On the surface, tragedy and success are complete and total opposites: we spend our whole life trying to obtain success and trying to avoid tragedy. But as a TED Talk entitled "A Kinder, Gentler Philosophy of Success" explains, tragedy is not and should not be placed separately from success.
The speaker of the TED Talk describes the world that we live as one filled with "snobbery" and "ridicule", where society "has simply pegged certain emotional rewards to the acquisition of material goods." Success, particularly monetary success, is what we value in this world; anyone who fails to achieve this is looked down upon by the rest of society.
First of all, this is an extremely narrow view of success. As the speaker points out, "we should make sure that [our ideas of success] are our own." People's definitions of success differ: they could be monetary based, yes, but they could also be based on happiness, longevity, even wisdom. Yet, we still judge other people on this arbitrary belief that success is purely the gaining of material status. Even worse, we are extremely strict on those we deem to have "failed". Society has raised us to believe that those who have not "succeeded" have "failed" due to their own actions. The "failed" are then looked down upon, ridiculed by those of a higher "success"; today's newspapers and magazines are filled with articles making fun of people who have made the wrong political move, chose the wrong outfit, invested in the wrong stock, people who have "failed" in some sort of way. The threat of being ostracized and laughed at puts so much pressure on people to "succeed" in society's way; even I, as a teenager, can attest to the fear of making a tiny mistake and falling just because of it.
This is where tragedy comes in, not as a reminder of our downfalls, but as a "glorious alternative" to the current bleak way of living. "Tragic art, as it developed in the theaters of ancient Greece," said the speaker of the TED Talk, "... was essentially an art form devoted to tracing how people fail, and also according them a level of sympathy, which ordinary life would not necessarily accord them." Essentially, tragedy evokes the emotions of sadness, understanding, and empathy towards fictional characters. It makes us realize that not only do characters warrant these feelings but real people as well. The tragic art form softens our views on failure, makes us less judgmental. As the speaker says towards the end of his speech, "It would be insane to call Hamlet a loser. he is not a loser, though he has lost."
In other words, tragedy reminds us that, to put it bluntly, shit happens. Life happens. We do not and cannot control every aspect of our lives and failures can be arbitrary, without any personal cause. Tragedy reminds us that we are all people and each of one us has the same capabilities for "success" and for "failure".
The speaker of the TED Talk describes the world that we live as one filled with "snobbery" and "ridicule", where society "has simply pegged certain emotional rewards to the acquisition of material goods." Success, particularly monetary success, is what we value in this world; anyone who fails to achieve this is looked down upon by the rest of society.
First of all, this is an extremely narrow view of success. As the speaker points out, "we should make sure that [our ideas of success] are our own." People's definitions of success differ: they could be monetary based, yes, but they could also be based on happiness, longevity, even wisdom. Yet, we still judge other people on this arbitrary belief that success is purely the gaining of material status. Even worse, we are extremely strict on those we deem to have "failed". Society has raised us to believe that those who have not "succeeded" have "failed" due to their own actions. The "failed" are then looked down upon, ridiculed by those of a higher "success"; today's newspapers and magazines are filled with articles making fun of people who have made the wrong political move, chose the wrong outfit, invested in the wrong stock, people who have "failed" in some sort of way. The threat of being ostracized and laughed at puts so much pressure on people to "succeed" in society's way; even I, as a teenager, can attest to the fear of making a tiny mistake and falling just because of it.
This is where tragedy comes in, not as a reminder of our downfalls, but as a "glorious alternative" to the current bleak way of living. "Tragic art, as it developed in the theaters of ancient Greece," said the speaker of the TED Talk, "... was essentially an art form devoted to tracing how people fail, and also according them a level of sympathy, which ordinary life would not necessarily accord them." Essentially, tragedy evokes the emotions of sadness, understanding, and empathy towards fictional characters. It makes us realize that not only do characters warrant these feelings but real people as well. The tragic art form softens our views on failure, makes us less judgmental. As the speaker says towards the end of his speech, "It would be insane to call Hamlet a loser. he is not a loser, though he has lost."
In other words, tragedy reminds us that, to put it bluntly, shit happens. Life happens. We do not and cannot control every aspect of our lives and failures can be arbitrary, without any personal cause. Tragedy reminds us that we are all people and each of one us has the same capabilities for "success" and for "failure".