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How Is the Theme of Tragedy and Comedy Explored in ‘the Road, ’ ‘Don Juan’ and ‘Waiting for Godot?’

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How Is the Theme of Tragedy and Comedy Explored in ‘the Road, ’ ‘Don Juan’ and ‘Waiting for Godot?’
How is the theme of Tragedy and Comedy explored in ‘The Road,’ ‘Don Juan’ and ‘Waiting for Godot?’
The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Don Juan by Lord Byron and Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett possess many similar themes that we are able to connect with one another such as love, disaster, death, hope and despair, abundance and paucity and many, many more. Quite clearly, there are differences in the way these themes are portrayed. Throughout this essay I will be discussing the theme of Tragedy meaning an event resulting in great loss and misfortune but Aristotle's definition of Tragedy 'is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete and a certain magnitude' and Comedy, as a popular meaning, is any discourse generally intended to create laughter but Aristotle defined comedy as 'A comedy is a story if the rise in fortune of sympathetic central character.' Comedy can also be related to happy endings, resolutions or even low status marriage - tying up loose ends. The Road, Don Juan and Waiting for Godot hold similarities and differences in the way Tragedy and Comedy are portrayed.
The Road is about two anonymous characters, a man and a boy, father and son, journeying through the isolated, post - apocalyptic America heading south and trying to survive. Occasionally, they meet a living person on their journey to the south and try to survive on what they can. Through this apocalyptic world they hardly enjoy the pleasure of life until they come across a house and find a whole range of food 'Crate upon crate of canned goods. Tomatoes, peaches, beans, apricots. Canned hams. Corned beef. Hundreds of gallons of water...' (pg 146) and live this moment to the fullest but after there is no more laughter in their lives. This asyndetic list of concrete nouns creates vivid imagery which reinforces the joy the characters feel on discovering this unexpected bounty. As they journey on they come across horrifying tragedies which have an effect on them as they would on anyone.
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