Comedy

For this week’s seminar we studied comedy and how to differs in relation to tragedy. Where as tragedy is concerned with separation, comedy revolves around the integration of society and positive change. Old Greek Comedy, exemplified by the work of comic playwright Aristophanes, used the absurd and the surreal to mock the proud and important (most notably Socrates in The Clouds), as well the institutions around him. His heroes, and their struggles, were larger than life and took often took place on a grand scale such as The Birds  or Lysistrata. His protagonists, through means either sensible or ludicrous, sought to establish new societies in the face of great opposition and would ultimately triumph, despite their often ridiculous methods.  This is a common theme in Old Comedy. Old Comedy also mirrored tragedy in certain regards, such as catharsis; ” “We notice that just as there is a catharsis of pity and fear in tragedy, so there is a catharsis of the corresponding comic emotions, which are sympathy and ridicule, in Old Comedy” (Northrop Frye – The Educated Imagination and Other Writings).

Over time however, New Greek Comedy was born. Unlike Old Comedy, New Comedy was notably more down to earth and realistic, focusing on more mundane plots relevant to the “every man”, as can be best seen in the work of Menander. Menander’s work primarily derived humour from ordinary human relationships and common character flaws. To this end he employed basic stock characters such as the Senex Iratus (bad tempered old man/father figure) Miles Gloriousus (the boasting soldier/arrogant rival) and the Dolosus Servus  (the cunning slave).

As part of our work on comedy we were asked to adapt the play Aulularia  (The Pot of Gold) by the Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus and provide a summary approximately one page long.

Aulularia

Euclio /Eugene Inverlair – old man/former mi6 agent who has a microfilm containing incredibly valuable and confidential information from his professional days.

Phaedria /Prudence Inverlair- Eugene’s pregnant daughter

Lyconides /Luke Philby – Prudence’s secret fiancée and a current mi5 agent

Strobilus/Steven Fleming – Luke’s friend and low-level mi5 employee

Megadorus /Mervyn Philby – Luke’s father,  former mi5 agent and current business mogul.

Location: Burford, Oxfordshire

Having long since retired from life as a professional spy, former MI6 agent Eugene Inverlair lives a quiet life in Burford with his longsuffering  and currently pregnant daughter Prudence. Among his many souvenirs left over from his career, Eugene jealously guards an old microfilm that contains highly confidential information that he purposely retained to guard against any attempt against his life by his former employers.  Government agents, eager to reclaim the microfilm and keep news of the situation spreading, quietly urge Mervyn Philby, a former mi5 agent, business mogul and old friend of Eugene’s, to  quietly. obtain the film. Unable to otherwise convince the paranoid Eugene part with the microfilm, Mervyn tasks his nephew Luke, a current MI5 agent to retrieve the footage by any means necessary, barring violence.

Unbeknownst to his uncle or Eugene however, Luke is the father of Prudence’s child and is understandably uneasy with the situation. Luke visits Eugene in the hopes of searching the house but is quickly found out and inadvertently confesses his relationship with Prudence. Eugene, now more paranoid than ever, forces Luke out and forbids him to return.  Prudence is infuriated when she discovers that Luke revealed their relationship to her father and cuts off contact with him. Exasperated, Luke relates the story to Steven Fleming, his friend and junior agent. With no viable solution in sight,  Luke coerces Steven into accompanying him  in order to  break-in to Eugene’s home and steal the microfilm. Steven complains but in the end reluctantly acquiesces when Luke pulls rank. When the break-in goes wrong, Luke and Steven are forced to flee as Eugene searches the house with a double-barrelled shotgun. When they return the next day, they find the area swarming with police. Despondent, Luke tells Steven he will tell his uncle that he cannot retrieve the film and hints that he will shift the blame onto Steven.

Fed-up with the entire situation, Steven concocts a plan to steal the microfilm. Posing as a police officer, he gains access to the house and secretly explains the situation to Prudence, who agrees to create a distraction so that Steven may obtain the microfilm. Steven then later visits Eugene minus his disguise and introduces himself as Luke’s intermediary. He returns the microfilm on the condition that Eugene forgives Luke and agrees to allow him to marry Prudence. Eugene agrees. Unaware of these developments, Luke then arrives having been earlier called by Steven. Much to his surprise, he finds himself welcomed by Eugene, who immediately tells him that he may propose to Prudence. Luke does so at once, thereby prompting Eugene to hand over the microfilm, realising that he no longer needs protection as Luke will be his son in law.

Tragedy

In this week’s seminar we began to discuss the four categories or genres; comedy , tragedy, satire and romance, though the main focus of the lesson was tragedy. A lot of  what was discussed was based upon Aristotle’s  Poetics as well as the work of literary critic and theorist, Northrop Frye and the philosopher Nietzsche.

According to Frye there are two basic categories; the comedic – comedy and romance (positive change, integration) and tragic – tragedy and satire (negative change, separation), all of which are aligned with specific seasons (as illustrated in the image above). Tragedy corresponds with autumn as it is the season of decline; inevitable and necessary, yet cruel. The world continues regardless of what has been lost. This is, broadly speaking, the key point of tragedy; people make mistakes for which they undeservedly suffer and often die, yet the world will go on. This is idea is best summed up by a painting we were asked to study in class (below) in order to decide which category it belonged to. It was my opinion (and that of the person with whom I had discussed the painting) that it was a tragedy, though our reasoning was based purely upon the overall aesthetic of the painting; the somewhat washed-out and cold colours, the great foreboding expanse of water that dominates the picture and the mostly gloomy backdrop of the sky. What we (and most of the class) failed to pick up on however, was the figure disappearing into the water in the lower right corner of the painting. Like the figures in the painting, we completely ignored the painting’s most important subject; the fall of Icarus.  We were also directed to Musée des Beaux Arts,  a poem by W. H. Auden discusses the painting and reflects upon the nature of tragedy.

“In Breughel’s Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away 
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may 
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry, 
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone ” 

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus – Pieter Bruegel (1558)

We also explored some of the ideas raised in Aristotle’s Poetics in regards to tragedy and it’s structure, some key terms of which I have elaborated on below. Aristotle held that a true tragic hero must meet a certain criteria;

• The protagonist must be essentially good or virtuous.
• The protagonist must be noble or otherwise above the common man, thereby emphasising the tragedy of his fall.
• Possessed of a “tragic flaw” or commit a tragic mistake that leads to a largely undeserved yet inevitable downfall.

Follow this criteria we can note many tragic heroes through history from Oedipus to Hamlet, though more modern examples do exist. One example of a modern tragic hero would be Charles Foster Kane. Kane, while essentially good and most certainly “above the common man” if only by virtue of his impressive fortune, is ultimately undone by his harmartia, which in this case is Kane’s need to be loved and his complete inability to love anyone on anything other than his own terms. Over the course of the film we are shown how this hunger for love ultimately destroys Kane from the inside out. When he cannot find the love he desires within his marriage he steps outside of it; first to the political arena and then to the arms of another woman. By the end of his life, Kane is alone, save for his servants and possessions.

We also looked at Nietzsche’s views of tragedy outlined in his book The Birth of Tragedy, in which Nietzsche outlines the struggle between the Apollonian (order, individuality) and the Dionysian (chaos, unity) that weighs upon the tragic hero who, by his nature, rises above the common man and  is doomed to be destroyed because of it.

Key Terms

Mimesis: Mimesis means imitation and refers to Aristotle’s assertion that plays/stories should contain some degree of realistic imitation in order that the audience may identify with the characters and their experiences. 

Catharsis: In drama, catharsis relates to the release of energy as a play/story reaches it’s conclusion, it is an emotional purging/cleansing experienced by the characters or the audience. In contrast to Plato, Aristotle believed that plays and poetry were important to help people control their emotions by providing them an outlet. 

Peripeteia: A turning point or the reversal of fortunes. Peripeteia refers to the stage in a play/story when a great change (both internal and external) occurs, marking the tragic hero’s decline towards doom. 

Anagnorisis: Anagnorisis means “moment of recognition” and refers to a critical discovery made by the hero, either by way of insight into their own nature/character, someone else’s or the the world around them. An example of this can be found in Oedipus Rex  wherein Oedipus comes to the realization that he has murdered his father and slept with his mother. 

Hamartia: The true meaning of this term is still hotly debated with some claiming it means simply  “error or frailty” that the tragic hero makes whilst others hold that it refers to a “tragic flaw” inherent in the tragic hero’s character such as pride. For example, Hamlet’s indecision, his inability to take action leads to his decline into madness and his eventual downfall. A more contemporary example of hamartia can be found in the character of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader in Star Wars; Anakin’s fear of losing his loved ones leads to him taking action that in turn leads to the fall of the Jedi,  the death of his wife, and his own horrific disfigurement. 

Part of our work on tragedy involved discussing the issues involved on UniHub. Here is my contribution:

“Tragedy, in Nietzsche’s reading, suggests that the fate of a tragic protagonist is unavoidable. Do you think that certain people are doomed from the cradle, or are tragedies avoidable given the right action and circumstances?”

Within the literary or cinematic framework of a book or film respectively, Nietzsche’s ideas hold true, however when it comes to the real world these questions are far harder to answer and depend almost entirely upon the individual’s world view. As an atheist and somewhat of an absurdist, I do not believe in fate or a predetermined destiny. No one is doomed from the cradle, however it is possible that some people, through the choices they make in life and the personalities they develop, may set themselves on a seemingly inevitable path towards doom.

“Does the classical definition of tragedy have meaning for us today?”

The classical definition of tragedy has little meaning for most people these days outside of academia. While the original meaning is still important in terms of analyse and criticism, it has been diluted over time and now means, to most people, “a disastrous event, usually involving death”.

“Can society reach a place where people, if they choose to and with the right help, will not suffer?”

No. Suffering is a natural and necessary part of life.