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Last Updated 05 April 2005 |
EN 3268 Tragedy 2004-2005, semester 2
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Module Description |
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Tragedy is one of the most powerful forms of writing in the Western tradition. This module will offer an opportunity for a historical, analytic and comparative perspective on this literary genre through a study of key texts from the Classical through the Renaissance and Neo-classical periods to the twentieth century. The aim of the module is to help students develop an articulated understanding of a literary form whose appeal is based on its capacity to shape our attitudes to the human experience of pain, suffering, violence and death into a form of affective and cultural value. The historical approach adopted for the module aims to ground an awareness of tragedy as the outcome of an interaction between the conventions of drama and the belief-systems of individuals and cultural systems at specific points in their histories.
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Module Aims |
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In analytic terms, the module will focus on examining questions such as “What constitutes the tragic experience in Western drama?”, “How does tragedy change and develop as a form of writing while retaining its identity as a genre?”, and “What links tragedy as a form across languages, cultures and creative arts?”
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Primary Texts |
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1. Aeschylus |
The Oresteia (c.458BC), | The Complete Greek Tragedies I. Chicago U.P. ISBN 0226307786 |
| 2. William Shakespeare | Othello (1604) | Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN 0521535174 |
| 3. Jean Racine | Phédre (1677) | Iphigenia, Phaedra, Athaliah. Penguin. ISBN 0140441220 |
| 4. Henrik Ibsen | Brand (1866) | Penguin. ISBN 0140446761 |
| 5. John M. Synge | Riders to the Sea (1904) | Signet or Heinemann or OUP edition. |
| 6. T.S. Eliot | Murder in the Cathedral (1935) | Faber. ISBN 0571063276 |
| 7. Samuel Beckett | Waiting for Godot (1953) | Faber. ISBN 0571058086 |
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Assignments & Continuous assessment |
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Class Participation: 5% Class Presentation 5% Final Examination: 60% |
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Timetable |
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Week |
Lecture |
Lecture Topic |
Tutorial No. |
Tuesday Tutorials |
Presentation |
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1 |
11 Jan |
Introduction-SA |
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2 |
18 Jan |
Aeschylus-RSP |
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3 |
25 Jan |
Aeschylus-SA |
1 |
25 Jan |
Introduction |
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4 |
1 Feb |
Shakespeare-RSP |
2 |
1 Feb |
Aeschylus |
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5 |
8 Feb |
Shakespeare-SA |
3 |
8 Feb |
Aeschylus |
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6 |
15 Feb |
Racine-RSP |
4 |
15 Feb |
Shakespeare |
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7 |
20-24 Feb |
Midterm Break |
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8 |
1 March |
Midterm Test |
5 |
1 March |
Shakespeare |
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9 |
8 March |
Ibsen-SA |
6 |
8 March |
Racine |
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10 |
15 March |
Ibsen/Synge-RSP |
7 |
15 March |
Ibsen |
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11 |
22 March |
Synge-SA |
8 |
22 March |
Synge |
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12 |
29 March |
Eliot-SA |
9 |
29 March |
Eliot |
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13 |
5 April |
Eliot/Beckett-RSP |
10 |
5 April |
Beckett |
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14 |
12 April |
Beckett-RSP |
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15-16 |
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EXAMS |
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SUPPLEMENTARY VIDEO SESSIONS |
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Students are encouraged to check the following videos from the Library.
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ONLINE TEXTS |
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Aeschylus:
The Oresteia Alternative MIT site translations. Alternative Harvard/Bartleby translations.
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LECTURE NOTES |
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(RSP): The Paradox of Western Theatre: Tragedy as Art (RSP): Introduction to Greek Tragedy & Aeschylus (RSP): Beckett's Waiting for Godot
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Suggestions for Presentations and Assignments |
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(This box will be updated periodically) Aeschylus 1. What are some of the ways in which Aristotle's Poetics is, or is not, useful in analysing The Oresteia as a tragedy? [Online Aristotle text available at MIT site] 2. What is the applicability or use of Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy, especially his views on the Dionysian, to The Oresteia? [Nietzsche text; Another copy of text] 3. How does the resolution of The Eumenides treat the issue of gender, especially the rights of women as compared with the rights of men? What are your views on that resolution? 4. What does Aeschylus add that is significantly his own to the Homeric materials he uses for the Oresteia? 5. How does revenge and retribution become "justice" in The Oresteia? What is you reaction to this resolution? Shakespeare 6. What did Shakespeare take from his sources? how did he change what he took? and what did he add of his own that does not derive from his sources? 7. How does Shakespeare's relation to his materials contrast with the relation of the material of the Oresteia to Greek epic and Greek mythology? 8. The Romantic critic Coleridge wrote of Iago's account of his own motives as the motive-hunting of a motiveless malignity. What is your view of this reading of Iago? 9. Do you think issues of race and gender are central to the concerns of the play? How do they bear upon the tragic nature of the action? Discuss with specific reference to the three female characters in the play, Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca. 10. Is "evil" a useful, or a problematic concept when we discuss Iago's role in bringing death to Desdemona and suicide to Othello? 11. What are the universals of experience that Othello the play raises in the theatre which might keep its interest alive for cultures and periods other than Shakespeare's own? How do modern adaptations and variations on the play differ from the original? 12. How does dramatic irony contribute to the tragic effect of the plot in Othello? Answer with specific reference to Iago's many asides. Racine 13. Consider how Phaedra's "guilt" determines the nature of the tragic action in Racine's Phaedra.14. How does Racine draw upon Greek mythology for his materials? 15. Compare Racine's treatment of the mythological materials with the play by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides which uses the same materials. 16. How can one apply the concept of "verisimilitude" to Racine's tragic plot? 17. What is the importance of Aristotle for Racine and French drama of the 17th century? 18. Compare Racine's handling of the story-materials for his Phaedra with the use of related materials by Euripides in his play Hippolytus (c.428BC): a copy of the Euripides text in translation can be found at the Internet Classics Archive. Ibsen 19. What are some of the ways in which Ibsen shows Brand's notion of himself as shaped by his view of Christianity? 20. What is the attitude to suffering dramatized in Brand? 21. The Chorus describes Brand in Act V as someone who is a "self-inspiring self-deceiver" (p.154). Comment on this description and its implications for Ibsen's characterization of his tragic protagonist. 22. In Act 4, Brand says, "The innocent must atone. / Therefore God took my son." (p.104). Discuss the role of Christian beliefs in the structure of the tragic action of the play. 23. Enumerate some of the convictions that drive Brand in his life. How does the playwright dramatize the problematic nature of some these convictions? 24. What might be the contemporary relevance of some of the ideas dramatized by Ibsen in Brand (remember, the play was completed in 1866)? Eliot . Compare and contrast Eliot's use of the Chorus with its function in Greek tragedy. . How does the phenomenon of martyrdom in Eliot's play (and his historical materials) add a new element to the idea of tragedy? . What did Eliot see as the chief problems, challenges and opportunities in faced by his attempt to revive verse drama in the twentieth century? [You can consult essays such as "Poetry and Drama" (1950) for his account.] . How does the play use historical materials for modern purposes? How do we infer what these might be? [You might focus in particular on the prose passages spoken by the Knights in Part II.] . How does Eliot handle the theme of suffering in his play? How would you relate that tot he suffering consciously accepted by other tragic protagonists? Beckett 37. What is the function of the almost-repetitive nature of the action, structure and language in the play? 38. Boredom, loneliness, passivity: how do the contribute equally to the comic and the tragic dimensions of the play? 39. Comment on the role of the little boy in both acts. 40. What is the significance of the time references that occur frequently in the play? 41. How does the allusion to one of the thieves being saved and one being damned relate to the concerns of the play? 42. Looking at the two "Romantic" paintings by Friedrich that Beckett claimed to have been a "source" for the play, comment on what you might see as the link or relation between the play and the pictures(s). |
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Tutorial Questions |
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[This box will be updated periodically.] The questions listed below are meant to give students an idea of the kinds of issues and topics they might wish to take up for class discussion. Students are welcome to come up with similar topics of their own for their presentations. AESCHYLUS 1. Distinguish between the roles played by the chorus in the three parts of the Aeschylus trilogy. 2. What does the characterization of Agamemnon tell you about his consciousness of the issues that preoccupy Clytemnestra? 3. Analyse the relation between Orestes and Electra in relation to their individual and joint attitudes to their parents. 4. What are the basic arguments used by Apollo in his defense of Orestes? and what are the counterarguments made by the Furies? 5. How might we relate the Furies to the Olympians gods in terms of Greek mythology? SHAKESPEARE 1. Comment on the political/military situation in Venice, Othello's position in that context, and how that affects the reception he gets as a "Moor" in Venice. 2. How does Shakespeare use the "soliloquy" and the "aside" to great dramatic effect in the play? 3. Can one distinguish between Desdemona's and Othello's tragedy? 4. What is the socio-cultural context within which the play dramatizes the love between Othello & Desdemona, and Othello's account of why he must kill Desdemona? 5. Consider the notion of "honesty" developed in the play with reference to Iago. [You may wish to refer to a famous essay on the topic by William Empson, in The Structure of Complex Words.] 6. Analyse the relation between poetic imagery, plot, and characterization with reference to animal imagery, images dealing with magic, witchcraft and the demonic, and imagery dealing with eating and lust. RACINE 1. How does the influence of Aristotelian ideas affect the form and structure of Racine's play? 2. Analyze the role of dramatic irony play in the play. 3. In what sense is Phaedra guilty of "incest"? What is the bearing of her guilt on her suicide? 4. How does Jansenism figure in the play? Does the play assume an inevitable tragic consequence to passion such as Phaedra's? 5. How does the representation of action on (and off) stage differ between Racine and Shakespeare? IBSEN 1. What is Gerd's function in the play? 2. Comment on Hill's verse technique in the light of his own discussion of the challenges and opportunities provided by Ibsen. 3. Is it more pat to think of Brand as a dramatic poem or as a verse drama? Is there a difference? Discuss. 4. The very last question Brand asks before his death is, "What do we die to prove?" How does that touch upon the issue of the place occupied by tragedy in human life (as distinguished from art) within a religious framework? 5. Discuss the role of sacrifice and self-sacrifice in Brand. ELIOT 1. What are the central features of the conflict between Beckett and Henry II? 2. How does Eliot's use of verse condition our reactions to the tragic action of the play? 3. Contrast Thomas's attitude to his impending martyrdom to the manner in which a violent death is encountered in any of the other plays we have read for this course. 4. What is the role played by Christian beliefs in this play? How might that be contrasted with the role played by Christianity in Ibsen's play? 5. What is the role of dramatic irony in the tragic plot? BECKETT 1. Analyze a few examples of comic language and action in the play. 2. Compare the sense of a tragic predicament in the play with any other we have read for this module. 3. Comment on the significance of pairs in the play. 4. Illustrate and analyze the role of questions in the play. 5. Illustrate how the play combines an appeal of the `low-brow' kind with serious philosophical content. |
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Supplementary Reading |
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GENERAL Aristotle, Poetics, Trans. Malcolm Heath. Penguin, 1996. Downey, Patrick. Serious comedy: the philosophical and theological significance of tragic and comic writing in the Western tradition. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2001. Drakakis, John & Naomi Conn Liebler (eds.), Tragedy. New York: Longman, 1998. Kerrigan, John. Revenge Tragedy: Aeschylus to Armageddon. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996. Schweizer, Harold. Suffering and the remedy of art. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1997. Steiner, George. The Death of Tragedy. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1961. Storm, William. After Dionysus: a theory of the tragic. Ithaca, N.Y.; London : Cornell University Press, 1998. On Individual Authors: Aeschylus Goldhill, Simon. Reading Greek Tragedy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. Silk, M.S. (ed.) Tragedy and the tragic: Greek theatre and beyond. Oxford University Press, 1996. Shakespeare Mack, Maynard, Everybody's Shakespeare: reflections chiefly on the tragedies. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993. Nostbakken, Faith. Understanding Othello: a student casebook to issues, sources, and historical documents. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2000. Racine Jondorf, Edward James and Gillian. Racine: Phèdre. Cambridge University Press, 1994. Vinaver, Eugene, Racine and poetic tragedy. Trans. P. Mansell Jones. Manchester University Press, 1955. Ibsen Muir, Kenneth. Last periods of Shakespeare, Racine, Ibsen. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1961. Norman, Rhodes. Ibsen and the Greeks. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press; London: Associated University Presses, 1995. Eliot Hinchliffe, Arnold P. (ed), T.S. Eliot: Plays – A Casebook. Macmillan, 1985. Worthen, William B. Modern drama and the rhetoric of theater. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. Beckett Bradby, David. Beckett: Waiting for Godot. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Schlueter, June and Enoch Brater (eds), Approaches to teaching Beckett's Waiting for Godot. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1991.
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LINKS |
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Internet Classics Archive: Aeschylus Aeschylus: Theatre History site Henrik Ibsen: Bjorn Hemmer site |
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Last Updated 05 April 2005 |