Tragedy – From Classical to Modern…

1. Tragedy – From Classical to Modern…

2. Classical Tragedy Terms: Classical Tragedy • “[Plays with] heroic characters and unhappy endings…serious treatments of religious and mythic questions” (Holt, Rinehart and Winston 686). • Antigone is a classical tragedy – Antigone and Creon are heroic yet face unhappy ends. There is serious debate over religious questions (Antigone).

3. Classical Tragedy Terms: Tragic Hero • A tragic hero is the hero of a tragic story. They are neither completely good or bad, and should be wealthy and well known, “which in Aristotle’s day meant a member of the royalty” (Holt, Rinehart and Winston 739). • The tragic heroes of Antigone are Antigone and Creon. Though Creon follows more of the tragic steps because he learns from his mistakes (Antigone).

4. Classical Tragedy Terms:Hubris • According to Aristotle’s Characteristics of the Tragic Man, “The tragic hero has a fatal hubris: a supreme pride.” • Antigone shows her foolish hubris when she says this in the Prologue: “Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way” (35).

5. Classical Tragedy Terms: Hamartia • According to Aristotle’s Characteristics of the Tragic Man, hamartia shows the human imperfections in the hero. It is their mistake or misjudgment that leads them to tragedy. • After Ismene pleads with Antigone in the prologue not to break the law Antigone still responds, “Leave me to my foolish plan:/ I am not afraid of the danger; if it means death,/It will not be the worst of deaths – death without honor” (79-81).

6. Classical Tragedy Terms: Myth • “An old story, rooted in a particular society, that explains a belief, a ritual, or some mysterious aspect of nature” (Holt, Rinehart and Winston 687). • The Chorus makes many references to the Greek myths in the odes, such as the following example in Ode 4: “All Danae’s beauty was locked away/In a brazen cell where the sunlight could not come” (1-2).

7. Classical Tragedy Terms: Catharsis • According to Aristotle’s Characteristics of the Tragic Man, catharsis is a purging of emotion from the tragic hero that the audience shares. • Creon shows his catharsis when he says the following in the Exodus: “Lead me away. I have been rash and foolish./I have killed my son and my wife./I look for comfort; my comfort lies here dead” (134-136).

8. Classical Tragedy Terms: Choragos • The Choragos is the “leader of the chorus,” and the chorus is “made up of about fifteen elders of Thebes” (Holt, Rinehart and Winston 692). • The Choragos shows his influence when he questions the burial of Polyneices to Creon: “I have been wondering, King: can it be that the gods have done this?” (1. 113).

9. Classical Tragedy Terms: Prologue • The prologue is the first scene in the play. It provides the basis of the conflict. • In the prologue Antigone tells Ismene of her plans to bury Polyneices and Ismene is afraid. Ismene tells Antigone “I am so afraid for you!” (66).

10. Classical Tragedy Terms: Irony • Irony is the “contrast or discrepancy between expectation and reality” (Holt, Rinehart and Winston 1000). • Teiresias is literally blind, but has the power to see the future. After the deaths of Antigone and Haimon are reported in the Exodus, the Choragos shouts, “Teiresias, Teiresias, how clearly you saw it all!” (22).

11. Classical Tragedy Terms: Foil • “Characters who have contrasting or opposite qualities” (Holt, Rinehart and Winston 699). • Antigone and Ismene are character foils because Antigone is bold and Ismene is passive. Ismene shows her submission to Creon when she says in the Prologue, “We are only women,/We cannot fight with men” (46-47).

12. Classical Tragedy Terms: Metaphor • “A surprising comparison between two dissimilar things” (Holt, Rinehart and Winston 552). • When Creon insults Antigone by saying, “There are places enough for [Haimon] to push his plow” he is comparing Antigone to a piece of land (2. 155).

13. Classical Tragedy Terms: Ode • “Odes [serve] both to separate one scene from the next, since there were no curtains, and also to provide the chorus’ response to the preceding scene” (Holt, Rinehart and Winston 705). • After Creon sentences Antigone and Ismene to death in scene two the Chorus responds as such in ode two: “No pride on earth is free of the curse of heaven” (20).

14. Classical Tragedy Terms: Imagery • “An image is something that we can see, hear, taste, touch, or smell” according to John Malcolm Brinnin (Holt, Rinehart and Winston 548). • Haimon warns his father about the people’s anger regarding the king’s sentence for Antigone: “I have heard them/ Muttering and whispering in the dark about this girl” (3. 61-62).

15. Classical Tragedy Terms: Allusion • “Reference to a statement, person, place, event, or thing that is known from literature, history, religion, myth, politics, sports, science, or the arts” (Holt, Rinehart and Winston 995). • The Chorus alludes to the curse of the House of Oedipus in ode two: “Where once the anger of heaven has struck, that house is shaken/ Forever” (2-3).

16. Classical Tragedy Terms: Aphorism • “Short, wise, often clever saying” (Holt, Rinehart and Winston 729). • Teiresias asks Creon, “Is there no man left in the world--/…who knows that wisdom outweighs any wealth?” (5. 54-56).

17. Classical Tragedy Terms: Peripeteia • According to Aristotle’s characteristics of the tragic man, peripeteia is “the reversal of fortune for the protagonist – from failure to success or success to failure” (Chaimanis 2). • Antigone is bold when she talks to Creon: “All your strength is weakness itself against/ The immortal unrecorded laws of God” (2. 60-61); but she is still sentenced to death by him.

18. Classical Tragedy Terms: Anagnorisis • According to Aristotle’s characteristics of the tragic man, anagnorisis is the transformation of the tragic hero that shows his learning of a “deeper understanding of the human condition” (Chaimanis 2). • Creon shows his anagnorisis when he says the following in the Exodus: “My own blind heart has brought me/ From darkness to final darkness. Here you see/ The father murdering, the murdered son -/ And all my civic wisdom!” (87-90).

19. Modern Tragedy – Key Developments from Classical • All expressions of art develop over time, though there are always classic elements, or archetypes, that remain constant. Antigone was first performed in 442 BC, and Death of a Salesman was first performed in 1949. While many of the key elements of tragedy have stayed consistent over time, there have been three significant developments that must be noted and observed in our analysis of modern tragedy.

20. Development: Status • Status: The modern tragic herofits the classical model in temperament (personality and characteristics) but the hero is not necessarily of high status.In fact, he is usually a common or ordinary person. • Consider: If a character believes they can act as they choose, has hubris, and a high capacity for suffering, and is a common person, what type of calamities might befall them?

21. Development: Society • Society is the antagonist. Society keeps the tragic hero down (unlike Classical and Shakespearean tragedy where authoritative antagonists are often embodied in a character). As such, the hero is alone or isolated in the world. • Consider: How can society act as an oppressor on a character? How can society make a character feel alone or isolated?

22. Development: Audience • Audience: Unlike classical and Shakespearean tragedy (extreme situations), the modern tragedy is believable (it could happen to any of us). Unlike classical and Shakespearean tragedy, the Modern tragic hero may die without public acknowledgement; this enhances the audience’s sympathy. • Consider: If the modern tragic hero deals with conflicts that are more common among the audience, what types of conflicts might we see in modern tragedies?