Tragedy

Antigone, the third and final of Sophocles’ Theban tragedies. Set in the aftermath of both Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone follows the rebellion of Oedipus’ daughter Antigone against her uncle Creon, the current ruler of Thebes. Antigone and her sister, Ismene, return to Thebes following the death of their father. Upon arriving, the sisters learn their brothers–Etoecles and Polynices–slaughtered each other.…

their downfall. In play the Crucible written by Arthur Miller, an allegory of the communist witch hunts, tragic hero is born. John Proctor is the tragic hero in the Crucible, he is viewed as a large figure, yet a certain desire he has leads to a tragedy in the play and his downfall. John Proctor stands on principle in Salem by portraying himself as an important figure, which exemplifies him as the tragic hero of the play.…

served as hamlet avenges his father. The other opinion that is typically brought up is a darker more pessimistic ending claiming that Hamlet is a true tragedy perspective in that everyone including innocent people die. Foleys essay is on that these two ideas of Hamlet are both wrong and that “Hamlet represents the blackest of all Shakespeare’s tragedies and expresses a vision of life that is unrelentingly bleak and pessimistic” (Foley 45). Foley farther believes that Hamlet suggests a world of…

shares a common story with millions of people because in modern times the common man has similar emotional situations just like kings did who are tragic heroes in drama. Willy Loman is the hero of this play to me based off what author miller wrote in Tragedy and the Common Man “ I think the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character…

Oedipus Rex, a tragedy written by Sophocles, features Oedipus as a tragic hero with an unavoidable fate. This tragedy explores Oedipus’ quest for his true identity. His search for Laius’ murderer leads him on a search for the truth regarding his birth. Eventually, Oedipus discovers he has committed murder and incest, resulting in his exile from Thebes and his ultimate downfall. According to Aristotle’s view on tragedies and tragic heroes, a tragic hero must possess a tragic flaw that leads to…

soldiers into battle. A beloved hero, praised for his or her benevolent and generous actions, shoulders the burden of inevitable tragedy-- the inescapable downfall. However, with the fall of the esteemed hero, comes a certain attainment. The fall does not result in pure loss, as seen in the epic poem Beowulf, translated by Burton Raffel, and in Sophocles’ famed tragedy, Oedipus. As the tragic hero Beowulf bleeds to death at the teeth of his late enemy, he claims long-sought glory in exchange…

Sophocles’ plays, Oedipus Rex and Antigone, and Euripides’ play, Medea, share the same three motifs: tragic flaw, betrayal, and self-righteousness; which create the conflicts in each of the three timeless Greek plays, and these motifs are rooted in way people behave. Oedipus’ tragic flaw is how he avidly seeks the truth, even to the extent that his wife would commit suicide and he blind himself. Compassion, which is usually predominant in women, causes Antigone’s downfall because she felt…

moment we are born, our destiny is already predetermined and nothing we do will change our story. In the play “Oedipus the King” we see how Oedipus’ destiny is a predetermined future that is inescapable. From the moment, Oedipus learned about the tragedy he would experience through a prophecy, he tried to defy his destiny and that in turn lead to his tragic drama. Oedipus’ tragic heroic destiny all started when “a drunken man, accused…

King Lear is a story of the consequences caused by the foolish decisions of the main character. His other flaw, arrogance, contributes to his ignorance. He is carelessness in making decisions causes him to make ignorant choices. The king believes only what appeals to him and nothing less. When his daughter tells him how she feels, he quickly begins to make choices that are full of mistakes. Kent states, Reserve thy state,/And in thy best consideration check/This hideous rashness. Answer my…

play, I believe that with a change in the point of view of the story, it could be seen as a black comedy. If the reader takes the point of view of someone close to Oedipus, the story is obviously tragic. However, taking the focus away from the tragedy that is Oedipus’s life, you are left with the irony of the gods waiting for an oblivious king to realize that the man he’s been trying to hunt down is himself and that he’s never actually escaped his fate. When you watch this play from over the…