The Birth of Tragedy

very early in life have thought of writing,""It is not singular that, as the daughter of two persons of distinguished literary celebrity, I should very early in life have thought of writing," Although, Mary never knew her birth mother because just after four weeks of giving birth to her she died of complications, her mother’s past in writing would be an influence to Mary later in life. At the young age of four weeks, she was exposed to her first of many instances of death or horror. It would…

Athens, was performed as a part of a celebration of the god Dionysus – a festival entitled the City Dionysia. At such festival, playwrights (or Greek poietes) would participate in ‘tragic contests’, with each tragedian presenting a tetralogy (three tragedies and one satyr play) each day (Rehm, 1992). Many of the extant plays from this historic time…

The “birth” scene of the creature demonstrates that the creature was not always the monster that everyone thought he was, and that it was due to people’s attitude (including Victor’s) and bias towards him that made him into the monster that he is at the end of the book. The description of the weather in the birth scene foretold the horror feeling that Victor would have towards the creature that he has created. The birth scene started “on a dreary night in November” (pg. 83), with “rain pattered…

William Shakespeare. He is quite a well known figure in the world of literature. He has written many plays, one of those being The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, a well known play of his about the assassination of Julius Caesar, the ruler of Ancient Rome, until his assassination. Now in many plays there is a tragic hero. Traditionally they have elements such as being of noble birth and suffering a catastrophe. They would also have a tragic flaw, a trait that is what makes the outcome of the character…

Oedipus the King and Othello the Moore of Venice were written by two different writers in different time periods it is learned that the main characters, Oedipus and Othello have several comparable and contrasting characteristics. Both plays ends in tragedy at the exposition of the main characters, Oedipus and Othello. Oedipus and Othello are both powerful characters. Oedipus is the new king of Thebes and Othello is a military leader of Venice. They are both proud individuals and they are…

Friar Laurence plays a significant role in the development of the play and serves to move the plot and action along stemming away from comedy and directing the conclusion towards tragedy. His introductory soliloquy reflects both towards this act as well as the play as a whole as a form of foreshadowing and as representative of Friar Laurence’s intentions and character. Dramatically, he is a moral figure and an advisor to Romeo, however his introductory soliloquy is allowing his philosophy to…

Creon, these words mark the beginning of his downfall. Every Greek tragedy included a tragic hero, a person who started at the top and fell to the bottom. King Creon fulfills the role of tragic hero in Sophocles play Antigone. Aristotle said that to be a tragic hero, a character must be a person of high birth, virtuous but not pre-eminently just. Creon holds the position of King of Thebes which complies with the requirement of high birth. As King, Creon possesses many good intentions for…

The Importance of Family Both “The Odyssey” and “The Meeting of Father and son” show family is the most important quality to achieve a happy and successful life because family always stays by one's side and family never turns their back on their own. It may be true that family is only needed to help one overcome obstacles and does not lead to a happy and successful life. But in “The Odyssey” by Homer, it shows Odysseus’ family always stayed by his side. Odysseus is getting ready to take his…

The perception of meaning(explain this term) comes down to “becoming aware of what can be done about a given situation” (Frankl 144), and the most important part of finding meaning in life is to “turn personal tragedy into triumph” (146). A person has both good and bad potentials, in addition to, the freedom to “choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s way” (Frankl 66). Inside all of us are virtues and vices, what is important is…

oldest and most respected art forms in history. Aristotle outlined what he believed to be the most logical sequence for a tragedy in his essay Poetics. These ideals can be applied to any modern day text to evaluate its traditionalism in terms of Aristotelian tragedies. The film Juno, produced by Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman, captures several of Aristotle's key points regarding tragedy. According to Aristotle, for a dramatic work to be successful, the audience must be able to easily…