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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 3.15.97: Top | Help

Essence of tragedy

Whatever definition you use, virtually all observers note that it is typical of tragedy to produce conflicting emotions (Aristotle's "pity and fear," for example). What separates literary tragedy from, say, a deadly auto accident is that tragedy MAKES SENSE in some deep and ultimately reassuring way. People may be dead, but we understand WHY, and that assures us that the universe is not random. So the hopeful sense you feel at the end of R&J does not negate the horror/sadness of their deaths; it complicates and balances it.

Posted by Hamlet on April 01, 1997 at 09:06:40
 In Reply to "Romeo and Juliet not a tragedy" posted by Kate on March 30, 1997 at 12:48:12


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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 3.15.97: Top | Help