Game of Thrones, the new HBO serires based off of the book sereis A Song of Ice and Fire, captures an example of a true tradegy within the story. The show takes place in the fictional nation called the Seven Kingdoms, a country where greed, coruption, and self interests rule supreme over all else.The show primarly follows the story of Ned Stark, a lord of the northern part of the kingdom who is known amongst the nation as a noble and honorable man. At the begining of the show, the top advisor of the king of the Seven Kingdoms dies under mystserious circumstances. This event causes the king of the Seven Kingdoms, Robert Baratheon to choose Ned as his new top adisor due to his reputation and their close freindship. Shortly after arriving in the capital of the kingdom to assume his new postion of power, Ned begins to investigatge the death of the former chief advisor. Twords the middle of the season, Ned discovers that the Kings three children are actually incestious bastards that were birthed as a result of an affair that the queen and her brother sharded. Although he intially intended to tell the king about his discovery, he immediately warned the queen that he new her secret and advised her to flee the kingdom with her children before he told Robert. However the king dies in a hunting accident before Ned gets the chance to warn him about the queen. As a result, the queen arrests Ned as an enemy of the state and her son whom has assumed the title as the new king eventually executes him.
Although most people judge Ned Starks actions as extremely stupid, his reason was justifiable. Ned did not want to be responsible for death of the queen and her children. Even though he could have easily kept this information a secret, he decided to do the right thing and warn the queen. He tried to do the thing that is morally right in an immoral world. As a result, his actions lead to his death much like the classic tragedies of ancient Greece and Elizabethan England.
For an example of a modern day tragedy, I chose Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette. This story fits almost all of the requirements for a tragedy. Marie Antoinette was born of noble stature, being the archduchess of Austria, and later married and became the queen of France. In the movie, Marie is forced to marry a difficult and uninterested man she had never met before as well as live under constant scrutiny and criticism from both her mother in Austria and the court of Versailles. The pressure and responsibility at a young age drives Marie to drink, gamble, and cheat on her husband. Her immense spending and irresponsibility contributes to France's debt is a contributing factor in the spark of France's revolution. Marie's downfall is not entirely her fault. She is brought from Austria innocent, young, and does not know how to be a queen. Responsibility is forced upon her, and the audience pitys her for the terrible situation she is caught trying to handle without much help. Marie wants to do the best she can, but eventually succumbs to the pressure, proving that a weakness for clothes, parties, drinking, and gambling is her tragic flaw. At the end of the movie, when Marie confronts the angry mob trying to drive her from her palace, the audience sees that Marie recognizes the errors in her judgement and actions and that she has still learned from the tragedy.
I was not able to think of a tragedy in today's modern pop culture; however, I remembered this short story about art called The Portrait written by Nikolai Gogol, a Russian novelist. Although Gogol wrote the story in 1835, the struggle and human flaw portrayed in The Portrait remains universal, transcending time and culture. The story captures the tragic fall of a starving but promising young painter, Chartkov. Without money to pay rent and buy food, he becomes disillusioned with his professor’s advice to improve patiently on his skills instead of wasting his talent by seeking immediate fame and becoming “fashionable artist”. One day, at a local art store he impulsively buys a portrait of an old man with staring eyes that seem alive. In the frame of the artwork, he finds a sack of 1000 gold rubles (Russian currency). At first, he thought of using the money for living expenses so that he can devote all of his time to painting, but inside the tempting voice leads him to impulsively shop for fashionable clothes, gorge in pastries, and rent a magnificent apartment. He starts to paint portraits for rich people and become obsessed with money and fame while the true artists shook their heads when they saw his work. One day, he goes to the exhibition of his peer who has spent years developing brushing techniques and accumulating knowledge of history and greatest art works. Chartkov is speechless at the godly beauty of the work of his peer. The regret of wasting his youth in vain impulse and ruining his talent washes over him. He attempts to revive his potential by painting a fallen angel but each brush stroke comes out dull and rigid. His frustration and rage strip him of humanity as he relentlessly buys and shreds every artwork of genuine talent into pieces. Soon, he dies of terrible illness evoked by madness and rage.
Although Chartkov’s rise from poverty to wealth and reputation seem to contradict the fall that is an aspect of tragedy, his downfall is a moral and artistic one. His wealth and reputation are fake, made possible only by sacrificing his soul and passion. Preoccupied with the shallow substances of fortune and public recognition, he abandons his pursuit for genuine art and ruins the best years of his life. He is good because he strives to exploit his talent at first but his impatience and susceptibility to temptation of fast wealth and fame result in his downfall. Gogol’s heart-wrenching depiction made readers feel pity for the decay of Chartkov’s character. The only feature of tragedy that Chartkov fails to fulfill is accepting his fate. Instead, he destroys great works of art and dies of madness and frustration. Still, he does come to the painful realization that he had a talent but he ruined without hesitation.
The corruption of Chartkov is universal to humans as we see in celebrities and sometimes even in ourselves. This enduring relatability of Chartkov’s demise makes The Portrait even more tragic.
The story within the television show Once Upon A Time holds several characteristics of a tragedy. The Witch, widow of the king, despises Snow White as the cause of the her unhappiness.
Overcome by hatred, the Witch kills her father in order to bring misfortune on Snow White. She believes that Snow White's suffering will make her happy but only suffers too. A spell takes away the Prince and Snow White's daughter in addition to trapping the story book characters in modern times.
The Witch is mayor in the modern town but her accomplishment is pointless without her father. From casting the spell her her heart is cold and she cannot connect with anyone around her. She has a false sense of glee in modern times. Although the Witch initiated her fate she does not deserve it completely as she only tried to find happiness through magic.
One of my favorite movies of all time is Seven Pounds, starring Will Smith. It was release in late 2008 and is about a man, Will Smith, who accidently kills his fiance and six other people in a car accident. He was texting while driving and was distracted and then he hit another car. Will Smith is devastated by this, and rightfully so. After this incident he decides his life is not worth living anymore. His decision is to find people that need organs and sacrifice his life so that they can live. He, in the end, finds those people and donates seven pounds of his organs, hence the title. This movie is a tragedy because a successful happy person has a downfall due to his own flaws.
In Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the tragic hero of his story enters a psychotic ward and takes pity on the mentally ill patients, who are being terriorized by the tyranical nurse of the ward. The wards of the hospital had been oppressed by Nurse Fletcher until McMurphy is admitted. McMurphy, in his overconfident manner, undermines Nurse Fletcher and she gradually loses her control over the patients. Nurse Fletcher regains her power by destroying McMurphy. McMurphy soon dies after recieveing a lobotomy.
McMurphy sacraficed his relatively safe position in the psychotic ward in order to help heal the patients. McMurphy's fatal mistake came from his overconfidence in his growing power over Nurse Flethcher. The lobotomy Nurse Fletcher ordered on McMurphy destroyed his mind and the confidence the patients had gained from his presence.
Some define tragedy as characterized by a seriousness and dignity involving a great person who experiences a reversal of fortune. Including a change of fortune from bad to good, but the change from good to bad is preferable because this effects of pity and fear within the spectators. Tragedy results in a healing for the audience through their experience of these emotions in response to the suffering of the characters in the drama.
No movie shows this definition like Braveheart and his main character William Wallace. William Wallace is the perfect tragic hero. Even though he is not of noble social background, he is an educated Scottish hat have earn some privileges from the England invaders. He witnesses his own downfall when he marries Murron and they are caught and Murron is executed. Wallace is now compelled to rebel against the English, and as his legend spreads, hundreds of Scots from the surrounding clans join him. At the end of all the fighting, Wallace is brought before an English magistrate, tried for high treason, and condemned to public torture and beheading. Even after being hanged and mutilated, Wallace refuses to submit to the king by begging for mercy. As cries for mercy come from the watching crowd, the magistrate offers him one final chance. Wallace instead shouts the word "Freedom!" Just before the axe falls, Wallace sees a vision of Murron in the crowd smiling at him. This scene shows some supernatural or unusual condition that a tragic hero has to have. But his death is not in vein, years after Wallace's death, Robert the Bruce, Scotland's king, leads a Scottish army before a ceremonial line of English troops on the fields of Bannockburn where he is to formally accept English rule. As he begins to ride toward the English, the Bruce stops and turns back to his troops. Invoking Wallace's memory, he implores them to fight with him as they did with Wallace. He then leads his army into battle against the stunned English, winning the Scots their freedom.
The spectator watching this movie is moved by the suffering that William Wallace endured before his death.
My blog is about Harry Potter because it's awesome. When I think of the word "tragic", Snape's life comes to my mind. He loved Lilly, Harry's mother, ever since he first layed eyes on her! He helped her through situations, had her back, and always reassured her that she wasn't wierd . . and helped her become one of the best witches in history. No big deal right? I've always disliked Snape. I thought he was cruel and bitter, but in the last book/ last movie, when Voldemort killed Snape, I cried like a baby. When we saw the truth in the penseive . . I was touched. Lilly betrayed him when she picked James, but he still never stopped loving her. He tried to save their lives by going to Dumbledore, but Voldemort ended up finding them anyway. He promised Dumbledore he would work with The dark lord to plot against him. He's helped Harry the whole way, and his life ended in a tragic death. What dedication. Tragic Life for sure. R.I.P Severus Snape :(
"The Prestige" is an incredibly interesting film set in the early twentieth century, when London would endorse the immortal idea of the magician's act in its theatres. The movie begins with Alfred Bordon and Robert Angier--the two main characters--working as ringers for "Milton The Magician", both of whom are very gifted at the art of practicing illlusions. Bordon makes a mistake of tying a knot too complicated for performer to undo in the typical "predicament escape" (look it up) trick. the result is that she dies, and Angier--her husband--blames Bordon for her death forever after.
In a way, both Bordon and Angier present themselves to be characters that begin from a place of "noble stature". both of them are very accomplished in the art of what makes a magician--Bordon seems to be very good at both understanding and creating illusions, while Angier is very good at the publicity necessary. Bordon presents himself as being a character who has a flaw--he is very proud of his ability to tie knots and carry the weight of Milton's act. it is his character's disposition that allows this tragedy to occur.
the result is a dangerous and damaging rivalry between the two magicians. Bordon loses his finger in his "bullet catch" trick when Angier shoots them off. Bordon's wife kills herself because Bordon has spent too much time worrying over their rivalry. in the end, both characters learn a lesson from the terrible outcomes of their dealings in illusions--both about themselves, and about each other.
I think one of the biggest modern day tragedy is the effect that media has on people's ideals. For example, the media exposes many different females and have created the ideal females. This perfect woman is exposed all throughout the media from advertisements to celebrities, girls want and expect to be like these models or celebrities. A girl needs to be skinny, have big physical features, and a face that is perfect. The media forces these girls to look like this "perfect" woman and therefore causes girls to go to the ultimate extreme. The media has caused a tragedy because teenage girls are now suffering from eating disorders. Since the media portrays women to be skinny and there are all these products about losing weight, girls have gone to the extreme low and decided to be anorexic. Teenagers are more likely to have an eating disorder which can cause death. This may not be your typical tragedy because there is not an exact reason for death that relates to the media but these girls are slowing dying because of the expectations that the media has put on them.
A modern day tragedy. Finding one was harder than I thought it would be, but I think that's because I was limiting myself to writing. A real tragedy was the stock market crash. I think the main way it follows the criteria of tragedy is how the people directly affected deserved to be so, investing in unsafe mortgages. It might not feel like a tragedy because of the lack or real death, but something can be tragic without death.
Yeah, so my example of a contemporary tragedy is Harry Potter. I wasn't in much of a "think outside the box" mindset tonight. Anyways, for anyone who is unfamiliar with the Harry Potter series, Harry is led to believe by Professor Dumbledore that he must destroy all of Lord Voldemort's horcruxes in order to finally defeat him and bring piece to all of the good guys. But what Dumbledore leaves out is the part about how part of Voldemort's soul is actually attached to Harry's soul. So in order to completely destroy Voldemort, Harry must first sacrifice himself to be killed by Lord Voldemort so that the piece of Voldemort's soul which resides in Harry will be blasted to bits as well. It's a pretty awful situation for anyone to be in, but it's made especially terrible because of how much Harry trusted Dumbledore's advice up until that point when he found out about the last bit of Voldemort's soul. The audience was even led to believe that Dumbledore was to be trusted on everything. If Harry had not come back from the dead I would say this story had the potential to be extremely tragic. But since everything works out in the end it's not altogether tragic. But for that brief instant in the story when Harry marched out to meet his death I think I, along with a lot of other readers, felt very betrayed and sad that Harry had to die this way.
As I was thinking about tragedies, no one event or story came to my mind. I looked up what defines a tragedy and found that tragedies consist of unfortunate events, the downfall of a character, and unhappy endings. After going through a few of my favorite love story movies in my head I realized that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button fits every element of the definition of a tragedy. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is the story of a man named Benjamin who is born completely aged, and grows younger as his life goes on. This is already a tragedy on its own, because Benjamin is abandoned by his father as a baby because of his elderly looks, and then he will never be able to experience life like everyone else.
When Benjamin is in the beginning of his life, but at the same time an old man, he mets a young girl named Daisy in a nursing home. Benjamin meets Daisy and immediately enjoys spending time with her. They become friends and stay up late talking together on many occasions. However, soon Daisy gets older and travels away to start a dancing career.
After Daisy and Benjamin spend some time apart, they are finally reunited in their home town. It is perfect timing to reunite because Benjamin and Daisy have become close to the same age. They quickly fall in love and start a life together. Unfortunately they know that their love cannot last a life time because Benjamin will age into a child. Benjamin and Daisy love each other, but finally accept that they have to move on to their different stages of life. Daisy ends up having Benjamin's baby and it is tragic that Benjamin has to watch his daughter grow up with a new father. From the first time they meet Benjamin and Daisy know that they are destined not to be able to live a life together, but they make the most of the time they are given.
When we were asked to think of a contemporary example of a tragedy, the first thing that came to mind was the movie Leon: The Professional. The movie centers around a young girl whose family is killed by a corrupt police officer who was involved in a drug deal with the girl's father. The girl, Mathilda, was getting groceries when her family was killed, so she survives only by walking to her neighbor's apartment until the corrupt officers leave. While the girl was unhappy in her family, her brother's death strikes her hard. She then realizes that Leon, her neighbor, is a professional assassin and she teaches him to love people and he teaches her to kill. In my opinion, it fits most of the criteria for a tragedy very well, but it provides an interesting twist on those criteria at the same time.
The first criteria for a tragedy is that the hero must be someone of "noble stature." While Leon is not of typical noble stature in any way, he is presented at the beginning of the movie as the only person with his life in order, living comfortably in his apartment, and maintaining a well-respected and comparatively moral position in his career even if it is an innately immoral career. So, compared to the rest of the characters, Leon begins the movie in a relatively high standing in the audience's eyes, since they don't yet know he's an assassin and they just see that he helps out a little girl willingly when she most needs it. Then, the tragic hero must be good, but not perfect, which Leon definitely fits because he's good-natured, but he is still a professional assassin.
In terms of Leon's troubles being tragic rather than pathetic, I think they definitely are. He leads to his own eventual death by taking in Mathilda and allowing her to show him how to really care for someone and enjoy life. Here is where I think this movie provides an interesting twist on a tragedy. The action that Leon takes that leads to his untimely demise is actually a positive thing in his life. Still, it leads to a revelation on his part that enjoying life is important and worth whatever costs it may involve, so even though he dies as a result of this choice, it is not a complete loss for him.
Finally, the movie is structured in a way that makes the audience sympathize with Leon even though he is an assassin, which subsequently causes them to fear for him in times of danger and experience genuine sadness when he dies, which is also a criteria for a tragedy.
Overall, in my opinion, this movie definitely qualifies as a contemporary tragedy.
When asked to identify a real life tragedy the Iraq War is something that immediately comes to mind.
At the center of the story you have the 43rd President Bush playing the role of the tragic hero. His intentions are good. He does not have malice or spite or any negative emotions in making his decisions. He is simply trying to depose a murderous dictator and bring freedom to an oppressed people. However, his noble intention is negatively affected by his tragic flaw: his hubris. He justified war on shaky grounds and in the build up he only listens to those who agree with him. His confidence in himself, his justification, and the ensuing invasion borders on arrogance. This arrogance leads him to be woefully unprepared for what is to come. As a result, this war which was supposed to be swift and cheered by all, drags on with diminished public support. His hubris caught up to him when the justification for war proved untrue and his strong belief that his troops would be greeted as liberators turns out to be false. However, contrary to the wish of some, Bush does not die. The death he suffers is in the court of public opinion. He suffers unfathomably low poll numbers and international detest.
What do you think about this situation as a tragedy?
In the Denver Broncos' 41-23 loss to the New England Patriots last Sunday, Tim Tebow demonstrated each and every trait of a tragic hero.
For those that don't know, Tim Tebow is the current starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos who was a backup to quarterback Kyle Orton until the sixth week of the NFL season. Under Orton, the team struggled and was the worst team in their division with a 1-4 record. Under Tebow, the team surged to an 8-5 record going into their game against the Tom Brady-led New England Patriots and was the leaders of the AFC West Division. Denver fans regarded Tebow as a savior to what seemed certain to be a season of failure. Tebow was, in that respect, a man with noble stature.
Then came the Patriots.
Now, as I said, the Broncos lost and the aura of Tim Tebow was significantly diminished. Yet, Tebow did not play all that poorly. He completed eleven of his twenty-two pass attempts for 194 yards and ran for another ninety-three yards on the ground. He did, however, fumble away a ball for a turnover and got sacked for a huge loss toward the end of the game. In that way, he fulfills the next three requirements of being a tragic hero. He played well, but not perfectly, and the loss was in part brought on by his own doing. Yet he was also not wholly to blame for the loss. The Broncos' defense played poorly, and two other players fumbled the ball away so that the Patriots could easily score.
Ultimately, it was the entire team that contributed to the Broncos' loss, but Tim Tebow still undeniably learned a lesson about the types of teams that he will have to play against if the Broncos are to make the playoffs. I also saw as a spectator the fall of a great hero who many believed to be infallible and in doing so felt a sense of pity for Tebow as he was shown to be imperfect. I witnessed, right before my very eyes, the fall of a tragic hero. Tebow fell from grace, and though he may rebound to rally the team into the playoffs, the legend that was Tim Tebow does not survive today as much as it did before the game against the New England Patriots.
Spoiler: at the end of the Rocky series, the aged Rocky loses to the proud, young Mason Dixon due to split decision. If you did not feel very disheartened or distraught from this ending, you definitely did not follow the movies closely enough.
Most of us have seen at least some installment from the Rocky series. For those who started from the beginning, they experienced the exciting, emotional journey of a small time boxer getting a chance to fight for the heavyweight title. As the series progresses, we see Rocky rise to fame following his subsequent victories, defeating the entertaining Apollo Creed, as well as Drago, the juiced-up, super russian. At one point, we see Rocky living a leisurely lifestyle: a mansion, exotic cars, and a happy marriage. Along the way, the audience sways with the emotions and tensions of Rocky Balboa, feeling the struggle and anguish Rocky experiences while facing near insurmountable odds.
As we enter the last stretch of Rocky's career, we see him come out of retirement to answer the challenge of a prospective new boxer. Yet again, we watch him train, facing some other challenges along the way. He constantly struggles to accept the death of his wife, and faces much conflict in how to "train," as Rocky stands as such a seasoned fighter.
After the much familiar drama of the Rocky movies, we watch as Balboa enters the fight and continues to the final round. After Rocky mentally reasserts his principles of resilience and determination, he comes back from near knockout to land the final punch of Mason. But, unlike the other movies, the bell rings and "victory" is not his.
This is where I feel this final Rocky installment proves a complete tragedy. At the end of it all, Rocky loses-and by split decision. Although Rocky states that he "released the beast that was inside him" and he seems contented walking off before the decision is made, this ending remains inconsistent and tragic in the world of the Rocky film industry. As the movie closes with Rocky symbolically joining Adrian in peace when he states, "Yo Adrian, we did it," I know I feel betrayed. If one ties tragedy explicitly to death, I am willing to make the argument that this movie killed not only the magical character of the Italian Stallion, but the enjoyment the real Rocky fans truly desire.
"Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he? " -- Clarence Odbody
My tragic hero is George Bailey. In the spirit on the season, I think my selection makes sense. If George is my hero, then naturally, "It's a Wonderful Life", the great holiday classic, is my tragedy. The only problem is that the film has a happy ending. For much of the film, however, George exists in an alternate reality -- a reality in which he was never born -- and this reality is a tragedy.
George grows up as the most well-loved boy in town. He saves at least two lives before he reaches high school, and his peers admire him. His father is a personable businessman and his brother a distinguished soldier. George dreams of world travels. George, one could say, is nobility.
Then his father dies. George is somewhat forced into adopting his father's Building and Loan company. Although he does not realize it, George slowly begins his downfall. George's uncle loses a large portion of their company's money, and the Building and Loan is almost shut down. George (out of frustration) drives his car into a tree and then staggers to a bridge, ready to commit suicide. At this point in the film, George has spiraled downward, partly of his own accord (he blames himself for not living his dreams), but also due, in large part, to the actions of others. George doesn't quite deserve the problems he faces. His "act of injustice", he does to himself. He punishes himself and nearly ends his own life.
Lucky for George Bailey, Clarence, the angel, saves the day. Clarence shows George what his hometown would be like withouth George. The two people whose lives George saved died. The soldiers saved by George's brother, Harry, dies as well (Harry dies in his youth because George doesn't save him). Several other tragic events happen. I believe this is the catharsis. The audience feels it, and I find it interesting that George, the tragic hero, experiences the catharsis as well.
In the end, George begs Clarence to bring him back to reality because George realizes that he loves the life he already leads. Although George doesn't die (he comes close), I attribute the ending to his discovery of self-knowledge. George clearly falls from nobility, and experiences what his life, as well as the lives he affected, would be like if he were dead. The catharsis occurs in an alternate reality, so maybe the tragedy exists inside of a comedy. I sincerely apologize to Aristotle if that's not allowed.
While thinking of Star Wars as a tragedy may not make sense at first, if you go through the list of characteristics which make a tragedy almost every single one applies to the story of Anakin Skywalker.
Anakin is a man of noble stature. It was prophesied that he was the chosen one and so he was viewed in awe by all others. While he was a good man he was in no way perfect. He was cocky and self righteous. He saw himself as better and more important than all others based on the fact that he was the chosen one, providing him with skills that other Jedi could only dream of possessing.
His eventual downfall downfall was tragic but not pathetic. Although he does not die, as is common in tragedies, he is pushed to the brink of death after a duel with his old master and friend. In the duel he was defeated, and with the nature of a duel being noble his downfall is tragic but not pathetic.
The downfall which he experienced was deserved to a certain extent. It was not wholly deserved though since his only goal was to protect his love. In the process of protecting the love of his life he hurt many other innocent people. Of course killing all the Jedi was terrible but behind this act was the goal to protect his love. This in and of itself is not a malicious thing.
In the end not all is lost for him. While he did lose his wife and all of his friends and companions, his children survived. At the end of his life he is able to reconcile with his son, allowing him to gain back some of the humanity that he lost after he betrayed the Jedi. Anakin’s return to the light side at the end of the series allow people to reconnect with him. Even after all the terrible deeds that he committed as Darth Vader, when he reveals himself to Luke in the final scene there is a certain amount of pity from the audience. It is his return to humanity, in a way, after years spent as a heartless and bitter man that allows people to reconnect and care for him in his final moments of life after taking off his mask.
Breaking Bad serves as a prototypical example of a modern tragedy. The series centers around the character of Walter White, a reserved high school chemistry teacher, father, and husband. As he receives the news of his Stage 3 terminal lung cancer Walter White becomes increasingly concerned with his family. Specifically, he worries that if he dies he will leave them with little to no money or resources. In order to supplement his income Walter enters the methamphetamine production business and pays for all his treatment. Eventually, his lies are exposed and he finds himself without a family and involved with dangerous business partners.
Walter only sought to help and protect his family, and lied to further protect them. Eventually, his actions were exposed and his status as a loving, reserved, and normal member of society is ruined. Walter White, while he does not die, is outcast from all his friends and family. Walter is alone, depressed, and oucast from his own actions.
I had been speaking with my sister this past week and she mentioned one of Tyler Perry’s latest movies, For Colored Girls, I was intrigued to find out about this movie because I have always liked Perry’s movies. As I researched it, I found that it had originally been a compilation of poems by Ntozake Shange. The original name was For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. As I read a synopsis of the movie and the book, I found the topics, of accounts about black women who are raped, verbally abused, beaten and other forms of abuse which seemed very much like tragedies. I think also the suffering through multiple accounts optimizes the idea of a tragedy, similarly, to King Lear. In For Colored Girls the movie, there are nine different stories of black women. Within King Lear, there are multiple characters that experience suffering, King Lear himself, Gloucester, Cordelia, Edgar, Kent, almost all the characters experience suffering or death at some point or another. WIthin For Colored Girls, these women not only have these almost secular instances of themselves, but also have this connection through the usage of colors. Their situations also are connected to King Lear in that they are all in a state of despair and trying to overcome their issues. For instance, one of the nine main characters, Juanita wishes to begin a medical center and asks for the help of another character, Jo. She is denied help and remains in the confines of being in a dismal state. She is still persistent in her efforts though to aid other women, but still struggles herself. This can be similar to Cordelia beIng banished by her father, but still able to become in power by her own actions. In King Lear, it seems that all the characters are connected through what they all want or feel they need, power. Within For Colored Girls, the characters never have a moment of relief until they see that they are all struggling, not to say it will fix their dismal situations. There are a lot of conflicts among each other as well. The women still struggle through their problems, but try to heal together. In For Colored Girls, the story seems to have the ability to make you feel there is this collective, but also disconnected relationship among the characters. In the same instance, it has the ability to express an epidemic among black culture between women and men and women in society. It shows a racial struggle through a specific gender and specific accounts, which is in itself sends the message of suffering or tragedy.
One modern movie that contains a tragic hero is The Departed. In The Departed, a boy Colin Sullivan is approached by Irish mob boss Francis Costello and he then begins working for him. A few years later, Sullivan has graduated from the Massachusetts State Police Academy and is working undercover as an informer for Costello in the state police. Billy Costigan, another graduate from the Massachusetts State Police Academy is working undercover to get evidence against Costello. However, it is soon realized by both the mob and the police that there is a mole amongst them, causing Sullivan and Costigan to have to race to reveal the identity of the other before they are found out themselves. During a chase with Billy Costigan, Sullivan accidentally kills an innocent man. Instead of stopping, Sullivan continues and at the end of the movie he is killed in his apartment.
Sullivan is a tragic hero because he gained a "high" place in the state police and committed an "act of injustice" by killing an innocent bystander. The Special Investigations Unit that Sullivan worked in is then determined to discover the mole, ultimately leading to his death. Sullivan did everything that he could to resist being caught, but in the end it ended up killing him.
John Proctor in The Crucible is a tragic hero. Hopefully everyone read it last year, but for those of you who possibly didn't I will give a quick summary. John Proctor ends up getting hung for trying to end the Salem witch trials. His old mistress Abigail goes into the woods with a group of girls and tries to contact the devil.When they get caught the girls blame women in town for bewitching them. One of these women in Elizabeth, Proctor's wife. Proctor tries to save her and get the girls to admit they have made the whole thing up, but they blame him for practicing witchcraft and he is arrested along with the other women.
Proctor is good but not perfect. He did cheat on his wife and was caught doing farm work during Sabbath, but other than that he is a good man. He provided for his family and ultimately cut off his relations with Abigail because he loved Elizabeth and knew that family was more important.
He is tragic but not pathetic. He promoted his own downfall by having an affair with Abigail in the first place. If he hadn't she would not have been so jealous and accused Elizabeth of being a witch. He is not pathetic because he didn't experience some terrible accident.
His punishment was not wholly deserved because he was falsely accused. He never actually did perform any witchcraft and ended up dying for it.
His death was not a pure loss though because rather than be set free and let all of the other victims die, he took his punishment like a man and went with the others. His death, as well as all the others, is what ultimately ended the witch trials. Finally the people of Salem found some sense and realized that they had been tricked by foolish girls. John Proctor is a true tragic hero.
The Little Mermaid is best known as a popular children's film. As such, Disney had to tweak several of the more tragic elements. Hans Christian Andersen's original story tells it like it is -- no fairy tale happy ending nonsense.
PLOT: Ariel was a rebellious young mermaid with an unsatiable curiousity about humans. Throughout the kingdom, she was known for her beautiful voice. One day she spotted a cute human boy (who just so happened to be a prince) and fell in love at first sight. He did not see her, but heard her sing. She went behind her father's back and made a deal with the evil Ursula -- she received legs and feet, but at the price of her voice.
This is where the stories diverge. Disney claims that Ariel wins over the boy, her father got her voice back from Ursula, and they all lived happily ever after.
In Mr. Andersen's version, the princess would suffer a terrible death if the prince married another woman. Then the prince married another woman. Ariel could become a mermaid, return to the sea, and live out a full life if she slayed the prince and let his blood drip on her feet. She couldn't do it. She jumps into the sea and her body dissolves into foam.
NOBLE STATURE: She's a princess.
GOOD, BUT NOT PERFECT: She was kind-hearted and loving, but she was going through her rebellious teenage years.
TRAGIC, NOT PATHETIC: Ariel falls from greatness because of her choice to trade her voice for legs. (But let's be honest, she's totally pathetic).
MISFORTUNE NOT WHOLLY DESERVED: Even though Ariel made a deal with evil Ursula, she didn't deserve to have her heart broken and die a horrible death. It was really the prince that screwed her over.
NOT PURE LOSS: Ariel had the opportunity to kill the prince and have her life go back to the way it was. She chose not to because she valued the prince's happiness. She was at peace with her decision.
A modern take on the Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, is West Side Story. Tony and Maria and the two protagonists of the film and are separated by two opposing gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, restricting them from making their love a publicly known affair. The secrecy of their love deceives the viewer into thinking the film is a comedy, ending in marriage and happiness, however, the relationship takes a turn for the worst. Anita, who is Maria's brother's girlfriend, lies to the Jets (Tony) and claims that Maria has been killed because her relationship with an "enemy" has been discovered. The supposed killer of Maria, Chino, is then approached by Tony and rather than seeking revenge, Tony is murdered and dies in Maria's arms.
West Side Story involves two innocent characters that simply want to break the barriers of competing gangs. The two do not deserve to die, and do not do anything to deserve death. Love is forbidden for the two of them and in the final of the scene, the two die together and break all barriers created by the warring gangs
One movie that I would consider to be a tragedy is My Girl. My Girl is a movie about an eleven year girl named Vada and her story as she deals with family, friends, and the world around her. Vada's is sort of an outcast in society. She is teased by other girls because her best friend Thomas is a boy and unpopular, her dad owns a funeral home, and she has a huge crush on her teacher, Mr. Bixler. However, things then start to crumble in Vada's life when her father starts dating. Vada becomes emotionally unstable when her best friend Thomas dies from an allergic reaction to bee stings. Just after their first kiss, Vada loses her ring and in attempting to help her find it, Thomas gets attacked by bees and dies becuase he is "allergic to everything."
I consider Thomas to be the tragic hero in this film. Although Thomas is not in a "high place" in society, he brings Vada to a better place, both socially and emotionally, as they grow up together in friendship. Thomas is a good and nice boy, but certainly not perfect. He is unpopular, but his flaw of "being allergic to everything" brings him down and contributes to his death. Thomas is personally responsible for his own downfall because he went up in the tree to try to search for Vada's ring. In addition, the misfortune of Thomas's death was not fully deserved. Thomas was innocently trying to help out his best friend and therefore his death fits well with the description of the punishment exceeding the crime. Thomas did not deserve to die. On the other hand, Thomas's death was not a pure loss because Vada's grief mends the strife between her and her father, and she also overcomes some of her previous issues as well. The audience is filled with pity and sadness when Thomas dies, but Vada gains understanding from his death.
One of the most tragic fictional stories would have to be the story of Scarface. The main character would be a Cuban refugee named Tony Montana. Tony came to America and all his life worked at miserable jobs barely making enough to survive. Tony was hungry for money and did anything to receive it, even murder and drug trafficking. Tony then agrees to a job where he essential transports cocaine. Tony worked up through the ranks and would eventually become the "Head Honcho" but this resulted in him doing inhumane things. Tony may be a ruthless and notorious man but one thing he refuses to do is kill children and a mother. His refusal to do this would eventually be the reason behind his death because he was ordered to kill this man but never did. His caring and compassionate side got the best of him.
This story is considered a tragic story due to the fact that many of the characters died, most importantly the protagonist Tony Montana died. Tony's friend died after an incident, Tony shot and killed his best friend, many of the men Tony hired to watch his estate died after they were ambushed and even his sister died after one of the men broke in and shot her multiple times. Tony was a man who was dirt poor and came to America looking to become rich and he did just that. He was a man who had everything he wanted but happiness and a true family which was in a way the true tragedy in his life seeing as he died and no one that was left cared for him because many of the people Tony loved and cared for died. Death took the best of everyone and at the end of the story there was nothing left but Tony's money and his drug empire.
One of the most tragic movies I have ever seen is "Sophie's Choice."
Here's a brief synopsis: A journalist named Stingo moves to Brooklyn after World War II, where he meets Sophie, a Polish Holocaust survivor, and her lover Nathan. As Stingo gets to know Sophie better, he uncovers more about her past. She was not Jewish, in fact, her father was an anti-Semitic professor. Despite her father's sentiments, Sophie travels to a Jewish ghetto, and when the Gestapo arrives, Sophie is arrested by Nazi officers. They send her to Auschwitz, and when she arrives, a Nazi officer makes her choose which one of her two children will live in the children's camp, and which one will be sent to death. Meanwhile, Stingo learns that Nathan, who shows signs of mental illness, is enraged by the Holocaust so much so that it has become his obsession. Nathan's behavior towards Sophie fluctuates from violence to gentleness. Stingo eventually discovers that Nathan is in fact mentally ill, and after he finds this out, he and Sophie sleep together. Sophie leaves Stingo to return to Nathan in Brooklyn. In the end, Stingo goes to Nathan and Sophie's apartment that morning and finds that they both committed suicide together. Then, he finds an Emily Dickinson poem and reads it aloud, like a eulogy.
I think that Sophie is a tragic heroine; the central features of a tragedy can be applied to her story in the movie.
1. NOBLE STATURE- just like the definition states, Sophie falls from a high to a low place in the movie. She falls from a relatively normal lifestyle to a deprived, oppressed condition during the Holocaust after the officers arrest her. Aside from the flashbacks of Sophie's past, we see that Sophie is kind and compassionate. She has a humanitarian quality about her, which draws Stingo in. Although she does not have extraordinary powers or is not of high birth, Sophie seems noble for her humility and intellect.
2. GOOD, BUT NOT PERFECT- Sophie is a good person. She is kind to Nathan, and welcoming to Stingo. Sophie is not perfect, because she is not totally loyal to Nathan, but generally, she is good to people she meets. In the flashbacks, the audience also learns that her previous lover was part of the resistance against the Nazis, and she was faced with aiding the resistance. Though she was disloyal to her husband, the audience sympathizes with her because they sense that Sophie feels trapped between her cruel, anti-Semitic father and the horror of Hitler's reign.
3. TRAGIC, NOT PATHETIC- Although much of what happens to Sophie is out of her own control, she is still a tragic heroine. For example, she feels that she owes her life to Nathan, because he cared for her after she escaped Auschwitz, so she stays with him despite his abuse and violence. Ultimately, Nathan's abusive behavior leads them to commit suicide together. Sophie's dependency on Nathan leads to her own downfall.
4. MISFORTUNE NOT WHOLLY DESERVED- This point is obvious for Sophie, as it would be for anyone else. She did not deserve to experience the terror of the Holocuast, to choose which of her children would survive, or Nathan's and her father's abuse. Despite her timidity, Sophie's strength and will shine throughout the movie, as the audience watches her suffer through the Holocaust and Nathan's abuse. The audience thinks that Sophie is "better than ourselves" because she lacks bitterness and contempt, and remains kind hearted in spite of everything that happened to her.
5. NOT PURE LOSS- Even though Sophie's life is filled with sadness, she still gains strength because she has experienced a lot. She learns about human nature, and becomes compassionate in the face of eceryone who has injured her. Her compassion enables her to befriend Stingo and accept Nathan (and his instability). Her gratitude for Nathan binds her to him, and she accepts her fate with Nathan, as she tells Stingo in the note she writes him.
6. PITY/ FEAR and CATHARSIS- The audience feels cathartic at the end of the movie, when Stingo discovers that Sophie and Nathan have committed suicide. The audience (along with Stingo) gets the feeling that "human life has unrealized potentialities" in Sophie's death. All of Sophie's past experiences seem to culminate in the final scene, and the catharsis sets in when Stingo reads the Emily Dickinson poem over their deathbed.
Here is Stingo reading Emily Dickinson's "Ample Make This Bed."
The movie I chose as a tragedy is the 2002 movie, A Walk to Remember. For those of you who haven’t seen it, it’s about a popular high school boy, Landon Carter, who gets in trouble and is forced to join the school play and tutor disadvantaged kids. He meets a shy, not so popular girl, Jamie Sullivan, at these activities and they soon fall in love. However, Jamie has leukemia and has stopped responding to treatments so she is going to die soon. Landon is aware of this and makes it his goal to fulfill her wishes, including getting married in the same chapel Jamie’s mother got married in. In the end, Jamie dies but Landon definitely changes as a person.
Landon represents a tragic hero for many reasons. He began with the noble stature of popularity but fell from this when he fell in love with Jamie and left behind his old friends. Although Landon didn’t actually do something “bad” to contribute to his downfall in popularity, I would still view the movie as a tragedy because of the self-knowledge Landon gains. Through Landon’s fall of popularity and his loss of Jamie, he learns a lot about himself and what he is capable of. Prior to meeting Jamie, Landon didn’t have any plans for after high school but she helped him discover what he wanted to do (go to medical school). Landon definitely became a better person after meeting Jamie, proving how all was not lost in his downfall.
The Star Wars series is partly based on old Greek definitions of tragedies for many reasons. Anakin is a perfct example of a tragic hero. He is the chosen one, and everyone puts his faith in him that he will destroy all of the bad guys. Thus he is of noble stature, check.
Throughout the first three films Anakin makes many mistakes. Most of the time, these are chalked up to him being young and that he is supposed to learn from his mistakes. These mistakes demonstrate that he is not perfect. Also we see that he will go to extreme lengths to save his loved ones. He puts them in front on the safety of other people, and seeing his loved ones in pain lead him to violent rage. Not perfect, check.
He certainly contributed to his own downfall. Anakin joined the Dark Side because he wanted to save his girl on the side. His plan is good in theory, but in practice, he ends up killing her. He is stuck on the bad side and all of his friends are dead. Good job Anakin. He is tragic, not pathetic.
I would point out that his punishment does not necessarily exceed his crime. He personally killed many children, and was responsible for the death of many more oh his coworkers. Having lost the thing he held closest is probably not enough for all of the lives he ruined due to his actions.
There was certainly pity from my side when watching this. Most of the pity came from a boy, who went with the wrong crowd with good intentions. In the end, he probably did deserve what he got, but because he brought it upon himself, I pity him.
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