The Paradox of Tragedy

In this course, we will explore the paradoxical nature of tragic drama and its enduring power to both devastate and delight audiences. Selected plays examine the questions tragedy poses about human nature, fate, and the capriciousness of circumstance. Works may include Euripides' Hippolytus, Racine's Phèdre, Shakespeare's Macbeth, Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, and August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Together, we will analyze how tragedians manipulate dramatic elements to evoke despair yet exultation, melancholy yet hope. We will ask whether Aristotle's definition of the tragic hero - a protagonist who falls from prosperity to misery due to an error in judgment - holds true for dramas throughout history. Ultimately, the course will examine how and why in tragedy pain is overbalanced by the relief and resolution provided by catharsis.

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