Talking Tragedy
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Antigone, the "sequel" piece to Oedipus Rex, is obviously a tragedy. It is about the new ruler, Creon, and his struggle to do what is right in face of the law, his beliefs, prophecy, and family ties. He truly struggles with the responsibility that falls on his shoulders. The tragedy of this piece falls in all of the senseless deaths that occur throughout its course. Antigone hung herself, Haimon killed himself when faced with the dead body of his fiance, and Eurydice also committed suicide when she heard the news that her son had perished. This is tragic because Creon was on his way to make amends with Antigone and bring her back home after having already blessed and buried her fallen brother's body when he is faced with her suicide and then promptly after his own son's tragic end. This is super tragic because, from a reader's standpoint, it truly seemed as if maybe all could end well, that everything would work itself out for once. This once again is a play on that crucial possibility of success that makes all tragedies actually tragic. Here is a website about tragedies. Even though Creon had been rather horrible throughout the drama, in the end reader's do feel at least a little bit bad for him. He feels like he is responsible for the suicides of his wife and his son, which is a burden that absolutely no one should have to face. The ending of this play leaves the readers feeling a little hollow inside, which is how you know that it had been an effective tragedy. The fact that we feel strong sad emotions aimed toward the play's antagonist is truly an effect of a well done tragedy- unfortunate events touch us all.
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This time, I will be discussing a TED talk entitled "Are We in Control of Our Own Decisions" by Dan Ariely, and how it specifically relates to the topic of tragedy. This TED talk was about how certain aspects impact the decision making process of human beings. What may feel like free will to us may not actually be, due to the way the brain is wired. Ariely talks about how to influence the decision making process, and how certain options become more popular to us when we are presented a very slightly worse option that is otherwise identical. In his example, he gave a survey to people asking whether they would rather go on a totally free trip to Paris or a totally free trip to Rome. As you can imagine, the results were split fairly evenly; it all came down purely to personal preference. However, when a different group of people were presented with three options, a free trip to Paris, a free trip to Rome, or a free trip to Rome excluding free coffee, a majority of people suddenly apted for the Rome with coffee option. By including the slightly worse deal of Rome without coffee, Ariely caused the inclusion of free coffee to seem like a much, much better deal that it really was, causing people to gravitate towards that choice. These principles do apply to tragedy, and, using it as an example, Oedipus. By hearing of this awful prophecy, Oedipus was inclined to do something that he perhaps would not have originally considered doing; he left home and traveled far, far away. If he had not heard of his fate, he would have remained in his hometown and might not have ever even met his birth mother or father. This is comparable to the people choosing Rome with coffee when presented with the coffeeless option, even if their plan was to pick Paris in the first place. Sometimes, more information can be our downfall. Thinking that you're getting a better deal out of something is also a topic that was discussed by Ariely during this TED talk. By having an option to get more out of a situation, people will be more likely to choose that option, even if they are getting stuff that they don't really want or need. When we look at Oedipus, this is exactly what seemed to be going on with him. Certainly leaving his home seemed like the best option for him; he would not have to worry about sleeping with his mother or murdering his father if he was nowhere near where he grew up. This was not actually the case, though, and these so-called 'benefits' turned out not actually being anything at all, as he ran towards his birth parents rather than away from them. Dan Ariely delivered a very interesting presentation. While not outright, it definitely does have some ties to tragedy. Overall, this was the most fun topic to write about, and I feel like it has been the most helpful piece of media that we have listened to so far. It caused me to think about the connections, and enabled me to come to conclusions that I am quite happy with. It has been a good experience. Oedipus Rex, written by Sophocles, is without a doubt a tragic story. But, what is it specifically about this tale that makes it so, so tragic? In the play, king Oedipus is unaware that he has murdered his father and married his mother. Most people know how the story goes, so I will spare you the rest of the summary. For me, the most important thing about Oedipus Rex is that, at the beginning of the story, our hero and main character has no idea what he has done or that he had in fact fulfilled the dreaded prophecy that he had been given. This is tragic in and of itself, but what truly gives this ancient play the makings of a tragic tale is the fact that Oedipus was certain that not only was he not Laius's murderer, but whoever had committed the heinous crime should be exiled or else murdered. The possibility of success was there for him, it drove him. He so badly believed that justice would be served for the late king. However, things obviously do not go as anyone had planned. When it begins to come out that Oedipus had murdered Laius, more tragedies than just that are unveiled. The old prophecy that Oedipus had been ignoring and avoiding had, in actuality, become reality. He had unknowingly married and had children with his biological mother. Taking a segue off of this point, is it not also tragic that Oedipus had just found out that the two people who had raised him since he was but days old were not who he had always assumed they were? Tragedy is, by a loose definition, something sad or sorrowful that befalls a person or a character. It is as plain as day that that is indeed what has happened to poor, sorry Oedipus, who was left to cope with the facts that he had murdered a king who had turned out to be his father, married and had four children with his birth mother, caused the horrid plague of awful events to torment the town, been raised by complete strangers, severely punished himself for the crime that he had committed by gouging out his own eyeballs, and lost his title to his brother in law, Creon. The punishments that he inflicts on himself sting the most. Oedipus was a very just, kind, thoughtful ruler. Having done all of these terrible, inexcusable things was worse than death to him. Having to live with the knowledge of what it was that he had done is, perhaps, the most tragic thing of all. |
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