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In a figurative sense a tragedy (from , 1992. Page 178. According to Aristotle, "The change to bad fortune which he undergoes in not due to any moral Defect or Flaw , but a mistake of some kind."''Poetics'', Aristotle It is also a misconception that this reversal can be brought about by a higher power (e.g. the Law , the God s, Fate , or Society ), but if a character’s downfall is brought about by an external cause Aristotle describes this as a " Misadventure " and not a tragedy.Aristotle, ''Poetics''. Section 1135b ETYMOLOGY The word's origin is Greek ''tragōidiā'' (Classical Greek '''') Contracted from ''trag(o)-aoidiā'' = "goat song" from ''tragos'' = "goat" and ''aeidein'' = "to sing". This meaning referes to the tragic song proverbially sung by a goat before being led to the altar for sacrifice (typical in ancient Greek religion). The word may also have referred to horse or goat costumes worn by actors who played the Satyr s, or a goat being presented as a prize at a song contest and in both cases the reference would have been one of respect for the god Dionysos . Old-English spellings such as ''tragoedy'' (cf. Latin ') and ''tragedie'' (cf. French ') occur in early-modern and earlier works. ORIGIN See Also: Theatre of ancient Greece Later in ancient Greece, the word "tragedy" meant any serious (not Comedy ) drama, not merely those with a sad ending. There is some dissent to the Dithyramb ic origins of tragedy mostly based in the differences between the shapes of their choruses and styles of dancing. A common descent from pre- Hellenic fertility and burial rites has been suggested. Tragedy depicts the downfall of a noble hero or heroine, usually through some combination of hubris, fate, and the will of the gods. The tragic hero's powerful wish to achieve some goal inevitably encounters limits, usually those of human frailty (flaws in reason, hubris, society), the gods (through oracles, prophets, fate), or nature. Aristotle says that the tragic hero should have a flaw and/or make some mistake ( Hamartia ). The hero need not die at the end, but he / she must undergo a change in fortune. In addition, the tragic hero may achieve some revelation or recognition ( Anagnorisis --"knowing again" or "knowing back" or "knowing throughout" ) about human fate, destiny, and the will of the gods. Aristotle terms this sort of recognition "a change from ignorance to awareness of a bond of love or hate." Aristotle is very clear in his from the prelude to the phallic songs which still survive as institutions in many cities. Tragedy then gradually evolved as men developed each element that came to light and after going through many changes, it stopped when it had found its own natural form." P.W. Buckham writes that the tragedy of the ancients resembled modern operatic performance,P.W. Buckham, ibid, p. 243 and that the lighter sort of Iambic became Comic poets, the graver became Tragic instead of Heroic. . Greek, Myrina, second century BCE]] Greek literature boasts three great writers of tragedy whose works are extant: Sophocles , Euripides and Aeschylus . The largest festival for Greek tragedy was the Dionysia held for five days in March, for which competition prominent playwrights usually submitted three tragedies and one Satyr Play each. The Roman Theater does not appear to have followed the same practice. Seneca adapted Greek stories, such as '' Phaedra '', into Latin plays; however, Senecan Tragedy has long been regarded as Closet Drama , meant to be read rather than played. A favorite theatrical device of many ancient Greek tragedians was the ''ekkyklêma,'' a cart hidden behind the scenery which could be rolled out to display the aftermath of some event which had happened out of sight of the audience. This event was frequently a brutal murder of some sort, an act of violence which could not be effectively portrayed visually, but an action of which the other characters must see the effects in order for it to have meaning and emotional resonance. Another reason that the violence happened off stage was that the theatre was considered a holy place, so to kill someone on stage is to kill them in the real world. A prime example of the use of the ''ekkyklêma'' is after the murder of Agamemnon in the first play of Aeschylus' '' Oresteia '', when the king's butchered body is wheeled out in a grand display for all to see. Variations on the ''ekkyklêma'' are used in tragedies and other forms to this day, as writers still find it a useful and often powerful device for showing the consequences of extreme human actions. Another such device was a crane, the Mechane , which served to hoist a god or goddess on stage when they were supposed to arrive flying. This device gave origin to the phrase " Deus Ex Machina " ("god out of a machine"), that is, the surprise intervention of an unforeseen external factor that changes the outcome of an event. Greek tragedies also sometimes included a chorus composed of actors who spoke common to advance and fill in detail of the plot, reveal backstory, and perhaps most importantly in the days before surround-sound, project through their numbers and their repetion of lines so that those in the back of the theater could hear. Nietzsche dedicated his famous early book '' The Birth Of Tragedy '' to a discussion of the origins of Greek tragedy. He traced the evolution of tragedy from early rituals, through the joining of Apollonian and Dionysian forces, until its early "death" in the hands of Socrates . In opposition to Schopenhauer, Nietzsche viewed tragedy as the art form of sensual acceptance of the terrors of reality and rejoicing in these terrors in love of fate ( Amor Fati ), and therefore as the antithesis to the Socratic Method , or the belief in the power of reason to unveil any and all of the mysteries of existence. Ironically, Socrates was fond of quoting from tragedies. The role of the Greek chorus was to act as a narrator, however still play a minor part in the acting of the play. So although the chorus may also play characters, its characters never influence the plot line, even though they may try. An interesting thing about the chorus is that they always look back on the plays events unlike the rest of the cast. Many modern tragedies also use this idea of a chorus and edit it to suit their own needs. For an example of this see: '' A View From The Bridge '' and the role of Alfieri. Another modern example is found in Friedrich Dürrenmatt 's Surrealist drama D''er Besuch der Alten Dame'' ( The Visit Of The Old Woman ) in the chorus characters of die Beiden Blinden (the two blind ones). THEORIES OF TRAGEDY The philosopher Aristotle theorized in his work ''The Poetics'' that tragedy results in a Catharsis (emotional cleansing) of healing for the audience through their experience of these emotions in response to the suffering of the characters in the drama. He considers it superior when a character passes from good fortune to bad rather than the reverse; at the time, the term "tragedy" was not yet fixed solely on stories with unhappy endings. The Philosopher Aristotle in his work mentioned above (''The Poetics'') gave the following definition in Ancient Greek to the word "tragedy" (τραγωδία): which means ''Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is admirable, complete (composed of an introduction, a middle part and an ending), and possesses magnitude; in language made pleasurable, each of its species separated in different parts; performed by actors, not through narration; effecting through pity and fear the purification of such emotions.'' Common usage of ''tragedy'' refers to any story with a sad ending, whereas to be an Aristotelian tragedy the Story fit the set of requirements as laid out by '' Poetics ''. By this definition Social Drama cannot be tragic because the hero in it is a victim of circumstance and incidents which depend upon the society in which he lives and not upon the ineludible inner compulsions — psychological or religious — which determine his progress towards self-knowledge and death.Chiari, J. ''Landmarks of Contemporary Drama''. London: Jenkins, 1965. Page 41. Exactly what constitutes a "tragedy", however, is a frequently debated matter. In Ancient India , the writer Bharata Muni in his work on dramatic theory '' Natya Shastra '' recognized tragedy in the form of several '' Rasas '' (emotional responses), such as pity, anger, disgust and terror. English Renaissance tragedy In the English Language , the most famous and most successful tragedies are those of William Shakespeare and his Elizabethan contemporaries. Shakespeare's tragedies include:
MODERN DEVELOPMENT In Modern Literature , the definition of tragedy has become less precise. The most fundamental change has been the rejection of Aristotle's dictum that true tragedy can only depict those with power and high status. Arthur Miller 's essay 'Tragedy and the Common Man' exemplifies the modern belief that tragedy may also depict ordinary people in domestic surroundings. British playwright Howard Barker has argued strenuously for the rebirth of tragedy in the contemporary theatre, most notably in his volume '' Arguments For A Theatre ''. "You emerge from tragedy equipped against lies. After the musical, you're anybody's fool", he observes. Howard Barker. ''Arguments for a Theatre.''(London: John Calder, 1989), 13. '' A Doll's House '' (1879) by the Norwegian Playwright Henrik Ibsen , which depicts the breakdown of a middle-class marriage, is an example of a more contemporary tragedy. Like Ibsen's other dramatic works, it has been translated into English and has enjoyed great popularity on the English and American stage. Although the most important American playwrights - Eugene O'Neill , Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller - wrote tragedies, the rarity of tragedy in the American theater may be owing in part to a certain form of idealism, often associated with Americans, that man is captain of his fate, a notion exemplified in the plays of Clyde Fitch and George S. Kaufmann . Arthur Miller, however, was a successful writer of American tragic plays, among them '' The Crucible '', '' All My Sons '' and '' Death Of A Salesman ''. Contemporary theatre moves the ground for the execution of tragedy from the '' by Samuel Beckett , No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre and Mother Courage by Bertolt Brecht Tragedy often shows the lack of escape of the protagonist, whereby he cannot remove himself from the present environment. TRAGEDY IN FILM Hollywood films generally do not feature plots that follow Aristotle's definition of tragedy. In contemporary usage, Hollywood generally labels tragedies as the opposite of comedy, that is movies that are more serious than they are funny. Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook 's internationally renowned "vengeance trilogy" ('' Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance '', '' Oldboy '', '' Sympathy For Lady Vengeance '') draws many of its themes from classical Greek tragedy. http://filmfreakcentral.net/screenreviews/oldboyballad.htm http://www.lovehkfilm.com/panasia/old_boy.htm http://www.sexgoremutants.co.uk/symptartusa.html. NOTES REFERENCES
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