Greek Theatre – Tragedy & Comedy As part of the festival called Dionysia which honoured the God Dionysus‚ tragedy‚ comedy & satyr play were the three genres to emerge from the theatre of ancient Greece. Tragedy is a form of drama based on human suffering that invokes in its audience an accompanying catharsis or pleasure in the viewing. From its obscure origins in the theatres of Athens 2‚500 years ago‚ from which there survives only a fraction of the work of Aeschylus‚ Sophocles and Euripides
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Tragedy or Comedy The play writer William Shakespeare is widely considered one the greatest playwrights in history. His work transformed English literature forever. Most of his plays were either comedies or tragedies and some seemed to have the line blurred between the two as they contain elements of both. The play Merchant of Venice is one of these plays that contains flavours of both a comedy and a tragedy. Many scholars have frequently debated whether the play is either classified as a comedy
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Comedy versus Tragedy “I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms‚ the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.” This is Oscar Wilde’s definition of the theater. But how did theater start? There are so many different genres and types of drama. How did it all come to be? Two of the biggest genres of theater were originated in ancient Greece. They are comedy and tragedy. How do these two styles differ? The main difference
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Comedy and Tragedy | | Comedy According to Aristotle (who speculates on the matter in his Poetics)‚ ancient comedy originated with the komos‚ a curious and improbable spectacle in which a company of festive males apparently sang‚ danced‚ and cavorted rollickingly around the image of a large phallus. (If this theory is true‚ by the way‚ it gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "stand-up routine.") Accurate or not‚ the linking of the origins of comedy to some sort of phallic
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clear-cut comedies and tragedies‚ while others are more ambiguous. The Merchant of Venice is a play that falls under the latter type‚ and it has been hotly contested whether this literary work should be classified a comedy or a tragedy. However‚ since the majority of the characters received a happy ending‚ the abundance of comic relief scenes and characters‚ and lightheartedness of the plot relative to other Shakespearean works leads me to conclude that The Merchant of Venice is indeed a comedy.
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Terms 1. Plot: The most important of the six components of the tragedy‚ the plot is the representation of human action. Plots can be simple or complex; Aristotle clearly indicates that complex plots are required for successful tragedies. The plot must be unified‚ clearly displaying a beginning‚ a middle‚ and an end‚ and must be of sufficient length to fully represent the course of actions but not so long that the audience loses attention and interest. 2. Action: Events happening between
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The Catcher and the Rye: Tragedy or Comedy? In the novel The Catcher and the Rye by J.D. Salinger‚ I viewed the novel as a tragedy. This novel is based on a sixteen-year-old boy named Holden Caulfield who has not decided what he wants to pursue in life. From the beginning of the novel you get an assumption of what state of mind Holden is in. He began saying in the text “ IF YOU REALLY want to hear about is‚ the first thing you’ll proberly want to know is where I was born‚ and what my lousy
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c The subtle yet powerful combination of comedy and tragedy in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis was not an accident. Kafka combined these genres in order to convey the mixture of emotions that accurately mirrors the cruelty of life. The main character‚ Gregor Samsa‚ is used to illustrate the betrayal that can exist in a family unit as well as a place of employment. Together‚ Kafka is making a strong commentary on life in order to express his own feelings of desolation and cynicism regarding society
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Greek Tragedy The play‚ Antigone‚ by Sophocles‚ is full of unexpected twists and family tensions. Antigone is a Greek tragedy because it fits Aristotle’s definition of an ideal tragedy. One of Aristotle’s five points is‚ to be a tragedy‚ there must be a tragic hero. Creon‚ a character in Antigone‚ best fits the definition of a tragic hero. Creon is an Aristotelean tragic hero because of what others say‚ Creon says‚ and Creon’s actions. Creon fits the first point of Aristotle’s five points
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Antigone vs. Ismene In the Greek tragedy Antigone‚ the playwright Sophocles developed his characters with strongly contrasting personalities. The sisters Antigone and Ismene are foils to each other‚ in that they are characters with completely opposite personalities. Antigone is strong‚ stubborn‚ and stands up for what she believes in‚ while Ismene is weak‚ obedient to the law‚ and very passive. Throughout the play‚ Antigone and Ismene display their opposing beliefs and personalities. When introduced
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