The funny thing about tragedy is that it's been around forever. You would think that dramas, novels, or poems with tragedy as their main theme would die out quickly; who wants to experience something sad? Unlike comedic art forms, which have changed throughout the ages, the base tragic stories have largely remained the same, ever since the first ancient Greek dramas from the 5th century B.C.E.
We are intrinsically drawn to tragedy, for whatever reason. Stories about tragedy have been with us since the ancient Greeks and probably even before that. Like the ancient Greek dramas, which were performed at festivals, today's tragedy is used for entertainment and enjoyment. (side note: tragedy has a root in a word that means "goat song"; I just had to put that down here somewhere) But, as everyone probably knows, or at least, feels, tragedy is something more than just entertainment. What is it about tragedy that calls us to it? Why do we like watching sadness and despair so much?
Many believe that people enjoy tragedy because it offers a catharsis for us humans, a purification of the emotions evoked while witnessing tragedy. While this is an important aspect of why we like tragedy, it isn't, by far, the most definitive reason. Tragedy, like any good story, allows us to reflect on ourselves and engage with larger universal themes. It takes the small, random tragedies that plague us in our everyday lives and puts them in context on a larger stage.
This is why tragedy has lasted through time. People want to see their sadness put on display. Perhaps this just makes us all melodramatic, I don't know. But what I do know is that tragedy makes us think about suffering and how that fits with the larger human experience. Tragedy allows humans to puzzle out the cause and purpose of sadness; I guess we haven't figured it out yet, since tragedy is still around.
We are intrinsically drawn to tragedy, for whatever reason. Stories about tragedy have been with us since the ancient Greeks and probably even before that. Like the ancient Greek dramas, which were performed at festivals, today's tragedy is used for entertainment and enjoyment. (side note: tragedy has a root in a word that means "goat song"; I just had to put that down here somewhere) But, as everyone probably knows, or at least, feels, tragedy is something more than just entertainment. What is it about tragedy that calls us to it? Why do we like watching sadness and despair so much?
Many believe that people enjoy tragedy because it offers a catharsis for us humans, a purification of the emotions evoked while witnessing tragedy. While this is an important aspect of why we like tragedy, it isn't, by far, the most definitive reason. Tragedy, like any good story, allows us to reflect on ourselves and engage with larger universal themes. It takes the small, random tragedies that plague us in our everyday lives and puts them in context on a larger stage.
This is why tragedy has lasted through time. People want to see their sadness put on display. Perhaps this just makes us all melodramatic, I don't know. But what I do know is that tragedy makes us think about suffering and how that fits with the larger human experience. Tragedy allows humans to puzzle out the cause and purpose of sadness; I guess we haven't figured it out yet, since tragedy is still around.