Every time in the life of our relatives, friends, acquaintances, big troubles happen - someone seriously falls ill, loses loved ones, etc., - we shake our heads in dismay and sympathetically say: “What a tragedy!” But there is another situation. For example, a teenage girl fell in love unrequitedly. She is sad, her eyes are in a wet place. What do you say in order to comfort, reassure, reason with Nesmeyan? That's right: “Think of it, a tragedy! Yes, you have such Vit, Sing, Mish will have dozens! You look so beautiful and smart! ”
Definition
To understand such a wide range of uses of the word, we will understand its meaning. According to the explanatory dictionaries, tragedy is, firstly, along with drama and comedy, a
literary and artistic genre. Her most famous examples are Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and other works of William Shakespeare. From domestic literature, of course, one should recall the Pushkin’s “Boris Godunov”, “The Mean Knight”, and “The Stone Guest”. Secondly, tragedy is unhappiness, misfortune, grief. It can be either individual, personal, that is, that occurred in the fate of one particular person or family, or large-scale, universal. World wars, natural disasters,
environmental disasters are events of this kind. Synonyms for the word: famously, collapse, blow of fate, etc. And the third meaning of the word is figuratively ironic, when tragedy is just a minor nuisance, inflated to the size of an elephant.
Literature and life
Literature is a reflection of life, the brightest and most intense moments of reality. Tyutchev wrote: “Blessed is he who visited this world / In his fateful moments ...” Poets and writers who were fortunate enough to live in the root, turning points of history, captured in diaries, memoirs, novels, dramas and, alas, the futile attempts of mankind to create a harmonious happy world order. Life in such works is in full swing, rising to the brink of the possible, and the hero overcomes the fateful combination of circumstances with their titanic willful efforts. No wonder literary scholars believe that it is tragedy that is the most complete expression of our being. This type of dramatic action is more suitable than others for the full reflection of life in all its diversity.
The specifics of the genre
Drama, tragedy, comedy - literary terms that came to us from the ancient Greek language. It was the aesthetes of Hellas who introduced them into the everyday life of critics. Drama is both a genre term and a generic term. As a literary kind, it is divided into tragedy - a high, heroic genre, comedy - a low genre, and the drama itself, combining some of the signs of the first two. The plot of tragedies, as a rule, is filled with conflicts and clashes, which cannot be resolved peacefully.
Tragic hero
The catastrophe of external contradictions and internal, the maximum tension of the moment, the main characters staying on the verge, "in the balance", are necessary components of the action. The literary work of the tragedy genre reflects such conflicts in society, in reality, which are really extremely serious. Hence the particular heroic or other pathos that is characteristic of them. Recall Hamlet's throwing, his endless internal moral fights with himself! And external clashes with a hostile, deeply vicious modern world. More precisely, not only the world, but also the century, era! The hero of the tragedy is so magnificent that he defies forces much more powerful than himself. And dies in this confrontation, because it can neither retreat nor win. It should be noted that not only dramatic, but also epic works belong to this genre. “Crime and Punishment”, Dostoevsky, “Hero of our time” Lermontov or “Scaffold” by our contemporary Aitmatov - each of them is a true tragedy novel.
Term history
But back to thousands of years ago, in ancient Greece. The Greeks were pagans, worshiped a host of big and small gods. In the Pantheon, Dionysus, a patron of agriculture, winemaking, vegetation, inspiration, the joys of life and fun, which, as you know, the Greeks associated with wine, occupied a rather prominent place. In Greece there were many religious cults dedicated to Dionysus. Various rites and rituals of his veneration and glorification are reflected in the festivities and games held in honor of the Olympian. The sacrificial animal, which was necessarily presented to Dionysus, was a goat. Therefore, the literal meaning of the word tragedy is “goat song”. During the harvest and grape festivals , the Greeks played whole performances during which praises were sung to the god. People dressed in animal skins, depicting satyrs - fantastic creatures similar to goats - they also glorified their patron Dionysus. On the basis of this action, an ancient tragedy was born - a mixture of myth with reality, solemn praises and choir songs of satyrs. Over time, the plot of the festival became more complicated, a conflict appeared in it, a dramatic element. And the action itself passed from fields and forests to theatrical stages.