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Essay Subject: Tragic elements of plays by Sophocles, Shakespeare & Arthur Miller.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Tragic elements of plays by Sophocles, Shakespeare & Arthur Miller. Paper Introduction: The tragic hero derives from the Greek drama, as elucidated by the criticism of Aristotle in particular. Tragedy in this conception is struggling against something over which we really have no control, and the tragedy develops from a recognition of the futility of the struggle, leading to the resignation of the tragic hero to his or her fate and indeed even to the embracing of that fate. The hero often knows his fate but still does not see it coming, as it were. He or she then takes responsibility for that failure--this is the lesson learned and imparted to the audience and only reinforces the power of the gods and the need for the human spirit to obey. Underlying the actions of the tragic hero is a fatal flaw in his character, and it is because of this flaw that he or she is not able to escape fate. The flaw is usually a form of pride, but it need not be that particular Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Northrop Frye on Shakespeare. He notes, for instance, that there are four things thedramatist should aim at in the representation of character: 1) thecharacters should be morally good; 2) the characters should be suitable; 3)the characters should be life-like; and 4) the characters should beconsistent. Earnest Jones offers a psychoanalytical solution to the Hamlet"problem" and holds that severe depression is what keeps Hamlet from takingaction: For some deep-seated reason, which is to him unacceptable, Hamlet is plunged into anguish at the thought of his father being replaced in his mother's affection by someone else. Oedipuscannot escape the oracle, Hamlet the ghost, and Willy his own inner demons. New York: Harper & Row, 1962.----------------------- 1 and this act will also restore order to the kingdom. Aristotle presents a clear analysis of poetry anddrama, differentiating between the various kinds, showing the effects thatare produced by drama and poetry and how those effects are achieved. He says that the man whocreates a personal appearance is the one who will get ahead in the businessworld, and he says that being well-liked keeps you from want. He or she then takesresponsibility for that failure--this is the lesson learned and imparted tothe audience and only reinforces the power of the gods and the need for thehuman spirit to obey. Manycritics find that his supposed hesitation is due to circumstances alsobeyond his control, related to the social and political realities of thetime. The tragic hero has changed even more by the time of Death of aSalesman, and he is no longer necessarily high-born or stronger than hiscontemporaries. New York: Pocket Books, 1992.Sophocles. He is highly reflective but inactive until the very end of the playwhen he does his duty, destroys the man who killed his father, and ishimself destroyed. Oedipus's fall comes as he learns of what he has done andis punished for it. Works CitedAristotle. Willy feels that he has accomplished nothing, though hehas tried to compensate by being well-liked. In the structure of the play, the viewer has topay attention to Willy and his life because Willy is in every sense thecenter of the play. Even though he is restoring thenatural order, his method of doing so is itself a challenge to that order.This seems to be one of the key elements in the political structureportrayed by Shakespeare--the political structure must maintain order forthe benefit of all of society. The flaw is usually a form of pride, but it need notbe that particular characteristic. Willy Loman is an undistinguished salesman. They abandon the child, assuming that hehas died, but he has not and many years later does kill his father andmarry his mother, all without knowing who they are any more than theyrecognize him. Much of it is filtered through his mind--his memories,his dreams, and his life in different time periods all presented in amixture that allows the action to move from one place to another and onetime to another. Neither of these factors areconsidered by the Greeks to reduce his level of guilt, however, and thus aterrible punishment is visited upon him for something over which he had nocontrol. In his Poetics, Aristotle begins bymaking a statement of his purpose: The subject I wish to discuss is poetry itself, its species with their respective capabilities, the correct way of constructing plots so that the work turns out well, the number and nature of the constituent elements [of each species], and anything else in the same field of inquiry (Aristotle 54 ).In order to accomplish this, Aristotle begins by categorizing the variouselements of his subject and by analyzing poetry in terms of what he sees ashaving been produced. Underlying the actions of the tragic hero is a fatalflaw in his character, and it is because of this flaw that he or she is notable to escape fate. Willy's failure as a salesman is underlined by the fact that he hasbeen taken off salary by his company and put on a commission basis, whichis a slap in the face as well as an admission by his company that Willydoes not sell enough to warrant being paid a salary. Aristotledecides that the most effective dramas are those that show a unity of time,place, character, and plot, and this then becomes a general rule as to howto achieve successful drama by paying proper attention to the unities inproducing a drama. Critics have pondered the question of why he waits solong. This conception of tragedy has been emphasized inslightly different ways in different time periods, as can be seen in acomparison of the heroes of Sophocles Oedipus, Shakespeare's Hamlet, andArthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Early in theplay he is charged with the task of avenging his father, a task given himby his father's ghost, and yet for most of the play he does nothing aboutit. It is as if his devotion to his other had made him so jealous for her affection that he had found it hard enough to share this even with his father and could not endure to share it with still another man (Jones 77).Jones rejects this simple Oedipal conflict approach and insteadsubstitutes, but he does see an Oedipal conflict at work, manifested inHamlet's repulsion against women in general and in the suppression of hissexual feelings. New York: Viking, 1949.Shakespeare, William. The character of Hamlet in the play of the same name by WilliamShakespeare has long been a difficult one for critics to assess because heis seen as passive rather than active for most of the play. New Yaven: Yale, 1986.Jones, Earnest. Legitimate rule is an important componentof that order, and usurpers threaten stability. Tragedy in this conception isstruggling against something over which we really have no control, and thetragedy develops from a recognition of the futility of the struggle,leading to the resignation of the tragic hero to his or her fate and indeedeven to the embracing of that fate. This hesitation may be the tragic flaw that the tragic hero mustpossess, and yet if this is so it is different from the tragic flaw of anyother tragic hero. ForWilly, what makes him successful in his own eyes is the way people feelabout him, the fact that the police would protect his car as if it weretheir own when he is in a town where he is liked. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1987.Frye, Northrop. While he might have exercised more caution in order not to killanyone who might be his father or to marry any older woman who might be hismother, there is still the question of whether he could ever have avoidedhis fate, which was foretold by the oracle and which thus presumably had tocome true. Doubleday: Anchor Books, 1954.Miller, Arthur. Oedipus is thetragic hero as defined by Aristotle. Hisown death is not deserved in that he has not challenged the gods and lostas is true for so many tragic heroes. A New Aristotle Reader (J.L. Oedipus is precisely the sort of drama Aristotle would have known andunderstood and in which he would see the unities embodied. Aristotle approaches different subject matter with a similarmethodology while also varying his method to the degree necessary to copewith the different subject matter. Miller speaks here for theaverage man who tries his best to make a living and raise a family. Aristotle also offers prescriptions for various aspectsof the drama. Fate is a direct presence for Oedipus and Hamlet, while Willy Lomanis driven more by flaws in his character which determine his fate. In the Greek view, man is responsible for his actionsand must suffer the consequences, though this is difficult to reconcilewith the plot of the play because Oedipus's actions are both ordained andundertaken without guilty knowledge. Death of a Salesman. Hamlet is called upon to kill Claudius and so to revenge hisfathers' death. Hamlet is tragic because of the position in which he finds himselfand because as the son of the king he has to sacrifice himself in order torestore the social order and put things right. Hamlet and Oedipus. He hasbeen chasing the American dream without success, and he has been blinded tothe real value in his life by that dream. If attention must be paid to WillyLoman, it is because there are millions of other Willy Lomans, realized andpotential, who need to learn the lesson of his life for the benefit oftheir own. Thetragedy derives from the fact that none of what occurs is the tragic hero'sfault, for the tragic flaw predetermines his actions and seals his fate.Oedipus's fate is indeed determined before the action of the play. He willbe destroyed for doing so. Hamlet's hesitation is partof his plan for carrying out the task given to him, but whether he carriesit out immediately or waits, the task itself is not of his creation. Ackrill [Ed.]). Oedipus. Being well-liked is what hebelieves is the essence of success for a man like him, for a salesman. Yet, this is not entirely true, fortechnically, Hamlet is a regicide by the end of the play, even if he killsa false king for the good of the social order. His life is amirror of the lives of millions of other people, people who are ignored bylife but who are human beings just the same. In another sense, itis Willy's last chance. Hisanalysis begins, then, with the material itself and uses reasoning to movefrom the specific instances of drama and poetry to general concepts of whatdrama and poetry as a subject should include and achieve and to apply thegeneral sense of drama to specific instances in the future. The tragic hero derives from the Greek drama, as elucidated by thecriticism of Aristotle in particular. The tragic hero must be an importantperson with a character flaw that causes him to make a great mistakeleading to tremendous suffering and a fall from his high status. Even though this is a taskplaced upon him, and a task that needs to be done, Hamlet must be punishedfor his own "usurpation" of the hierarchy. Northrop Frye echoes this when he writes: It would not be reasonable to ignore the Oedipal element in the set-up, but, as always in Shakespeare, there are many other factors involved (Frye 88).Jones sees Hamlet as hesitating out of fear of the ulterior motive of lovefor his mother, and Hamlet does not kill his uncle until "the Queen isalready dead and lost to him for ever, so that his conscience is free of anulterior motive for the murder" (Jones 1 ). Hamlet. Hisparents are told by the oracle at Delphi that their son will one day killhis father and marry his mother. The hero often knows his fate butstill does not see it coming, as it were. His tragedy is that he createshis own hell by the way he has conducted his life, treated his family, anddone his job, all in a quest for a certain definition of success whileignoring the real values around him. AllWilly wants is recognition, from his family, his boss, the world. As developed by Shakespeare, the flawand its consequences can be seen to take different forms in different playsand always to emphasize both the blindness of the hero in not seeing whatis happening to him beforehand and/or his inability to do anything otherthan what he does. For one thing, the crime Hamlet is to avenge is not ofhis making--he is not atoning for any error on his part and is insteadcarrying out a son's duty imposed directly by the father's ghost. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.