In hearing what we had to read, I instantly thought we were gonna read some love story, because of the whole Psyche and Eros story, and all the Cinderella and disney stories that have been going around. And, lo and behold, it was a murder. A tragedy. I was reading the story, and the first thought that came to my mind was "this sounds like Hamlet". It was quintessential tragedy literature. There was the crazy, slightly insane family with a mentally unstable father and a mother who doesn't acknowledge anything of what's going on in the world, and the siblings are utterly materialistic (they reminded me of the sisty uglers). The grandmother was the only seemingly sane person of the group, the hero, though she too had her faults. She was the one who warned the family, and knew what was going on. And yet, as is the tragedy, it is her, the hero, who had a fault, who causes the entire downfall of the family.
That is the definition of a tragedy: the downfall of the hero. It was not the tragedy of the entire family who died, but rather the tragedy of the grandmother who literally prayed for her life, who told the villain to pray, and who lost her life anyway. An event usually leads up to the initial tragedy. The tragedy, as is also definition, was avoidable. And fixable. But yet, because of the grandmother's fault (her embarassment at being wrong, her PRIDE), the family, and herself, lost their lives. She was her own demise. That too is another definition of tragedy. So, lets recap: Definitions of a Tragedy (i think there are 6 of them formally, but i can only recall 4 at the moment...)
1)The story is of the downfall of the hero
2)An event happens that acts as a turning point. a "point of no return"
3)The event is fixable, deeming the tragedy avoidable.
4)The fault is of the hero's own doing. Their downfall is their fault.
Flyer's Fall.
11 years ago
No comments:
Post a Comment