tragedy

Tragic ( Greek τραγικός) is, according to Aristotle, an event that arouses compassion (for the person concerned), eleos , and fear (for ourselves), phobos . It can mean “shocking” in general, but in literature it denotes the tragedy and the form tragedy .

definition

On the one hand, a tragic event must be a suffering , because otherwise it could not itself arouse suffering ; but it must not be the just punishment of a real crime, because we would regret it but not pity it. On the other hand, it has to be terrible because otherwise we wouldn't fear it, and it has to be arbitrarily imposed. Only the undeserved suffering is really tragic, a "stroke of fate of life against man".

A heroic deed, the avenging god or the capricious fate come into question (as in the fire robbery of Prometheus , who is forged on the rock by the envious Zeus ). A second possibility is that the supposedly guilty party is only partially guilty, the "heavenly powers", who "have made the poor guilty", who are actually guilty (such as Oedipus , for example , whom fate already in the womb has chosen to be the future father murderer and mother consort has; Wallenstein , of whose guilt "unfortunate stars" bear the "greater half").

The tragic, like the comic, therefore rests on a contrast between what is happening (the unjust in the tragic) and what should actually happen. The essential difference between tragedy and comedy is that what happens in the tragic is a suffering, whereas in the comic it is just folly.

Since now - according to the theory of Aristotle - tragedy essentially arises from the insight into this contrast, a mixed impression must arise. The undeserved suffering and downfall of the tragic person, the victory of fate (or the "envious" gods), is a triumph of injustice and, as such, creates the feeling of human powerlessness in the face of "great, gigantic fate".

The condemnation of the tragic event by reason, which does not allow itself to be shaken either by the imminent doom or the overwhelming power of fate, becomes the triumph of justice. The refusal to regard the undeserved as deserved, to regard the unjust God as righteous, creates the "uplifting" feeling of human sovereignty and superiority over the cruel fate, which can "kill the body but cannot kill the soul".

Cruelty and grandeur of the tragic

In the first regard, the impression of the tragic (the tragic affect) is related to that of the cruel (the blind necessity of nature), which despair, in this that of the (according to Kant: morally) sublime (of moral freedom) which generates admiration. If both sides of the (tragic) contrast are distributed to different people, so that the (crushing) feeling of being defeated by fate is transferred to the tragic person, the (uplifting) feeling of the (moral) sublimity of man above the same is transferred to the viewer the naive or objective tragic emerges. If, on the other hand, both are united in the (tragic) person who then, while (physically) succumbing to fate, (morally) defeats the same as a tragic "hero", the consciously or subjectively tragic arises. That in which the tragic person behaves in a suffering (passive) manner preferably has a touching effect, while that in which the tragic person appears at least morally active (actively), preferably uplifting. The peculiarity of the former consists in the fact that the tragic hero instills in the viewer, that of the latter in appearing tragic to himself, pity and fear not only in others but in himself (for himself).

Weltschmerz and pathos

Iphigenia, Antigone, Thekla (in the "Wallenstein") lament their fate. The subjective-tragic is made up of the hero's mood, which is composed of pity for himself, who is subject to fate, and scorn for the opponent who (only apparently) triumphs, the humor , because (physical) downfall is inevitable is related to evil humor ( Weltschmerz ) and is called humoristic-tragic for the sake of this relationship. Depending on whether the "crushing" or the "uplifting" element appears to be the stronger in the impression of the tragic, the touching-tragic is distinguished from the pathetic-tragic. The combination of both classifications creates the touching, in which the pathetic element, and the terrible, in which the terrifying element of the gripping predominates, as subspecies of the touching and tragic; as subspecies of the pathetic-tragic, the humorous pathos , in which the complaint about his fate, and the tragic humor, in which the mockery of the hero wins the upper hand; those make us cry, those "smile with tears".

Dissolution of the tragic

The dissolution of the tragic, like that of the comic, occurs through the abolition of the contrast, in that either the (apparently) unjust is recognized as just (the apparently innocent or only half guilty as the real guilty party), or it is supposedly brought about by blind will or hostile intent Suffering is recognized as the work of chance or a mechanical natural process (natural death), which can be viewed as completely heterogeneous, not comparable with reason, i.e. not as a contrast to it.

literature

Josef Sellmair : Man in tragedy. Twelve chapters. Erich Wewel Verlag , Krailling before Munich 1939, 2nd, expanded edition 1941, 3rd edition 1948; Italian translation L'uomo nella tragedia 1944, 2nd edition 1949
Ulf Heuner (ed.): Classical texts on tragedy. Parodos, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-938880-03-1
Peter Szondi : An attempt on the tragic. 2nd reviewed edition. Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt 1964
Dietrich Mack: Views on the tragic and on the tragedy. A compendium of German theory in the 20th century. W. Fink, Munich 1970
Markus Schauer: Tragic complaints. Form and function of the lamentation in Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. Narr, Tübingen 2002, ISBN 3-8233-4885-X .
August Wilhelm Bohtz : The idea of the tragic. Goettingen 1836
Robert Zimmermann: About the tragic and the tragedy. Vienna 1856
Hermann Baumgart : Aristoteles, Lessing and Goethe. About the ethical and aesthetic principle of tragedy. Leipzig 1877
Julius Duboc: The tragedy from the standpoint of optimism. Hamburg 1885
Georg Günther: Basic features of tragic art, developed from the drama of the Greeks. Leipzig 1885
Gebhard Geiger: Tragic view of man and conservatism. In: The Conservative Principle. Politics as the art of the desired. Langen-Müller, Munich / Vienna 1978, ISBN 3-7844-1710-8 , pp. 19–32