What is tragedy in the literature: the definition

Human life is colored in different colors with a lot of sometimes elusive shades. Everyone knows such expressions as "bitterness of love", "voluptuous death" or "taste of victory". Each of them is a mixture of something elusively understandable and at the same time not really existing. Such literary and metaphorical reflection of the mass of feelings and experiences of the human soul makes it necessary to look at the ordinary things in a new way, thereby making life richer and more colorful. Human passions, experiences and emotions throughout the development of civilization were the object of close attention on the part of philosophers in the early centuries, then they were occupied by new researchers of the human soul - writers.

What is our life? ..

Indeed, what? A set of random events or the regular execution of once and for all predefined plots? Joy of being or bitterness from the realization of its insignificance? By and large, human life is a combination of feelings and sensations that color it in tone from the darkest to the lightest and most loving. Each of these shades is necessary for completeness of perception and sensation of the integrity of the world. And literature gives a person exactly what in real life he would never have been able to experience. Not enough time, health, and much more.

It is thanks to literature that humanity has learned and is still learning the worldview. With the help of literary genres, a person can distinguish the sad from the merry, the base from the sublime and the good from the evil. The dramatic beginning is always connected with feelings, passions. Whether this uncontrollable laughter or hardly restrained sobbing - all this is a real drama, only in its various hypostases.

Drama emphasizes the truth

In pre-Grecian times, people somehow managed the usual legends, which talked only about the heroics of certain epic characters. There was also a lyrical, purely personal beginning, which gave vent to inner experiences related to spiritual and spiritual dissatisfaction, or, on the contrary, uncontrollable joy from the feelings experienced.

The ancient Greeks combined these sources and created a drama (in the literal translation "action"), which contained both the heroic and lyrical characters of the literature of the past. The basis for the drama was the merrymaking, dedicated to one or other gods, which are, in fact, a kind of sacrifice in the hope of a future satisfying and fun life.

It was dramatic genres - satire drama, comedy and tragedy - that led literature to become closer to real life, a real person, a real, not a fictitious society. And it became a breakthrough. After all, what is the tragedy and comedy in ancient Greece? Starting from ritual games and glorifications in honor of Dionysus, tragedy and comedy soon became the main representatives of theatrical and literary genres, revealing the most acute aspects of social life. Combining the real, serious part of human existence with the merry, "carnival", which was the herald of hope for a good outcome and the victory of the light over the dark, these genres became the starting point for the development of the culture not only of the Greeks but also of other peoples.

Tragic beginnings in literature

What is tragedy in literature? The definition of this term in a condensed form tells us that it is a work of dramatic character. It describes and closely examines the suffering of either the protagonist or members of his family, but necessarily from the moral point of view. These sufferings must be sublime and highly moral. At its core, tragedy is a highly moral work, forcing the reader to empathize with the protagonist and be imbued with his worldview.

Now, when it became clear what a tragedy is, everyone can consciously analyze the literature that had to be read. Let us recall the tragedy of the Renaissance and recent times - the era of the Soviet people, in which the essence of this genre was reflected in its fullness.

Tragedy as a genre

What is tragedy as a genre of a work of art? Unlike the purely literary form, the genre of tragedy implies a stage production and is characterized by a final-catastrophe. In it, there must be a certain sharpness of actual relations characterized by internal contradictions of the heroes. It is marked by the display of deep and real conflicts in a very rich and tense manner. And to the extent that these conflicts and reality, their generating, become some kind of artistic meaning, often very pathos.

Realizing the tragedy in ancient Greece, reading works written by Aeschylus and Sophocles, comparing them with later authors, one can see a clear line of continuity of the "song of goats" (literal translation of the tragedy), transferring the rules of the ancient Greek theatrical art to the stage of the XXI century.

High can not be high-flown

But in spite of all the pathos of the tragic events, described in various works by world literary stars, it must be noted that he never oversteps a certain line, behind which the line between reality and fiction is blurred. The atmosphere of trust to the author disappears as a carrier of ideas, captivating the reader and captivating him. It can not be highly moral that it annoys and kills sincerity. Therefore, high-quality literature and drama shy away from high-flownness, thereby giving any tragic event, to the tragic hero, a halo of martyrdom real, but not fictional.

Literature as a mirror of history

What is tragedy in literature? The definition we have already given. The issue of educating whole generations on the tragic events of past years is more important than ever for the formation of future generations. Yes, not always what was characteristic, for example, for the era of the first centuries of Christianity and gave rise to coverage in dramatic works, helped on the basis of the tragedy of situations or the tragic fate of heroes to resist evil, build a new society with new relationships, today will be in demand. But in the tragic characters of the past, one can still recognize the features and characters of many of our contemporaries. And is this not an excuse to continue to educate new heroes who are able to resist everything dark and dead and make their way to the bright, clean and healthy one, referring to the tragedies of the same Sophocles and Aeschylus!