Tragedy and Oedipus

Tragedy as defined by Aristotle should include an element of catharsis. Contrary to my original belief of the catharsis being for the actors, Aristotle intended this catharsis for the audience. To put this in modern-day language, these cathartic plays function on the same level as sad, "sob-fest" movies. These films are meant to elicit a certain reaction from the audience such as tears in which the audience leaves the performance/movie with a sense of having been freed of a burden with this "feel-good" emotion.

As a class, we discussed about the six essential elements of an Aristotelian tragedy. Our instructor's example of Oedipus was the ideal model of a tragedy in that the play included a complex plot, a character with a tragic flaw, a character's thought and diction, a melody (chorus), and a spectacle. We discussed the irony of the situation in that Oedipus believed that he was escaping his prophecy by leaving his suppossed family when in fact he murdered his biological father, Laius, upon arriving in Thebes. This irony illustrates Oedipus' hubris in his belief that he can control his fate and prevent his prophecy from becoming a reality.

Up until this point, our exposure to theatre has been mostly through textbook knowledge rather than actual theatre experiences. Besides the pantomime and family portrait exercise that we have done, most of our learning has been through texts. I suppose that our theatre instructor wants us to have a fairly good understanding of the textbook elements involved in various types of theatre because theatre consists of more than just acting. Because a good majority of our class consists of students new to theatre, she probably wants us to fully understand the textbook aspect that we are more comfortable with before we are taken out of our comfort zones to either act or direct.