At a first glance, Before the Law, by Kafka, seems like a story about a man who desires to enter a gate, but a doorkeeper says that the man cannot get passed the gate. At first the man tries to resist, but then decides that the guidelines should be followed, and he sits back and waits until a later date when he can enter the gate. He dies before ever getting to see this happen, and finds out that he could’ve gotten into the gate all along. However, it is a parable that teaches a life lesson that we all need to learn, it might just help us prevent a tragedy in our own lives. Before the Law, is a metaphor, that if you sit around and waste your life away, you will end up with results that are not pleasing. We often let rules and other people’s standards get in the way of what we want to do in accomplish. This can easily be related to tragedy. When we waste our lives away, sitting back, and not taking control of things, tragedy can strike on us. This thinking can relate to tragedies that we have read. In Antigone, she does the complete opposite of the man at the gate, she accomplishes what she wants to despite the limitations placed on her (death). She does not let the rules of life dictate her, but yet pushes boundaries in order to get her desires. I related this to myself in more ways than one. Often times I find that “tragedy”in my life occurs when I am sitting back and letting life control me. I have learned to push through and do things with my life and accomplish things before the tragedies of life hit me.
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In Antigone, it was easy to spot that it was full of tragedy. The play ends in death, and Antigone must lose her life for trying to do the right thing. Antigone follows the story of the play Oedipus Rex, that was previously read. Oedipus’s two sons Eteocles and Polyneices, who fought to death. Eteocles was given a proper burial, but hey Polyneices was not, which upset Antigone. Antigone tries to convince her sister to help her giver Polyneices a proper burial, but Ismene refuses to help. When Antigone hears this, she sneaks out and buries her brother, when news of this is heard by her uncle Creon, Antigone is sentenced to death. As talked about before, in literature, a tragic character has a tragic flaw. A tragic flaw, is not necessarily a bad trait, but it is the root of the character’s tragedy. Antigone’s flaw, was that she was ‘too nice.’ She put others above herself and in the end, this was what took her life. I believe that we all have a tragic flaw, just like Antigone, that can set us up for a tragedy to happen. Although Antigone knew that she would die for honoring the death of Polyneices, she understood the basic concept, that blood is thicker than water. Antigone’s tragedy, became a celebration of good, just as Krutch said in A Tragic Fallacy. Although she died, she met her goal of honoring her brother, which in the end, was a celebration of good despite the bad that had just occurred. We often think that we control what we do, that our decisions our ours. As Dan Ariely said “We wake up in the morning thinking that we make our own decisions, but we don’t.” As much as we think we are our own beings, we are not consciously in control of the decisions we make. As human beings, we are predictable, and we take the easy way out, often times our laziness, and carelessness plays a large factor in our decision making. Ariely first showed a chart of different countries, and their organ donation levels. The countries on the left, had a very small percentage of organ donors, while the countries on the right had a very high percentage of organ donors. This is not because the countries on the left are selfish, it is the way that the decision making was prosecuted. The countries on the left’s forms, had boxes to check if you wanted to be an organ donor, while the countries on the right had a box to check if you did not want to be an organ donor. Out of our laziness as humans, and the tendency to overlook things, most people would not take time to read the box, let alone check it, this making the countries on the rights’ methods more successful. We do not make our own decisions consciously, because we do not take the time to carefully think about our decisions. Media and society can easily fool us, because we do not take the time to think about things ourselves. We too often take the easy route out. This does not just happen however with everyday, ordinary people, it happens with professionals as well. A study was given to doctors, where they were given the option to give the patient medication, or to continue them to hip-replacement they were already scheduled for. Of course, the choice was easy, give them the medication. Then they were given another option, a choice between two medications, or continue the patient to hip replacement. This time, since the decision had more options involved, and was harder, the majority of doctors chose to just continue the patient to hip-replacement. This shows that when decisions become difficult, we default to the easy choice. We do this, without even realizing it. This can be related to tragedy, because often tragedy happens due to decisions that are made beyond our control. For example, Oedipus’s fate was not determined by something that he decided, it was predetermined by a prophecy that he couldn’t control. In tragedies, the things beyond ours or the character’s control, they are unconsciously already made for us. In Krutch’s writing, he makes a point of what tragedy is not.Tragedy is not the imitation of noble acts as Aristotle once said. Tragedy is often misinterpreted to be always associated with gloomy, dark feelings. We often limit words to certain meanings, never think deeper than what seems to be on the surface. We often connect the word tragedy, with something that represents bad, when in reality, tragedy can represent celebration. These tragic events represent something new, and good to come, a fresh start. Tragedy shapes us into something/someone new. Tragedy is a rebirth, because it molds us into things that we would have never been if it wasn’t for the tragedy in our life. For example, a tragic event can show you how strong of an individual you really are. This revelation would have never been discovered without the tragedy occurring in your life. Tragedy is not limited to bad, because good can always come from it. Tragedy brings revelation into people’s lives, and causes us to see things differently than we did before. Krutch says, “To those who mistakenly think of it as something gloomy or depressing, who are incapable of recognizing the elation which its celebration of human greatness inspires.” What he is saying, is something that many people fail to recognize, is that tragedy is not limited to being a fall with no rise. It can bring good, and will be something that brings joy. The saying goes “It’s always darkest before the dawn” and with tragedy, I find this to be true, after all the bad goes away, something new and bright will rise. At first glance, it is obvious that Oedipus Rex is full of tragedy. He finds out that he had killed his father Laius, slept with his mother Jocasta and had children with her, and finds out that his parents were not the people that he thought they were. His life becomes a series of tragic findings. However, Oedipus Rex contains two large factors that make it a true tragedy, identity crisis, and death. As learned from Arthur Miller, tragedy happens when a character has an identity crisis, and begins to lose themselves. This is clear within the story of Oedipus, because his world gets turned completely upside down, and he suddenly is not the person he thought he was. He started out as a hero of Thebes, due to defeating the sphinx. He then has an identity crisis when he realizes that the parents who raised him, were not his real parents. He then finds out, that his wife, is actually his birth mom. This news would be completely devastating to anyone, making it very tragic. This then leads to Oedipus not knowing his place in the world, he becomes lost and confused about his identity. The other tragic quality that Oedipus Rex contains, is the classic ending of a tragedy-death. When Jocasta, Oedipus’s wife, finds out she is also his mother, she kills herself. Death is a tragedy, especially in this case, due to the fact that it really wasn’t either of their faults. After this news, Oedipus-being rather dramatic-gouges out his eyes with brooches, that way he can never see anything beautiful again. Then, sadly Oedipus is seen to the rest of the town as a shameful man, who would have been better off dead. Cue the violins playing. As dramatic as the play may have been, it was a true example of tragedy. Tragedy is thought to occur when a level of success is not met-but what determines success? Just like how everyone interprets success differently, tragedy lies in the eyes of the beholder. Tragedy and success are determined by the person, and the people around who influence them. In the TED Talk about success, Allen de Botton talks about how we often determine success due to other people’s standards, rather than determining it for ourselves. There is a stigma on success, that in order to be deemed successful, you have to make six figures a year, and have a job as a lawyer or a doctor. To be successful, you have to be rich and well known, but is that really the measure of success? Success should not be determined by the society, but by the individual. For some people, success is just passing classes in high school, but yet these people are deemed as failures, due to the majority claiming that is not a success, but a failure. Success should not be determined by this, it should be determined by what makes an individual happy. Tragedy is also often times determined by society, when it should be up to the individual. While most people consider tragedy a worldwide event, such as a tsunami or an earthquake, some people find tragedies more intimate, such as a breakup. Tragedy is based on the person, no matter what society says. Tragedy and success which both carry large stigmas, should not be based off of society’s standards, not determined by what the individual considers success and tragedy. In the text Tragedy and the Common Man, the author Arthur Miller makes a point to put tragedy into context for a common person. Often times, when we think of tragedies, we think of a play made by Shakespeare, filled with pure royalty. When reading Tragedy and the Common Man however, we can relate tragedy to ourselves, the average Joe’s if you will. Miller shows in his text that tragedy actually happens to everyone, not just individuals of high stature. He talks about how tragedy strives off of identity crisis, something that all of us struggle with. Tragedy occurs when the common man has to fight in order to find his place in this world and maintain it. This spoke to me, because it hits so close to home, we are all trying to find our place in this world, and we are all fighting to stay there. No one wants to lose themselves, and who they are, and when we do, our identity crisis brings forth a tragedy. In his text, Miller says, “It is the common man who knows fear best.” I could not think of a more true statement. We fear as common people, someday not having a place in this world. We fear that a day will come where we will fade into the background, as much as we hate to admit it. Why is it, that as human beings we soak up the misfortune of others? Often times we take pleasure in sitting back from the distance, taking in tragic things that are happening to others, relieved however that it isn’t happening to us. All throughout our culture you can find this happening, our society is crazy for movies and shows that revolve around death and tragic things happening to the world-The Walking Dead for example? Our generation however is not the first to take such interest in tragedies. Tragedies are dramas that are based on human suffering, these took the form of plays, and originated in the theatres of ancient greece. “the term tragedy often refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically.” This drama was not only used for people to learn from, it played an important role in order to shape society and what as a whole we take pleasure in being entertained by. When tragedies were developed, three different forms evolved. The first, is Tragedy by Circumstance. This type of tragedy, is when the main character(s) gets into a tragedy that is beyond their control, such as a natural disaster. The second form of tragedy, Tragedy by Misfortune, is when the main character gets themselves into their tragic situation. This is the most popular form of tragedy in entertainment, because people are often entertained by the misfortune of others, through a situation that would never affect them. The third and final form of tragedy, is Revenge Tragedy, which is when a tragedy happens due to someone trying to get revenge on another. These different forms of tragedies make our culture go crazy. (Tragedy,Wikepedia) |
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