A Tragedy or Not A Tragedy
A tragedy is a play, story, or other literary work, which arouses terror or pity by a series of misfortunes or sad events. The plot is usually about the downfall of a great man. Many take it a step farther and say that the main character or the person who experiences the downfall brings it upon himself because of some great flaw in his character. Maybe all this applies to tragedies written during the time that Sophocles wrote Oedipus, but when Shakespeare wrote Othello and Hamlet he must have chosen to leave out some of these elements that make a "tragedy". Writers during the Golden Age mastered the art of tragic drama. Anyone who reads Sophocles' "Oedipus Trilogy" should have a clear understanding of the meaning of tragedy. Psychologists who have read Oedipus, especially Sigmund Freud, have even used it to develop theories about mental illnesses and argue that Oedipus had one. How can one say that Oedipus has a mental illness having read the "tragedy"? Oedipus certainly was totally aware of his actions, but not in a way that makes him ill, he simply did not know what he was doing. He did not know that the man had slain was his father or that the woman he loved and had given birth to his children was his mother. Had he
The major difference in Shakespeare's tragedies and Oedipus is a flaw in character that precipitates or serves as a catalyst for things to go wrong. In Hamlet and one or two of Shakespeare's other plays, many find it difficult to even identify the so- called tragic flaw ar as Shakespeare labels it, "the vicious mole in nature. Some say that there is no one flaw in character that causes turmoil, because Shakespeare's characters are so complex. After reading Shakespeare's tragedies one can infer that Shakespeare meant to make this difference, but why? The complexity of the characters makes the play seem more realistic. All humans are three-dimensional, most faceted, and Shakespeare must have known must have known that making his characters more complex would help people relate the characters' actions to their own lives. known this from the beginning, he probably would not have killed Laius or married Jocasta, but on the other hand if he had known would Oedipus On the other hand, Sophceles's Oedipus is more like a tragic fairy tale. The thought of a man killing father and marrying his mother is disgusting. The fact that Oedipus was so blinded by his pride also seems silly. After all the warnings of the prophet, Oedipus still did not realize that he might be involved. Oedipus is a great play, maybe it made people realize that they should stop and listen to reason sometimes, but the play is not very realistic and is used more effective
Some common words found in the essay are:
Othello Hamlet, Iago Shakespeare, Hamlet Shakespeare's, Sophceles's Oedipus, , Hamlet Othello, Oedipus Oedipus, Oedipus Thomas, Caesar Caesar, Oedipus Trilogy, main character, othello hamlet, flaw character, shakespeare's plays, shakespeare's tragedies, play realistic, characters complex, plays named, leave elements, plays tragedies,
Approximate Word count = 980
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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