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The Great Gatsby Tragedy Essay

998 Words4 Pages

Tristan Coon
Mrs. De Leon
English II
22 May 2023

Why Tragedy?

According to Aristotle, a tragic play or piece of literature must include “incidents arousing pity and fear wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions.” In works of tragedy by a variety of authors, the main character has a fatal flaw, and at some point, the audience experiences a range of emotions for the character. By doing this, the audience is further immersed in the story, and it makes the story more complex. Another important aspect of tragedy is the exploration of human nature and action. Through creating hypothetical situations, people can theorize about what someone might do with a certain set of morals. Both of these aspects are integral to a successful tragedy, …show more content…

In “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author explores the ideas of materialism and acceptance of the past. Characters such as Daisy Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson are primarily focused on money, and are otherwise morally corrupt. Both of them were in marriages that were not based on love, rather solely for the ability to get more money and wealth. Fitzgerald also explores the idea of being stuck in the past, and Jay Gatsby’s character reflects this the most effectively. This flaw leads Gatsby to his fate, and by including this character, Fitzgerald is also teaching us a lesson about how we should not live our lives. In “Oedipus Rex,” the main ideas are hubris and foolishness, and these are mostly shown through Oedipus. Oedipus’ pride causes him to overlook morals or ethics, and he does horrible crimes and unethical actions. His inevitable fate eventually came, and had he let go of his pride, his life would have gone about differently. He brings himself further to his fate by not accepting his fate, and this teaches us something about human nature. Sophocles emphasizes the idea that trying to avoid the inevitable will only lead to more problems, but he also teaches about the dangers of excessive pride. Similarly, the main focus of “Antigone” is excessive pride and stubbornness. Although Antigone did nothing wrong, Creon still gave her a very harsh punishment. After giving her this punishment, he was unable to let go of his pride despite what other people told him. This led to the series of tragic events, and Creon was given what he deserved for his decisions. Sophocles uses “Antigone” to further express the dangers of hubris, and is suggesting that humans should live free of pride. To summarize, tragedies explore human nature, and through doing this, they teach us how to lead better lives, but also how to understand other humans

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