Anita Desai's "Fire on the Mountain" presents a masterful narrative that intricately interweaves elements of Greek tragedy with the complex lives of its characters. Through the lens of Nanda Kaul, her great granddaughter Raka, and their interactions with society and nature, Desai crafts a story...
As one of the most important figures of bravery, goodness and heroism in British legend, the idea that, as a tragic hero, Arthur Pendragon might have deserved his fate, is an uncomfortable one. However according to Aristotle’s Poetics, there can be no escaping the fact...
Over the past few years, more car accidents have occurred because of texting while driving. In Laurie Roberts’ article, “Is Arizona (finally) ready to ban texting while driving,” she brings up the fact that Arizona is one of the last states that has not yet...
Sometimes, the Devil—or, at least, one of his most trusted minions—really is in the details. In Christopher Marlowe’s play The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, the most compelling hero is not the eponymous main character. Doctor Faustus, with his puerile egotism and self-absorbed whining, is...
In Aeschylus’s Oresteia trilogy, the chorus serves as a multifaceted narrative tool, adapting its role to the evolving themes and conflicts within the plays. This essay explores the transformation of the chorus from a traditional commentator to an active participant in the story, examining its...
The play, The Tragedy of Hamlet The Prince of Denmark, follows the story of Hamlet after his father’s murder. Hamlet learns that Claudius, his stepfather and uncle, poisoned his brother and his father wants his death to be avenged. Claudius spies on Hamlet after discovering...
The idea of piety in Ancient Rome is not the same idea of piety that we have today. To the Romans, piety, or “pietas” in Latin, describes a set of social constructs that governs what makes a respectable person. Piety encompasses one’s devotion to the...
The minute of silence is traditionally a worldwide period of silence to represent and show respect for a tragedy. People stop work to observe a moment of silence at 11am on November 11, which is the time and date when hostilities formally ended after more...
A four letter word that in some cases holds more worth than life itself, love. Love is a common theme throughout the story of Romeo and Juliet, whether you are relating it to friendships, family, or relationships. Many love stories conclude in tragedies, whether it’s...
“Sing sorrow, sorrow: but good win out in the end” (Oresteia, Agamemnon 121). Such is the chorus’ refrain in the opening lines of Aeschylus’ trilogy, the Oresteia. Written in the 5th century B.C.E., Aeschylus’ classic tragedy not only profoundly impacted the Athenians of his time,...
Introduction The concept of “free will” in Greek philosophy lacks a precise definition, yet its implications can be both positive and negative. Essentially, free will entails the ability to make choices based on one’s own understanding of what is morally right or appropriate. It empowers...
‘The Tale of Sohrab’ from Shahnameh and the tragedy of Oedipus are both centered on the destiny that awaits these protagonists; Oedipus from birth and Rostam as a result of his son’s nationality and his fame and strength as a fighter. Although the tales are...
While there is still confusion over the exact causes of the Thirty Years’ War, everyone can acknowledge how horrific and devastating it was. Enormous amounts of civilians in besieged cities such as Magdeburg lost their lives, and those who survived lost everything else. The soldiers...
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman can be measured against Aristotle’s notions of tragedy expressed in his Poetics, involving a fall caused by hamartia and hubris, and an eventual recognition and reversal of fortune, culminating in the audience experience of catharsis. Despite this enduring model for tragedy, Willy Loman, the central character...
Throughout both Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Middleton’s The Revenger’s Tragedy, the disparity between how things seem and how they really are is a constant underlying motif; the depth in which both plays examine the concept of appearance and reality justifies the claim that they are a...
Introduction Anton Chekhov embarked on the creation of his theatrical masterpiece, The Cherry Orchard, in December of 1902. Initially conceived as a four-act farce, Chekhov labored on this project while grappling with the debilitating challenges of emphysema. It was nearly a year before he eventually...
As A.E. Haigh notes, Aristotle treats Aeschylus with complete indifference in the Poetics. Throughout his writings, the standards of dramatic writing are supplied by Sophocles and Euripides. He fully recognizes Aeschylus’ role in the introduction of a second actor and in the expansion of dialogue,...
The definition of a tragic character is something that has been considered set in since the times of ancient Greece. Aristotle’s Poetics defined what makes up a comedy and tragedy, and that definition has been widely accepted since then. However, Arthur Miller believes that Aristotle’s...
A revenge tragedy is a genre of play, popularized in the seventeenth century, in which the protagonist pursues revenge for real or perceived abuses. Thee tragedies typically employ a number of the same conventions, such as escalating causes for revenge, interrupted trials, botched executions, and...
Anton Chekhov fought with the famed Stanislavsky over staging his play The Cherry Orchard as a tragedy. According to Chekhov, the play about a well-to-do family forced to surrender its home and orchard to a man who began life as a mere serf on their...
In his play, ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore, John Ford explores themes pertaining to desire, religion, incest and betrayal. The play analyses the dynamics between familial relationships, servant-master relationships and relationships of man with religion. Ford ensures that the human body is at the centre...
Brimming with death, destruction, and despair, the plots of Greek tragedies are often considered the darkest of theatrical genres. However, it is this same dismal theme that occurs in one of the most well-known works of ancient Greece, Aeschylus’ Oresteia, working to represent a past...
Dave Eggers is a playful author, wiling to experiment and take risks for his audience. At the same time, Eggers is aware of his ploys and sometimes uses these games as a way to pawn off the tragedies that happened to him over the course...
“My father, with tears in his eyes, tried to smile as one friend after another grasped his hand in a last farewell. Mama was overcome with grief. At last we were all in the wagons. The drivers cracked their whips. The oxen moved slowly forward...
In the play Hippolytus, Euripides depicts characters in a realistic fashion by displaying their warring emotions in the wake of dramatic events, as well as their deceit in achieving their objectives. A prime example of such tactics is the character Phaedra, who is content to...
‘Romeo and Juliet’, written by William Shakespeare and first published in (1597), is a tragedy dealing with the themes of love, hatred and conflict. Language and actions conveyed in the 21st century reflects the basic understanding of what existed in the Elizabethan era. It reveals...
Aeschylus was writing his tragedy ‘The Persians’ in a period of peace following a particularly violent series of wars between Greek and Persian forces (499-449) which eventually ended in Greek victory, as the Persian fleet was defeated in the straits of Salamis, and this can...
It is easy for a modern audience to look upon the actions of Master Frankford in Thomas Heywood’s A Woman Killed with Kindness and recoil in disgust. While his actions may be starkly seen as emotional abuse today, within the world of the play his...
On November 22nd of 1963 tragedy struck the United States and made global headlines. John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, had been assassinated while on a motorcade through Dallas, Texas – accompanied by first lady Jacquelyn Kennedy and Governor John Connally....
As a Romantic, Keats maintained a tragic concern with the importance of dramatic irony – or, as noted by Schlegel, the ‘secret irony’ in which the audience is aware of the protagonist’s situation and his own ignorance of it. In ‘Lamia’, this notion is evident...
