The Role Of Tragedy In Things Fall Apart

“The Crucible” by Arthur Miller is commonly referred to as a tragedy. In the center of most tragedies, there emerges a tragic hero. A tragic hero can be defined as “a good man with a minor flaw or tragic trait in his character… the fall and sufferings and death of such a hero would certainly generate feelings of pity and fear” (“The Tragic Hero”). In other words, a tragic hero is a man who is thought of as noble or brave, acquires a flaw or misjudgment, and experiences a downfall into death as a result of his flaw. The first ingredient in the recipe of a tragic hero is the character’s traits and characteristics.

Ahrensdorf, Peter J. Greek Tragedy And Political Philosophy: Rationalism and Religion in Sophocles’ Plays. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Print. Peter J. Ahrensdorf, a professor of political science, examines Sophocles’ timeless masterpieces - Oedipus the Tyrant, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone with a central question of political philosophy. In this book he tries to explain how citizens and leaders should govern society by the light of unassisted human reason and religious faith.

“When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways- either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength…” -Dalai Lama. In two of Sophocles’ famous plays, Antigone and Oedipus, the King, the character Creon is the victim of an unparalleled tragic fate that exemplifies Aristotle’s “tragic figure.” His definition being a character whose “tragedy should evoke pity…[they] must be essentially admirable… [their] demise must come as a result of some personal error…” (Simpson 1).

As highly regarded and elevated members of their community, their rise to power is short lived as they lose their legacy as respected men in their lands. They are united by kingship, and are driven to their tragic end by forces within and outside of their control. Okonkwo is responsible for the disasters that come to him and his tribe, while divine forces conspired against Oedipus, who must accept the brutal truth of his life and his role within it. Okonkwo and Oedipus are doomed heroes, as facets of their character, such as their social status, imperfections, and self-righteousness, play a huge role in how much these men can determine their own disastrous fate. A tragic hero, by short definition, is someone who falls because of a tragic flaw and not because they are evil or a bad person.

The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The story raises questions for both the readers of The Odyssey and the characters it’s story contains. In Zimmerman’s work viewers experience a simplified interpretation of Homer’s grand and verbacious text. As viewers experience characters like Agamemnon, Telemachus and Calypso exhibit emotion through actors in Zimmerman’s stage direction.

He is considered a man of misfortune that comes to him through an error of judgment.” Notice that Aristotle uses the words he, man, and him and not she, woman, or her. This hints that the tragic hero must be a man, not a woman. A tragic hero must also have certain characteristics such as hubris, hamartia, peripeteia, anagnorisis, nemesis, and catharsis. These all mean that the character’s tragic downfall must have a beginning, middle, and end and emanate a feeling of pity and fear in the audience.

The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to The Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The epic raises questions about what an odyssey is for Odysseus and secondary characters who mimic Odysseus's progress throughout the story. In Zimmerman’s play viewers experience a simplified interpretation of Homer’s grand and verbacious text. As viewers experience secondary characters like Agamemnon, Telemachus and Calypso exhibit emotion through actors in Zimmerman’s stage direction.

The post colonial novel, "Things fall apart" by Chinua Achebe depicts its protagonist Okonkwo as great person who falls into the world of chaos to find his own place through his strength and achievements. Okonkwo in few parts of novel touches the traces of epic hero while in other parts touches the tragic hero characteristics. However Okonkwo 's suicide in the end turns the table to reader to view him through different lens than epic hero or tragic hero. According to Aristotle in his poetics, the tragic hero is an intermediate person who is filled with tragic flaw(hubris /hamartia)

In his work, The Poetics Aristotle reflects on the role of pity and fear in tragedy, stating, “Tragedy is essentially an imitation not of persons but of action and of life; of happiness and misery. Add human happiness or misery takes the form of action… Character gives us qualities, but it is in our actions that we are happy or the reverse… The tragic pleasure is that of pity and fear” (Aristotle, The Poetics). Aristotle is probing one to conclude that tragedy is characterized by the pity and fear one evokes when individuals go against their presumed character and commit detrimental acts. Throughout his play Macbeth, Shakespeare, reminisces on the actions that gravitate an audience to render both fear and pity, which characterize a tragedy.

Meta – Response Effect on Art In “The Pleasures of Tragedy,” the author Susan Feagin discuses with her audience the impact of direct responses and meta responses and explains how it relates to the tragic world of theatre. How the author defines direct responses is, “Only in the sense that it is a response to the qualities and content of the work of art.” (97) and that a meta response is known as “It is how one feels about and what one thinks about one 's responding (directly) in the way one does to the qualities and content of the work.” (97) but to be more direct in the tragedy scene a direct response can be seen as non-pleasing experiences and/or unhappy endings in which it brings the audience together when showing conflict that impacts everyone to come together and vice versa with meta response where we see something emotionally tragic such as a character’s death and we all come together and analyze what happen in the tragedy and connect it within own lives.

A tragedy is a dramatic work in which the principle character engages in a significant struggle ending in ruin and destruction. In creating his tragedy, Sophocles uses many techniques to create the feelings of fear and pity in his readers. This in turn creates an excellent tragedy. In Antigone, Sophocles does a great job at bringing out

A tragic hero is a term that describes a character who displays certain characteristics which affect their future significantly. In Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo’s fate as a tragic hero to an extent is greatly true as he portrays hamartia, a fatal flaw, and hubris, excessive pride. Even though the author describes Okonkwo as a hardworking, African farmer, it contradicts his rash decisions following numerous events. Therefore, Okonkwo’s tragedy is true as his fear of weakness and excessive pride lead him to his downfall. Even though Achebe sets Okonkwo to his downfall, it is evident that Okonkwo is a great hero despite his rash behavior and temper.

A tragic hero is a multifaceted, admirable character with a tragic flaw that turns his life from glory into suffering. Hamlet is an example. ‘Born’ personality, shifting mentality, and inevitable fate leads to its tragedy which eventually triggers audience’s pity. Unlike other tragedies where tragic heros discover the truths by their own actions at the end of the story, realizing that the reversal was brought by their own actions. Hamlet begins differently by knowing the truth from things happening to him.

In ancient Greek society, the tragedy was a deeply spiritual and emotional art form integral to daily life. Perhaps one of the best examples of Greek tragedy is Sophocles’ Oedipus the King. The work is distinguished by the deep emotion and thought it elicits from the reader. This is in part due to Sophocles’ expert portrayal of Oedipus, who bears all the attributes of an Aristotelian tragic hero. A once powerful king turned blinded pariah, Oedipus is characterized by both his pride and his honorable character.

“Life is a mixing of all kind of things: comedy and tragedy going together” (Alejandro Jodorowsky). Comedy and tragedy have been two popular forms of entertainment for people throughout the ages. From Greek performances to contemporary plays, the art of theatre is well and thriving. While the styles of playwrights and the way theatre is experienced changes through time, the messages these plays gaves have more or less stayed the same. Drama can, for the most part, be classified as either tragedy or comedy.