Matakuliah : G0302/Introduction to Literature
Tahun
: 2007
Introduction
Pertemuan 12
Drama
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Tragedy
Comedy
Melodrama
Farce
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tragedy
• The typical ending for tragedy is a death.
• Successful tragedies, though they involve suffering and
sadness, do not leave the spectator depressed.
• Some funny plays have sad endings; they send the
viewer away with a lump in the throat.
• A few plays usually classified as tragedies do not have
unhappy endings but conclude with the protagonist’s
triumph.
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tragedy
• Aristotle: a tragedy is the imitation in dramatic form of an
action that is serious and complete, with incidents
arousing pity and fear wherewith it effects a catharsis of
such emotions.
• The language used is pleasurable and appropriate
throughout to the situation in which it is used.
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tragedy
• The chief character are noble personages and the action
they perform are noble action.
• The plot involves a change in the protagonist’s fortune,
in which he falls from happiness to misery.
• The protagonist is not a perfect good man nor yet a bad
man
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tragedy
• A good tragic plot has organic unity; the events follow not
just after one another but because of one another.
• The best tragic plots involve reversal or a discovery or
both.
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tragedy
• The central features of tragedy:
• 1. the tragic hero is a man of noble stature. He has a
greatness about him. He is not an ordinary man but one
of outstanding quality.In Greek and Shakespearean
tragedy, he is usually a prince or a king. He is great not
primarily by virtue of his kingship but by his possession
of extraordinary powers, by qualities of passion or
aspiration or nobility of mind.
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tragedy
• 2. Though the tragic hero is preeminently great, he is not
perfect. Combined with his strength there is vulnerability.
• 3. The hero’s downfall, therefore, is partially his own
fault. Accident, villainy, or fate may contribute to the
downfall.
• 4. nevertheless, the hero’s misfortune is not wholly
deserved.
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tragedy
• 5. Yet the tragic fall is not pure loss. Though it may result
in the protagonist’s death, it involves, before his death,
some increase in awareness, some gain in selfknowledge, some discovery, a change from ignorance to
knowledge.
• 6. Though it arouses solemn emotions—pity and fear,
says Aristotle, but compassion and awe might be better
terms—tragedy, when well performed, does not leave its
audience in a state of depression.
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