In Alain De Botton's TED talk he focuses on the idea of success and failure and how we perceive both and the ways that we let others perceive us in that light. It's about how people judge others on because of their careers and the power or financial gain people can receive from said jobs. He labels these people as "snobs," people who judge others based on one single characteristic and not as a whole person. They feed on this idea and it's not good. He goes on to reveal that we live in a meritocracy, or a society where it is believed that people become successful based on hard work and talent and that people who become successful deserve it. This part is good but the side effect of this idea is that people who are on the bottom deserve it. This translates well to tragedy because tragedy is an art form that deals with people failing and allowing the audience to connect and show sympathy for these characters.
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Oedipus Rex is definitely a tragedy. There is no way around it. He is cursed to murder his father and sleep with his mother, and to avoid it leaves his parents. It turns out that they aren't actually his parents and he ends up accidentally killing his real father and marrying his real mother and having children. Ew! When he figures this out, he goes to confront his mother and finds that she has hanged herself. Oedipus then proceeds to gauge his own eyes out with the broaches from his mother/wife's dress. He is then exiled for the murder of his father. It is a tragedy in the fact that it could have been avoided and Oedipus tried to avoid it, but by avoiding it he caused it to happen. The tragedy of Oedipus is not his own. It is the tragedy of his mother. It is the tragedy of his children, who could not have avoided this and will be affected forever. A tragedy cannot be a tragedy if only one person in negatively affected. In tragedy's, just about everyone is affected somehow. Oedipus Rex by Sophocles does well to follow the six elements of tragedy as set by Aristotle. It really sets itself apart as one of the best tragedy's ever written and that ever will be written Tragedy? This word is so common nowadays. When I think of tragedy I think of death. I think of a missing person who was never found, or a missing person who was found not okay. I think of those killed by bombs and massacres. I think a child who never got to be an adult, or an adult who never got to be old and wise. Death is a most common and basic form of tragedy. In literature a tragedy is merely a form of drama in which the audience delights in the pain of others. It sounds messed up but it's really just a relief people feel when they read or watch a tragedy. It's been around since the times of Ancient Greece and is about human mistakes and the suffering and change brought about by it. Aristotle, the Greek philosopher was the first person to define a tragedy, he said "Anyway, arising from an improvisatory beginning (both tragedy and comedy—tragedy from the leaders of the dithyramb, and comedy from the leaders of the phallic processions which even now continue as a custom in many of our cities), [tragedy] grew little by little, as [the poets] developed whatever [new part] of it had appeared; and, passing through many changes, tragedy came to a halt, since it had attained its own nature." Tragedy has been able to stick around for a longtime, changing only slightly, gradually over time. It's been a part of many cultures and languages around the world. Although it is not the most common thing today, it is still a prominent part of our lives and our history. |
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