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The things that ruins his life is his humanity and while this is a sad tale, it is one filled with knowledge for those who want to see how not to ruin one's life. It teaches us and one of the most resilient characteristics of man is that he can learn from his mistakes if he is courageous enough.
Plato considered drama and tragedy from another perspective, namely an isolated one. He wrote, "We would not have our guardians grow up amid images of moral deformity . . . until they silently gather a festering mass of corruption in their own soul" (Plato X) and he also expressed the notion that artists would better serve the world if they were "gifted to discern the true nature of the beautiful and graceful" (X). In Book X, he writes we should "remain firm in our conviction that hymns to the gods and praises of famous men are the only poetry which ought to be admitted into our State. For if you go beyond this and allow the honeyed muse to enter . . . pleasure and pain will be the rulers in our State" (X). These notions are ideal but we must ask if they are realistic. Ignoring tragedy does not make it go away. Reducing the kinds of plays to only happy and good do not reduce the pain of tragedy. Plato fails to recognize the importance of learning from the mistakes of others. While he is partially correct in his assertion that tragedy could prevent mankind from coping successfully with the drama of everyday life, he misses the point of what mankind can learn from the suffering of others. Tragedy is not the result of imperfection, it is the result of being human. One of the most compelling aspects of art in any medium is how others can relate to it. In tragic situations, when many...
Plato said men should not be "trained to imitate the action or speech of men or women who are mad or bad; for madness, like vice, is to be known but not to be practised or imitated" (Plato III) but he fails to recognize that even if such characters are removed from our vision, we, as a collective whole, are not any better for it.
One of the most beneficial aspects of life is connecting with others and art provides an ideal platform this to occur. Even in tragedy, we are brought together. Even if the tragedy we are witnessing is on the stage or screen, we still feel a connection. Humans possess the capacity for growth in a way that allows them to rebuild their lives, if necessary. Without tragedy on the stage, there would be less "learning" going on. The truth is that we will never escape tragedy; it is part of life and turning a blind eye to it thinking it somehow corrupts us seems backwards when mankind needs no help in the area corruption. The value of tragedy on stage is priceless in a day and age where the stage and the camera love drama.
Works Cited
Aristotle. "Poetics." S.H. Butcher, Trans. MIT Internet Classics Archive. Site Accessed October
01, 2011.
Plato. The Republic. The Internet Classics Archive. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
2009. Web. Site Accessed October 01, 2011. http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.html
Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. An Introduction to Literature. Barnett, Sylvan, ed. Boston: Little,
Brown and Company. 1984. pp. 721-64. Print.
Works Cited
Aristotle. "Poetics." S.H. Butcher, Trans. MIT Internet Classics Archive. Site Accessed October
01, 2011.<http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/poetics.html>
Plato. The Republic. The Internet Classics Archive. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
2009. Web. Site Accessed October 01, 2011. http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.html
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