Tragic Differences :: essays research papers

Tragedy has always been a popular theme in stories and plays. For centuries, people have been captivated by morbidly emotional finales, rather than by happy endings. Stories with a sad outcome fascinate us much more than those, ending on a happy note. Many of the best works of literature are considered to be tragedies. Shakespeare would be a perfect example of a man who had written many delightful comedies; yet, he was more famous for his grave tragedies. People seem to be more attached to something that disturbs them and leaves them uneasy, rather than to something frivolous and amusing. Maybe, it is because tragedies can be very didactic. Maybe, by studying typical causes of tragedy, a person can prevent it from happening in his or her personal life. It is much easier to learn something from someone else's mistakes than from your own. So it is possible that people who really enjoy tragedy do not really enjoy it, but use it to prevent their future misfortunes, if there are any. Othe rwise, how can someone enjoy the pain and the suffering of others? But like everything else tragedy has laws. One of the laws is Hubris. A Rose for Emily, by William Faulkner, can easily be classified as a tragedy. It is a repulsive story about a woman, who died just as she lived: lonely. Emily Grierson was a peculiar woman, who owned a large house, which was a mystery to many people. She never had any real friends and she never had a spouse. And when she started seeing a man, Homer Barron, everybody was assured that she would marry him. But Mr. Barron was as queer as Ms. Grierson was, so their melding was very unlikely. 'When she had first begun to be seen with Homer Barron, we had said, 'She will marry him.'; Then we said, 'She will persuaded him yet,'; because homer himself had remarked – he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elk's Club – that he was not a marrying man.'; (Faulkner 280) Poor woman probably never even had the chance. But shortly after the two had been acquainted, Homer disappeared, and the woman became even more alienated, until she stopped coming out o f her dusky house at all. At the end of the story, we are told that the disintegrating carcass of Mr. Barron was found in Emily's house in the room that had been locked for years. Tragic Differences :: essays research papers Tragedy has always been a popular theme in stories and plays. For centuries, people have been captivated by morbidly emotional finales, rather than by happy endings. Stories with a sad outcome fascinate us much more than those, ending on a happy note. Many of the best works of literature are considered to be tragedies. Shakespeare would be a perfect example of a man who had written many delightful comedies; yet, he was more famous for his grave tragedies. People seem to be more attached to something that disturbs them and leaves them uneasy, rather than to something frivolous and amusing. Maybe, it is because tragedies can be very didactic. Maybe, by studying typical causes of tragedy, a person can prevent it from happening in his or her personal life. It is much easier to learn something from someone else's mistakes than from your own. So it is possible that people who really enjoy tragedy do not really enjoy it, but use it to prevent their future misfortunes, if there are any. Othe rwise, how can someone enjoy the pain and the suffering of others? But like everything else tragedy has laws. One of the laws is Hubris. A Rose for Emily, by William Faulkner, can easily be classified as a tragedy. It is a repulsive story about a woman, who died just as she lived: lonely. Emily Grierson was a peculiar woman, who owned a large house, which was a mystery to many people. She never had any real friends and she never had a spouse. And when she started seeing a man, Homer Barron, everybody was assured that she would marry him. But Mr. Barron was as queer as Ms. Grierson was, so their melding was very unlikely. 'When she had first begun to be seen with Homer Barron, we had said, 'She will marry him.'; Then we said, 'She will persuaded him yet,'; because homer himself had remarked – he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elk's Club – that he was not a marrying man.'; (Faulkner 280) Poor woman probably never even had the chance. But shortly after the two had been acquainted, Homer disappeared, and the woman became even more alienated, until she stopped coming out o f her dusky house at all. At the end of the story, we are told that the disintegrating carcass of Mr. Barron was found in Emily's house in the room that had been locked for years.