History Main / Tragedy

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This last one is perhaps the hardest to capture correctly. After all is said and done, the audience should not feel [[WallBanger impotent rage]], [[DisContinuity denial]], confusion or [[DeusAngstMachina having been cheated]]. They should feel that the ending is a natural outcome to the hero's actions, and that in having faced punishment for those actions they [the audience] are purged of anxiety and worry. The world ''does'' make sense, the guilty ''[[KarmaHoudini are]]'' punished.

->"Tragedy! When the feeling's gone and you can't go on, it's tragedy!"
--> -- '''The Bee Gees''', ''Tragedy'' ([[CoveredUp or, for younger, British Tropers, Steps]])

* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: Dammit, if the protagonist had thought things through before he acted, WeCouldHaveAvoidedAllThis.

** It does end pretty much like a classic tragedy in that [[spoiler:Lelouch purposey makes himself universally reviled then has himself publicly killed by Suzaku--disguised as Zero--all for the sake of uniting the world.]]

'''{{Aristotle}}'s guidelines form the basis of Tragedy; here they are much abbreviated:'''

* Brecht, ''Mother Courage, Measures Taken''. {{Catharsis}} is withheld in order to demand revolutionary action from the audience. Subjects are common (or in the case of Meagres Taken, potentially heroic revolutionaries).

->My darkness comes. You've gone from me. Whoa-Whoa, Tragedy.
--> -- '''The Fleetwoods''', ''Tragedy''

->"[[{{Wangst}} Tragedy is when I cut my finger]]. [[DeadBabyComedy Comedy]] is when [[RefugeInAudacity you fall into an open sewer and die]]."
--> -- '''MelBrooks'''

--> -- '''The Bee Gees''', ''Tragedy''

** [[{{Antigone}} their children]] didn't fare much better.

* Mafia II

* ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'' Can be seen as a modern anime tragedy. A cast of ...mostly normal characters are brought to the brink of ruin, but their all so unable to overcome their personal demons and shadows, that they ultimately pay the price for it. Though the actual scale of the price paid is rather...extreme.

To [[SubvertedTrope subvert]] a tragedy is complex. Its not enough to try for ''GrandGuignol'' and stuff it up with {{Satire}} and [[DeadBabyComedy dead babies]], tack on a happy ending, or pull on heartstrings with [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth dead babies]]. To really subvert tragedy you have to get into the cycle of [[EmotionalTorque catharsis]] and break one of the literary elements of greatness, [[{{Pride}} hubris]], [[FallenHero downfall]] or change. Or, just make it a {{Comedy}}, which is basically the whole thing PlayedForLaughs. Though that's not really a subversion, just an interesting detail about comedy.

As a genre, tragedy is OlderThanFeudalism. It has changed quite a bit since it's conception in ancient Greece, and nowadays is a dying genre... how tragic! Soon it will be just as dead as {{Irony}}.

To [[SubvertedTrope subvert]] a tragedy is complex. Its not enough to try for ''GrandGuginol'' and stuff it up with {{Satire}} and [[DeadBabyComedy dead babies]], tack on a happy ending, or pull on heartstrings with [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth dead babies]]. To really subvert tragedy you have to get into the cycle of [[EmotionalTorque catharsis]] and break one of the literary elements of greatness, [[{{Pride}} hubris]], [[FallenHero downfall]] or change. Or, just make it a {{Comedy}}, which is basically the whole thing PlayedForLaughs. Though that's not really a subversion, just an interesting detail about comedy.

'''Examples:'''

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* {{Scarface}} features Tony Montana rising to the top by his reckless courage and ambition, [[spoiler:but his need for more power combined with his recklessness end up getting him killed.]]

* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: Dangit, if the protagonist had thought things through before he acted, WeCouldHaveAvoidedAllThis.

* SelfFulfillingProphecy

** Arguably it's a stronger example of Tragedy in the classic sense than Code Geass; it is the story of the protagonist's rise to power and the simultaneous destruction of all his morals and ethics, culminating in spectacular failure. Lelouch Lamperouge ultimately succeeds in his goal [[spoiler: at the cost of his own life]]; by contrast, [[spoiler: Light Yagami dies in obscurity, the fate of Kira left as a mystery to the world, and while he succeeded at being revered as a deity after his death, the world returns more or less to normal without the fear of Kira keeping everyone in line]].

* WeissKreuz is a tragedy, set in a world of hell - implied by Hidaka Ken - where CompleteMonster are free to get what they want at the expense of the innocent lives, and without getting punished by laws. The heroes, Weiss, are themselves bloody, murderous monsters as well, and are determined to live a life full of guilts in order to provide the innocent better tomorrows.

** Of course, the ending probably could have been prevented if the titular characters were not quite so impulsive, especially Romeo [[spoiler:committing suicide right after Juliet's supposed death before thinking things through. Even if she was dead, life still goes on.]]

* The Greek plays ''Oresteia'' (a trilogy by {{Aeschylus}} consisting of ''Agamemnōn'', ''Choēphoroi'' and ''Eumenides'') and ''Electra'' are classic (indeed quite literally) tragedies. The theme of fatal flaws and dramatic irony is applied to heroic men, such as Agamemnon and Orestes, but also to the house of Atreus as a whole. Apparently the Oresteia is also one of the first examples of {{high octane nightmare fuel}} as during the première of the play the haunting song of the furies caused a pregnant woman to promptly miscarriage and die in the process. One could probably write a tragedy about that too.

->"Tragedy is when I cut my finger. {{Comedy}} is when you fall into an open sewer and die."

->My darkness comes. You've gone from me. Whoa-Whoa, Tragedy.

To [[SubvertedTrope subvert]] a tragedy is complex. Its not enough to try for ''GrandGuginol'' and stuff it up with {{Satire}} and [[DeadBabyComedy dead babies]], tack on a happy ending, or pull on heartstrings with [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth dead babies]]. To really subvert tragedy you have to get into the cycle of [[EmotionalTorque catharsis]] and break one of the literary elements of greatness, [[{{Pride}} hubris]], [[FallenHero downfall]] or change. Or, just make it a {{Comedy}}, which is basically the whole thing PlayedForLaughs. Though that's not really a subversion, just an interesting detail about comedy.

* ''CodeGeass'' has some Tragedy moments too. The end of season 1 is a good example, as the hero is undone by his own flaws. In fact it's conceivable that ''Code Geass'' could end as a tragedy, depending on how the series works out.
** It does end pretty much like a classic tragedy in that [[spoiler:Lelouch purposey makes himself universally reviled then has himself publicly killed by Suzaku--disguised as Zero--all for the sake of uniting the world.]]
* ''DeathNote'' also has some tragic elements going on.

* WeissKreuz is a tragedy, set in a world of hell - implied by Hidaka Ken - where CompleteMonster are free to get what they want at the expense of the innocent lives. The heroes, Weiss, are themselves bloody, murderous monsters as well, and are determined to live a life full of guilts in order to provide the innocent better tomorrows.

* {{Shakespeare}} wrote quite a few: ''{{Macbeth}}'', ''{{Hamlet}}'', ''{{Othello}}'', and ''KingLear''. ''RomeoAndJuliet'', though commonly labeled as one, isn't actually a tragedy per se, as the ultimate unhappy ending comes as a result of bad luck, not any particular character's flaw.

** My brother once did a report in school commenting on what little brats they were. Whereupon the teacher complimented him for originality.

**** It's not so much a question of whether his lack of flaws would make the play interesting. A Tragedy isn't a Tragedy if its tragic hero doesn't have a tragic flaw. Romeo's was his impulsiveness. His immediate love for Juliet, and immediately wanting to marry her and being willing to die for her drives the whole story of the play. [[spoiler:And his impulsive murder of Tybalt for killing Mercutio leads to his downfall in his banishment. He even comes close to killing himself in front of Friar Lawrence when he hears this news. And then, of course, his suicide when he's heard Juliet is dead. Had he waited even a day to think about things, he would've been spared his and Juliet's death and they would've lived happily in Mantua.]] While the play does have the message of not being able to escape fate and tragic coincidence, Romeo drives the story through being brash and impulsive, his fatal flaw.

* The Greek plays ''Oresteia'' (a trilogy by {{Aeschylus}} consisting of ''Agamemnōn'', ''Choēphoroi'' and ''Eumenides'') and ''Electra'' are classic (indeed quite literally) tragedies. The theme of fatal flaws and dramatic irony is applied to heroic men, such as Agamemnon and Orestes, but also to the house of Atreus as a whole. Apparently the Oresteia is also one of the first examples of {{high octane nightmare fuel}} as during the première of the play the haunting song of the furies caused a pregnant woman to promptly miscarriage and die in the process. One could probably write a tragedy about that too.

* Tom Stoppard's ''RosencrantzAndGuildensternAreDead.'' Despite their flashes of GenreSavvy and occasional (dark) comedy, the ending features a complete lack of awareness on the character's part. The futility of their project is laid bare, they die accomplishing nothing except discover their names (and that's still iffy). The downfall being external (but necessary). The minor status of the ''protagonists'' to "incidental" characters like {{Hamlet}}.

* Brecht, ''Mother Courage, Measures Taken''. {{Catharsis}} is withheld in order to demand revolutionary action from the audience. Subjects are common (or in the case of Meagres Taken, potentially heroic revolutionaries).

** This is called modern tragedy. Classic tragedy is where a high-ranking person is destroyed in the end. Modern tragedy is where an ordinary person is destroyed.