness to misery, and every such action is made up of a number of events and incidents. Plot is the organization of the incidents and events which make up the action of tragedy. Further, action, in the Aristotelian sense, is not a purely external act, but also an inward process, the expression of a mans self, of his thought and emotions, in short, of his mental processes, which are revealed in outward action, in drama. the characters are not described, they enact their own story and so reveal themselves. Without action in this sense, without such performance, there can be no drama at all. In short, plot contains the kernel of that action which is the business of a tragedy to represent. It is the plot which shows a character passing from happiness to misery, as a result of his own actions. Plot, according to Aristotle, is "the soul of tragedy and character only secondary.

7. The tragic Hero

The ideal tragic hero should be good. He should fall from happiness to misery. His undeserved fall should shock and disgust the audience. He is not depraved or vicious. His misfortune is brought upon him by some fault of his own. He falls not because of the act of someone outside but because of hamartia on his part. Hamartia is not a moral failing but a tragic flaw. The tragic hero must be a highly placed individual, King or Queen or the Duchess

8. Conclusion

Tragedy is of great social significance. It brings illumination and understanding to human mind. It is the noblest form of literature.