A tragedy is a play with a serious theme that is significant and also universal. Often, the main character is known as the tragic hero who deals with a lot of tragic events that he sometimes regards as his fate. True to its name, the hero experiences a series of tragic events that befall him one after another as he experiences pain and suffering in the process. Sometimes the tragic hero causes it upon himself to experience these events although, in the past, he is able to get some kind of enlightenment as he finds the solutions to his problems (The Greeks. Tragedy place). During the ancient times, the Greeks held festivals in honor of Dionysus who was referred to as the god of everything uncivilized where the Athenians tried to control the innate wildness of humanity (Dionysia. Answers.com).
There are different reasons why people would want to watch tragedies and thus is also the purpose of tragedy as a genre. Foremost of these is because this was the time to allow their inhibitions out during these presentations. This was therefore an outlet for the people of ancient times to relish watching tragedies. It was a vicarious emotional experience that made them empathize with the characters and thus allow their pent-up emotions to be released. In fact, during the pompe, there were instances when the element of role-reversal would be introduced. This was called aischrologia or tothasmos, an idea prevalent also in the Eleusinian Mysteries. (Dionysia. Answers.com).
Secondly, taking the psychological stance, these tragedies are able to highlight ideas that are spoken or acted upon in everyday life. Thus, people are able to establish an affinity with the dialogues and thus find recourse to their own problems in the process. For instance, some of the parodies of Aristophanes mocked the politicians as well as the celebrities of Athens, coming up with an anti-war play (Lysistrata) during the peak of the Peloponnesian War. Thus, the happenings that went on in Dionysia allowed him to get away with criticisms that he would be restricted to voice out (Dionysia. Answers.com). Tragedies present basic questions about the human conditions that make people think but of which there are no simple answers.
Thirdly, in a practical sense, the tragedies provided a sense of entertainment from the actual tragedies of people’s lives. It makes the audiences’ personal tragedies small when compared to the huge tragedies that befall the characters of the play.
Besides, that is the ultimate purpose of tragedy—to dignify and ennoble humankind (The Greeks. Tragedy place). It is not so much to showcase the depressing circumstances of individuals but to see these tragic heroes stand up to the catastrophes that the gods and nature bestow on them. Besides, tragic heroes are not cowards and quitters who blame others and society for their misfortunes. In fact, they take the responsibility for all the evils that are at stake. Thus, they are able to achieve victory even if they are deep down the quagmire of misery (The Greeks. Tragedy place).
These kinds of reasoning are the same also in modern tragedies. People like to see how the characters in the play that they are watching would respond to the sufferings that happen to them. In fact, the modern audience also enjoys tragedy for the same reasons as the ancients except that in modern times, the manner may not be obviously seen to be barbaric as in the ancient times. Yet the reasons are similar.
In Dionysus, the central conflict in the play is the clash between the new religion and the old Greek traditions. Tiresias and Cadmus are two characters that have symbolic significance and who both face the issue of how they should respond to changes. Thus, the play focuses on an examination of different decisions that befall these characters.
For example, when Tiresias accuses Oedipus of being the murderer, the king takes the counter-offensive, actually accusing Tiresias of the murder when he asserts, “You helped hatch the plot, you did the work, yes, short of killing him with your own hands…” (Bagg 394-96). This complicates the plot and the blame is put on another person.
The meeting of Oedipus and his father is filled with destiny and fate. Everything that is mysterious in the destiny of Oedipus is actually covered within the repetition of motifs. In the end, Oedipus has fulfilled double vengeance, which is the vengeance of Pelops and his own vengeance. Although Winnington-Ingram has emphasized that this is not a complete destiny, the characters clearly have no control over the events.
The attack on this topic is encompassing the reality of human existence. It is pretty obvious in the play of Sophocles that human freedom is limited at some point. There is more focus on the element of destiny and determinism in the events that surrounded the life of Oedipus. If one would see the series of events that have transpired with the life of Oedipus, it is no doubt that this is a result of destiny. The role of Apollo and the oracles in actually guiding the lives of the characters in the play is very important. Apollo can be argued to have secured that everything that he said would happen needs to actually happen. The intervention of the gods in these plays is actually quite enmeshed in the control of men. This means that they are more and more interested in the issues involved in the lives of men.” In all these, tragedy comes alive and is still a part of modern times.
Works Cited
An Introductory Note to Euripides’ Bacchae. 2008. Web.
Dionysia. Answers. 2008. Web.
The Greeks. Tragedy place. 2008. Web.
Winnington-Ingram, R.P. Sophocles, An Interpretation (Great Britain: Cambridge University Press, 1980) 178.