"those who mistakenly think of it as something gloomy or depressing, who are incapable of recognizing the elation which its celebration of human greatness inspires, and who, therefore, confuse it with things merely miserable or pathetic..."
(The passage above is from "The Tragic Fallacy" article by Joseph Krutch)
This passage really resonated with me because it made me look at the topic of tragedy in a whole new light. Originally, I kind of viewed tragedy as something where we may find a situation pathetic or comical when it's actually very sad and unfortunate. But, other than just the fact that tragedy is tragic, it can offer a lesson or enlightenment. Not all tragedies are meant to end sadly, and it is necessary for a reader to recognize the good that can come or did come from the tragedy.
I find the quote immensely accurate because it is basically saying that we, as readers, must be able to recognize the message and positivity that can come from the tragedy within a piece of literature. Tragedy does not necessarily equate to something that is miserable or pathetic and therefore cannot always be interpreted in a gloomy and depressing light. Sometimes, we must look at the work from different perspectives to be able to recognize the human greatness within the tragedy.
For example, in Oedipus Rex, though Oedipus now sees himself as a disgusting sinner and gauges out his eyes (left), we are often preoccupied with the tragic ending of the story. But, we must be able to see the human greatness behind Oedipus and his will to give up his sight to pay the price for something that he really had no control over. He was so willing to take responsibility for what happened to him even though it was not necessarily Oedipus' fault since he had no idea.
I think this article kind of centered around the fact that when we read a piece of literature, despite what the theme is "supposed" to be about, we still must look at it from every angle in order to discover all of its meanings. A story does not have to be just simply sad, happy, or funny, but it can be all of these things combined into one. In order to appreciate a work of literature we must be able to identify all of these different aspects of a piece.
(The passage above is from "The Tragic Fallacy" article by Joseph Krutch)
This passage really resonated with me because it made me look at the topic of tragedy in a whole new light. Originally, I kind of viewed tragedy as something where we may find a situation pathetic or comical when it's actually very sad and unfortunate. But, other than just the fact that tragedy is tragic, it can offer a lesson or enlightenment. Not all tragedies are meant to end sadly, and it is necessary for a reader to recognize the good that can come or did come from the tragedy.
I find the quote immensely accurate because it is basically saying that we, as readers, must be able to recognize the message and positivity that can come from the tragedy within a piece of literature. Tragedy does not necessarily equate to something that is miserable or pathetic and therefore cannot always be interpreted in a gloomy and depressing light. Sometimes, we must look at the work from different perspectives to be able to recognize the human greatness within the tragedy.
For example, in Oedipus Rex, though Oedipus now sees himself as a disgusting sinner and gauges out his eyes (left), we are often preoccupied with the tragic ending of the story. But, we must be able to see the human greatness behind Oedipus and his will to give up his sight to pay the price for something that he really had no control over. He was so willing to take responsibility for what happened to him even though it was not necessarily Oedipus' fault since he had no idea.
I think this article kind of centered around the fact that when we read a piece of literature, despite what the theme is "supposed" to be about, we still must look at it from every angle in order to discover all of its meanings. A story does not have to be just simply sad, happy, or funny, but it can be all of these things combined into one. In order to appreciate a work of literature we must be able to identify all of these different aspects of a piece.