Tragedy
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| - | In general usage a '''tragedy''' is a real world event with a sad and unfortunate outcome. However, throughout much of [[Western culture|Western]] thought, tragedy has been defined in more precise terms, following the precepts set out by [[Aristotle]] and based upon Greek tragedies: it is a form of [[drama]] characterized by seriousness and dignity, and involving a great person whose downfall is brought about by either a character flaw or a conflict with some higher power such as the [[law]], the [[god]]s, [[destiny|fate]], or [[society]]. It should be noted, [[however]], that the definition of tragedy that Aristotle puts forward merely requires a [[reversal of fortune]] (''[[Peripeteia]]'') from bad to good (as in the [[Eumenides]]) or good to bad (as in [[Oedipus Rex]]). In classical usages it can be spelled ''tragœdy'', and in [[Elizabethan era|Elizabethan]] usages it can also be spelled ''tragedie''. | + | '''Tragedy''' is a form of [[drama]] based on human [[suffering]]. In his speculative work on the origins of [[Theatre of ancient Greece|Athenean tragedy]], ''[[The Birth of Tragedy]]'' (1872), [[Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche]] writes of this "two-fold mood": |
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| + | :the strange mixture and duality in the affects of the [[Dionysus|Dionysiac]] [[Cult of Dionysus|enthusiasts]], that phenomenon whereby pain awakens pleasure while rejoicing wrings cries of agony from the breast. From highest joy there comes a cry of horror or a yearning lament at some irredeemable loss. In those Greek festivals there erupts what one might call a [[Sentimentality|sentimental]] tendency in nature, as if it had cause to sigh over its [[Sparagmos|dismemberment]] into [[Individuation|individuals]]. | ||
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| + | While most [[culture]]s have developed forms that provoke this [[paradox]]ical response, tragedy refers to a specific [[Poetic tradition|tradition]] of [[drama]] that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of [[Western culture|Western civilization]]. That tradition has been multiple and discontinuous, yet the term has often been used to invoke a powerful effect of [[cultural identity]] and historical continuity—"the [[Classical Athens|Greeks]] and the [[Elizabethan era|Elizabethans]], in one cultural form; [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenes]] and [[Christian]]s, in a common activity," as [[Raymond Williams|Williams]] puts it. | ||
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| + | From its obscure origins in the [[Theatre of ancient Greece|theatres of Athens]] 2500 years ago, from which there survives only a fraction of the work of [[Aeschylus]], [[Sophocles]] and [[Euripides]], through its singular articulations in the works of [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]], [[Lope de Vega]], [[Jean Racine|Racine]], or [[Friedrich Schiller|Schiller]], to the more recent [[Naturalism (theatre)|naturalistic]] tragedy of [[August Strindberg|Strindberg]], [[Samuel Beckett|Beckett's]] [[Modernism|modernist]] meditations on death, loss and suffering, or [[Heiner Müller|Müller's]] [[Postmodernism|postmodernist]] reworkings of the tragic canon, tragedy has remained an important site of cultural experimentation, negotiation, struggle, and change. A long line of [[philosophers]]—which includes [[Plato]], [[Aristotle]], [[Augustine of Hippo|Saint Augustine]], [[Voltaire]], [[David Hume|Hume]], [[Denis Diderot|Diderot]], [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|Hegel]], [[Arthur Schopenhauer|Schopenhauer]], [[Søren Kierkegaard|Kierkegaard]], [[Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche]], [[Sigmund Freud|Freud]], [[Walter Benjamin|Benjamin]], [[Albert Camus|Camus]], [[Jacques Lacan|Lacan]] and [[Gilles Deleuze|Deleuze]]—have analysed, speculated upon and criticised the tragic form. | ||
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| + | In the wake of Aristotle's ''[[Poetics (Aristotle)|Poetics]]'' (335 BCE), tragedy has been used to make [[genre]] distinctions, whether at the scale of [[poetry]] in general, where the tragic divides against [[Epic poetry|epic]] and [[Lyric poetry|lyric]], or at the scale of the drama, where tragedy is opposed to [[Comedy (drama)|comedy]]. In the [[Modernity|modern]] era, tragedy has also been defined against drama, [[melodrama]], [[Tragicomedy|the tragicomic]] and [[epic theatre]]. | ||
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| + | ==See also== | ||
| + | * [[Classicism]] | ||
| + | * [[Comedy (drama)|Comedy]] | ||
| + | * [[Domestic tragedy]] | ||
| + | * ''[[Hamartia]]'' | ||
| + | * ''[[Peripeteia]]'' | ||
| + | * [[Shakespearean tragedy]] | ||
| + | * [[She-tragedy]] | ||
| + | * [[Tragic hero]] | ||
| + | * [[Tragicomedy]] | ||
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| + | [[reversal of fortune]] | ||
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| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
| * [[Classicism]] | * [[Classicism]] | ||
Revision as of 20:15, 8 November 2010
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Tragedy is a form of drama based on human suffering. In his speculative work on the origins of Athenean tragedy, The Birth of Tragedy (1872), Nietzsche writes of this "two-fold mood":
- the strange mixture and duality in the affects of the Dionysiac enthusiasts, that phenomenon whereby pain awakens pleasure while rejoicing wrings cries of agony from the breast. From highest joy there comes a cry of horror or a yearning lament at some irredeemable loss. In those Greek festivals there erupts what one might call a sentimental tendency in nature, as if it had cause to sigh over its dismemberment into individuals.
While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of Western civilization. That tradition has been multiple and discontinuous, yet the term has often been used to invoke a powerful effect of cultural identity and historical continuity—"the Greeks and the Elizabethans, in one cultural form; Hellenes and Christians, in a common activity," as Williams puts it.
From its obscure origins in the theatres of Athens 2500 years ago, from which there survives only a fraction of the work of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, through its singular articulations in the works of Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, Racine, or Schiller, to the more recent naturalistic tragedy of Strindberg, Beckett's modernist meditations on death, loss and suffering, or Müller's postmodernist reworkings of the tragic canon, tragedy has remained an important site of cultural experimentation, negotiation, struggle, and change. A long line of philosophers—which includes Plato, Aristotle, Saint Augustine, Voltaire, Hume, Diderot, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Freud, Benjamin, Camus, Lacan and Deleuze—have analysed, speculated upon and criticised the tragic form.
In the wake of Aristotle's Poetics (335 BCE), tragedy has been used to make genre distinctions, whether at the scale of poetry in general, where the tragic divides against epic and lyric, or at the scale of the drama, where tragedy is opposed to comedy. In the modern era, tragedy has also been defined against drama, melodrama, the tragicomic and epic theatre.
See also
- Classicism
- Comedy
- Domestic tragedy
- Hamartia
- Peripeteia
- Shakespearean tragedy
- She-tragedy
- Tragic hero
- Tragicomedy
See also
- Classicism
- Comedy
- Domestic tragedy
- Hamartia
- Peripeteia
- Shakespearean tragedy
- She-tragedy
- Tragic hero
- Tragicomedy
