This week, we read Tragedy and the Common Man by Arthur Miller. One of his main arguments to begin with in this paper is that tragedy is not just for nobility, even though some of the most famous ones seem to be like that. A tragedy isn't just for the upper-class, anyone can have a tragedy happen to them, including the "common man" in the words of Miller. He moves on to explain how we as the readers feel that tragic feel when a character is willing to do anything to get what he wants, which is to secure their dignity. I find this interesting because when you think about it, it's very true. People care so much about their dignity and they will do anything to make sure that it stays perfect. I also find it quite interesting how he talks about how there must be a chance for success in a tragedy. This makes sense because no one would think that tragedies would be good if you knew there was no chance of them succeeding in the end. This piece really changes what I thought about tragedy. Of course, I didn't think that all tragedies were just centered on a royal family, king, etc. But I did think it was kind of weird that when you think about, some of the most famous tragedies focus on royalty. Romeo and Juliet, for example, is the conflict between two houses. It is nice to know that there are some out there that show the struggle for common people too.
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The TED Talk about success was very interesting. De Botton brought up many points that I never really thought of when it comes to a topic like this. Something that really stuck out to me with this was the idea of envy, and how he explained it. He talks about how envy is one dominant emotion that rules society. The closer in age people are, the more likely you are to envy them, and when you can't relate to someone, you don't envy them. This whole idea seemed to really make sense to me, and I never really thought about envy being something that rules our society. Even when we are all pretty much equal, we will still all envy someone. De Botton's whole talk can really relate to the idea of tragedy, with the feelings of envy and failure seem to be key elements in tragedies. In several of the tragedies, many characters resort to violence or self-harm due to envy or failure. In Romeo and Juliet, the failure in Juliet's plan to be with Romeo ended with the death of both of them, and ultimately ending in the failure of the both of the families, with many unneeded deaths. This TED Talk really helps open your eyes on such things. For someone who has taken Honor's English all of high school, I have little to no knowledge on what a tragedy is. I want to say that it's the generic sad, depressing, disastrous things, but I feel like I remember one of my teachers saying that tragedies don't alway have to be sad stories. I don't know if this is true, this could just be something random coming out of my mind, but I feel like it's true. Other than that, I really know nothing. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy, right? Who knows. Well, after doing some research, I now know that I was somewhat right. Basically, a tragedy is "a form of drama based on human suffering that invokes an accompanying catharsis or pleasure in the audience." Straight from our lord and savior Wikipedia's mouth. So, I mean, I was kind of right. It can be sad and depressing stuff that makes humans suffer, but it can also be something that makes the audience feel pleasure. So, maybe it can also be some depressing stuff, but also make people happy. I guess I was kind of right. |
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