Blog 1: What Is Tragedy?
Upon first impression, tragedy strikes me as something that concerns something sad. You know, because it's a tragedy. It's sad. But my assumption is also that such a broad and explored type of Literature can by no means be that simple. To believe that a tragedy is just sad stuff sounds kinda dumb.
After searching up tragedy on wikipedia, it confirmed my suspicions. It isn't as simple as a sad form of art. It is a drama that gives amusement and purification of specific emotions through stories that contain human suffering. So that's nice. And apparently that means I wasn't exactly wrong. Because a tragedy does contain something sad. Human suffering specifically. But I was wrong because what I didn't know was that a tragedy has a specific purpose. It serves to entertain the public through stories of tragedy.
After searching up tragedy on wikipedia, it confirmed my suspicions. It isn't as simple as a sad form of art. It is a drama that gives amusement and purification of specific emotions through stories that contain human suffering. So that's nice. And apparently that means I wasn't exactly wrong. Because a tragedy does contain something sad. Human suffering specifically. But I was wrong because what I didn't know was that a tragedy has a specific purpose. It serves to entertain the public through stories of tragedy.
Blog 3: "Tragedy and the Common Man" by Arthur Miller
In this work Arthur Miller argues against the key componemt of tragedy. He states that tragedy (which is rarely used in the modern world) is not used correctly and is misunderstood. Despite claims by many, tragedy does not have to be bad. And when it comes to tragic flaws (which are often used in tragedy) the flaw doesn't even have to be a flaw. In fact, tragedy needs none of this. Miller states that all it needs to do is something to make us feel sympathy towards the character in order to have us feel afraid of suffering the same fate as that given character. However, to create this feeling of sympathy the character needs to suffer a tragic and ubdeserved event. To create the fear, the story (and therefore the character) must question the world around them, creating fear in what was considered safe. And of course the character must be at least partially relatable (as readers can't sympathize with a character they cannot understand). And while no easy task, if done right, as long as a story fullfills these necessities, it will create the tragic catharsis a tragedy needs.
When it comes to Miller's argument of tragedy, I definitely have to agree. For starters tragedy is definitely misunderstood. I didn't even know what tragedy was until just around a week ago. And overall I have to agree with Miller's statements on feeling sympathy for the character. Because if we can't feel for the character, then why do we care? Nobody is gonna mourn over an alien that we can't relate to. Without sympathy, there is no effect. And without the sorrowful effect that tragedy has on it's reader's, it cannot be considered tragedy.
When it comes to Miller's argument of tragedy, I definitely have to agree. For starters tragedy is definitely misunderstood. I didn't even know what tragedy was until just around a week ago. And overall I have to agree with Miller's statements on feeling sympathy for the character. Because if we can't feel for the character, then why do we care? Nobody is gonna mourn over an alien that we can't relate to. Without sympathy, there is no effect. And without the sorrowful effect that tragedy has on it's reader's, it cannot be considered tragedy.