This ted talk was a little more complicated for me to determine where tragedy had been present since it had not been directly mentioned. Some points that I noted throughout the talk would include when he mentioned the different ways people see things, and the different perspectives one will have compared to another, he also slightly mentioned to make decisions based on what you know. It is much easier to point out mistakes in visual illusions than it is in cognitive illusions. This ted talk really made me think about decision making because at one point he had said, "We wake up in the morning and we feel that we make decisions", and what I had noticed about this is that he used "we feel" instead of saying that an individual makes their decisions solely based on themselves, often not considering the affects it may possibly have on others. To me, this talk related to tragedy by mentioning that he had for one, failed on the book he had wanted to write and as mentioned previously in order to have tragedy you basically need to set yourself or the character up for failure. It very much challenged my understanding on tragedy and how it may be presented because personally at first I couldn't find any correlation between tragedy and this ted talk. Although, it opened my eyes a bit more seeing that tragedy can be displayed in multiple ways and may not be direct enough for you to spot it right away so I feel like this challenged me a lot more than the other tragedy pieces we have focused on so far. https://www.britannica.com/art/tragedy-literature
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In the play Oedipus an awful plague had broken out in the city and the cure would not be stated until the murderer of the previous kind has been revieled. So, Oedipus goes on an attempt to find the previous killer in order to save the citizens. the idea is that Oedipus parents sent him away due to believing that he would one day kill his father, and he grew up in a complete different city in order to avoid the murder of his father. But unknowingly, Oedipus had married his mother and also started a family with her despite trying to keep their distance and keep their family safe. Soon after learning that he had married his mother he was attempting to go find her and possibly kill her but she had pieced it together first and had committed suicide and cursed the marriage bed. This poem challenged my idea on tragedy, showing different approaches to tragedy. Something that was mentioned in class that really challenged my idea or though process, would be that the tragedy itself isn't tragic because of Oedipus and and his mother, but actually targeting the children because they will now be teased and looked at differently due to the whole community now being aware of what is going on and that is also how the play related to tragedy. http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/terms/T/tragedy.htm
After reading the essay, Tragedy and the Common Man, it did not so much as change my view on tragedy but challenged my overall idea on it. Many times in the essay I had agreed with certain points he had made. Throughout this essay Miller had cleared up how tragedy should be understood, making point that many people misunderstood the whole concept, along with the dictionary, both having the definition that tragedy was just a story with a sad ending. Before reading this essay I almost agreed with it just meaning that it had a sad or depressing ending, but this essay really opened my eyes on what the whole idea may be. It definitely challenged me though. In one point, a certain quote really stood out to me and that was, "The possibility of victory must be there in tragedy." The way I had understood this is that you set yourself up to be put in a position where you may win or you may lose and the whole point is for you to be set up for failure. That is what makes it tragic, when you fail or lose the battle.
de Button points out that it isn't the fact that it is hard to accomplish something, it is more of that you are so worried about what others are doing and how they feel, which can create anxiety in jobs. Not only that, but there are those who will not give you the time of day depending on your achievements and class. Many people fail because they are trying to succeed for others. Expectations are so high these days that anyone can achieve anything, which is a good idea or statement, because we are all equal but the only problem is that there is envy. Something that I found interesting yet true, is that you envy those who are close or alike to you. de Button's ted talk could be related to tragedy because he talks about envy at a point in the talk which really stood out to me. He also mentioned suicide at a point stating that people take things too personally these days. We fear judgement of others is something else that stood out, you are called out by others and judged for your actions and or your mistakes. Tragedy is an art form, tracing how people failed.
Tragedy is something I feel like I understand, but I know there is a much deeper meaning that I'm unaware of. It obviously brings in a lot of emotions, and usually it is related to sadness or suffering a lot of the times. Other than that, I don't have much of an idea about tragedy and what is stands for. What I learned from reading from the link below, is that it is a form of drama based on human suffering, which to me sounds very dark. I had a small idea that it had been related to suffering but as mentioned before I don't have much of a deeper understanding. I also learned that it originated in Greece which isn't at all somewhere I had expected. I never realized how popular of a genre this was, I feel like as time goes on it becomes less popular. It seems to be pretty intense and emotional which I think can sometimes be difficult to read and understand. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy
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