Studying plays as Oedipus Rex and Hamlet is a vital part of studying literature since they are timeless works that teach many lessons. Moreover, they still have some concepts to be unmasked by critics of literature. According to Aristotle tragedy is ''a form of drama based on human misery that arouses in its audience feelings of pity and fear'' and each tragedy must have a tragic hero. Tragedy began in the ancient Greek theatre where tragedies were performed in late March to early April at an annual religious festival in honour of Dionysus. () One of the most famous tragedies in that period is Oedipus Rex which was written by Sophocles.
One of the earliest stories of Gilgamesh is developed from Sumerian texts, one of the most influential and well-known poems (Michelakis & Pantelis 2007). In the epic, within which many episodes are interlinked, depicts an image of a kind who underwent development and tends to understand the world where he was living. Within the version of the Babylonian, hero Gilgamesh 's character is best compared to Achilles. While comparing the characters of Achilles and Gilgamesh, he (Gilgamesh) changed and his nature was affected duet the presence and absence (loss) of Enid his comrade, thus the nature of Enkidu was static. Achilles ' nature and character followed the same pattern as that of Gilgamesh as he was also influenced by the presence and loss of Patroclus his comrade.
The plays Othello and Oedipus the King contain some differences and similarities. In the beginning, the set up of the plot depicts truth to the type of tragedy in the play. The tragedy is mainly shown by the drama whereby the main character is made to bear the excess sorrow as a result of moral weakness or flaw. Othello is the central character in the play Othello while the King is the main character in Oedipus the King. In both contexts, they suffer sorrow as the main consequence of tragic flaws or weakness (Yeats, Clark, & McGuire, 1989).
The story of the death of Agamemnon is told in both the Homeric epic Odyssey and in Aeschylus’ tragic trilogy the Oresteia. Although the basic plot remains the same, differences in presentation, emphasis, and details show how myth is fluid and can be adapted to suit a particular author, performance, and audience. This myth serves in the Odyssey as an example of failed nostos caused by the breakdown of the hero’s household, and so it provides a foil for the successful return home of the epic hero Odysseus to his intact household. On the other hand, in the Oresteia, the myth illustrates the overarching theme of the nature of justice. Here the death of Agamemnon both illustrates the curse on his household and also provides the necessary background for Orestes’ important role in the transformation of justice from oikos-based revenge to polis-based trial by jury.
Different but Similar Both Homers’ epic, the Odyssey, and Aeschylus’ tragic trilogy, the Oresteia, tell the story of Agamemnon and what led to his doomed death. Both the poem and the play are similar in their plots except for few differences in their significance, presentation and details. This shows how flexible ancient myth is and how it can adapt to suit a particular author and audience. Agamemnons’ death in the Odyssey is a very good example of how people can be, through their own foolishness, bring destruction upon themselves. It also serves as an example of an epic hero failing to return home, which is known as nostos, thus for Odysseus, the epic hero, it delivers a foil for the successful voyage back to his home, Ithaca.
Eddie of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge is a Modern Tragic Hero Anam Sheikh MA-II Student, LVH College Panchavati, Nashik-3. Abstract: Tragedy has always been considered as a highest form of literature as compare to comedy. Tragic hero, since the birth of the Tragedy, has remained unchanged, but in the Twentieth century the modern playwrights gave us a new kind of Tragic Hero, which we could call as Modern Tragic Hero. Keywords: Tragedy, Tragic Hero, Modern Tragic Hero. Introduction: Tragedy, though a part of drama, has played a vital
Aristotle’s definition and elements of tragedy has been modified and evolved through the works of Sophocles, William Shakespeare and Arthur Miller. These playwrights use Aristotle’s formula for tragedy as a base component of their versions of tragedy. The theory of evolution is brought in as a way to explain the survival of tragedy through time. Elements of tragedy can be viewed through several plays written by Sophocles, William Shakespeare and Arthur Miller, namely, Oedipus the King, Othello and Death Of a Salesman These plays can be viewed as the blueprints of tragedy, marking a way for improvement. This research paper consists of origins of Tragedy.
Greek Tragedies were always mythological and always involved a super natural element in them. The three famous Greek tragedians were Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus. They composed ninety-two plays. Only seventeen plays survived, and ‘The Bacchae’ was one of them. In this play written by Euripides, I would like to analyze the various characters in the context., thus conclude by a brief summary and my personal analysis of the play.
Everyone knows the play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, but maybe it was a modern spin-off of an even older tale during the Elizabethan Era. Ovid wrote the story “Pyramus and Thisbe” a hundred years before Shakespeare wrote the play Romeo and Juliet. The two are very alike in plot and substance, so much so that sometimes it can seem that Shakespeare was unoriginal in his entirety. From forbidden love to sneaky lovers, and even gruesome deaths the stories are alike to an extreme. Publius Ovidius Naso, who is more commonly known as Ovid, was a Roman poet during the reign of Augustus.
According to Aristotle,“Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not narrative; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish katharsis of such emotions…” From this it can be seen that “Oedipus the King”, is tragedy written by Sophocles which portrays king Oedipus as a heroic figure whose life was ultimately doom before it began. Scene two, which comprises of characters such as Oedipus, the leader and Tiresias is where this doom though already known by most is no longer hinted at but directly revealed. In this scene, Oedipus calls for Tiresias a well-known and beloved prophet to help him find the murderer of dead king Laius as “The truth lives inside him [and] him alone” (Sophocles 175). However, upon Tiresias’ arrival he refuses to speak on the truth as it make cause him his life but is push to anger by Oedipus and reveals all. In this scene, Sophocles uses principles of drama such as the