Tragedy in Life Essay

The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller is about how Willy Loman, an unsuccessful salesman, has a perfect dream for himself and his family. All he wants in life is to be successful and he will do anything to make sure people believe him, but when he gets fired from his job, you start to see his “perfect plan” fall to pieces and it all goes downhill from there. Oedipus the King by Sophocles is about how Oedipus thinking he was the most remarkable man around, but when a truth about his past comes…

Creon in the tragedy, Antigone. Though the tragic drama Antigone was written in the 6th Century B.C, this problem is still faced today (Willocks). King Creon deals with this problem after making the wrong decision to send Antigone to the cave to die for attempting to give her brother a proper burial after he dies in battle with their brother, Eteocles. The death of Antigone is why this drama is a tragedy. A tragedy is an event causing great suffering and destruction. In every tragedy, there is a…

that Aristotle first spoke about his theory on tragedy in general in “Poetics”. Aristotle asserts a true tragic hero is not: A good man going from happiness to misery, a bad man from misery to happiness or an extremely bad man from happiness into misery (Reeves,…

Drama Paper A tragedy is “a dramatic form, [which] is designed to evoke powerful emotions..through catharsis, to serve a salutary political, moral, and ethical purpose.” (1031). In my eyes, a tragedy is when the protagonist suffers some hardship, leaving the drama with no happy ending. Aristotle, who is a good source of information since “no one before or after Aristotle has had more firsthand knowledge of Greek tragedy” (1028), follows a criteria for a tragedy piece, which contains many…

Characters in ancient tragedies had clear defined roles. There were heroes and villains, who did not stray from their archetype. These stories and perhaps all others are reflective of the level of complexity of the societies their authors lived in. For example, Goethe’s Faust, a “modern tragedy,” is reflective of a society during a paradigm shift: science is taking the place of religion in terms of providing guidance and people are left with more questions than answers about their place in the…

born to die young and that’s her fate. Telling everything ahead of time makes the audience lose the element of surprise/life being loss. It makes the audience feel strong emotion toward Antigone from the start. The Chorus in Jean Anouilh's Antigone is very much different from Sophocles’ version. As said the chorus opens the play with a long explanation of background of the characters and the events of the play. In Sophocles’ Antigone, the audience would've known these details. Anouilh seems to…

Perhaps one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies, Othello captures the true essence of an Aristotelian tragedy through the rise and fall of Othello The Moor, and his wife Desdemona. The sovereignty, and love both held for themselves, and one another slips away in a battle for power championed by Iago. Othello, leader of men, purveyor of lands, and lover of Desdemona falls ever so swiftly from his stately manner to a disgraced, dead man by the end of the play. His insatiable appetite to prove…

Tragedy is intended to expose humans of their fallibility and hubris. In the short story “Mermaids”, Richard Van Camp illustrates a young man, Torchy forgets his grandfather’s warning to him after giving Torchy a bless to win in the gamble. Torchy’s lust for money and sex leads himself to his own tragedy. “Mermaids” is a tragedy because Torchy’s tragic flaw undermines his judgment that leads to his misfortune; however, it elicits fear and pity in the end that enables readers to experience…

Greek Theater Greek drama is said to have its roots from Athenian seasonal festivals honoring Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility. These festivals occurred around 700 B.C.; they were filled with drunkenness and sexuality. Scholars believe there were four festivals during each of the seasonal change periods. The festival related to the Greek people planting, tending the vine, harvesting, and wine-making was in early December. This was called the Festival of Vintage. There was a…

2. Within the article Aristotle suggests that it is improper for female characters in tragedy to be “manly or formidable”. Thus, he would not agree with the entire characterization of Antigone in Sophocles’ play, Antigone. In which Antigone is the main character who constantly stands up against Creon and all who oppose her, so that she can fulfil what she thinks is right. Thus, in some ways she is formidable in personality because of her adamant nature on fulfilling her values and is not in any…