Nature and function of Tragedy
Definition: Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in the language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear affecting the proper purgation-catharsis of these and similar emotions.”
The definition is compact. Every word of it is pregnant with meaning. Each word from it can be elaborated into a separate essay.
All art is representation (imitation) of life, but none can represent life in its totality. Therefore, an artist has to be selective in representation.
He must aim at representing or imitating an aspect of life or a fragment of life.
Action comprises all human activities including deeds, thoughts and feelings. (so, soliloquies, chorus etc is also Action)
The writer of ‘tragedy’ seeks to imitate the serious side of life just as a writer of ‘comedy’ seeks to imitate only the shallow and superficial side.
The tragic section presented on the stage in a drama should be complete or self contained with a beginning, middle and an end. A beginning is that before which the audience or the reader does not need to be told anything to understand the story. If something more is required to understand the story than the beginning gives, it is unsatisfactory. From it follow the middle. In their turn the events from the middle lead to the end. Thus the story becomes a compact & self sufficient one. It must not leave the impression that even after the end the action continues, or that before the action starts certain things remain to be known.
It must have a close-knit unit with nothing that is superfluous or unnecessary. Every episode, every character and a dialogue in the play must carry step by step the action that is set into motion to its logical dénouement. It must give the impression of wholeness at the end.
The play must have, then, a definite magnitude, a proper size or a reasonable length such that the mind may comprehend fully. That is to say that it must have only the necessary duration, not longer than about three hours, or shorter than that. Longer duration may tire our patience and shorter ones make effective representation impossible. Besides, a drama continuing for hours – indefinitely may fail to keep the various parts of it together into unity and wholeness in the spectator’s mind. The reasonable duration enables the spectator to view the drama as a whole, to remember its various episodes and to maintain interest.
The language employed here should be duly embellished and beautified with various artistic ornaments (rhythm, harmony, song) and figures of speech. The language of our daily affairs is not useful here because tragedy has to present a heightened picture of life’s serious side, and that is possible only if elevated language of poetry is used. According to need, the writer makes use of songs, poetry, poetic dialogue, simple conversation etc is various parts of the play.
Its manner of imitation should be action, not narration as in epic, for it is meant to be a dramatic representation, not a mere story-telling.
Then, for the function/aim of tragedy is to shake up in the soul the impulses of pity and fear, to achieve what he calls Catharsis. The emotions of pity and fear find a full and free out-let in tragedy. Their excess is purged and we are lifted out of our selves and emerged nobler than before.
Tips to remember the answer:
In this answer, you have to explain following points in small paragraphs:
Imitation
Action
Serious
Complete
Certain magnitude
Medium: Language: ornamental
How? Manner: dramatic action not narration
Function: Catharsis.
