Nature and function of Tragedy

 

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.

Language Laboratory

 

Mobile app language lab 

and 

Language lab programme in DELL

He'll 

Friends, 

COVID-19 has had a major impact on people around the world, but how is the pandemic changing our language and the way we communicate? Here in this blog I will discuss what to do in critical siptuations to learn the English language through various tools and apps . The solution is anyone can use the features like any online platform, British Council English Language Learning App in NAMO e-TAB and Language Laboratory, which can help students to acquire the knowledge of language and also they can understand it well. 

The language laboratory plays an important role in the language learning process. As it is a technological aid for learning, it has a number of advanced facilities that can help students. What helps one to acquire such proficiency in a language is the process and the method of learning that language. The language of the laboratory is very useful for assessing students’ speech. It provides students with technical tools to get the best samples of pronunciation of the language.

Advantages of language learning software 

The purpose of a language⁷ lab is to involve students to actively participate in language learning exercises and get more practice time than otherwise possible in a traditional classroom environment. Main benefit of a language lab is that it increases the time each student can spend actively speaking and practicing.

Acoustic: The direct sound transmission gives step by step guidance to the students with crystal clear clarity. 

Audio and video 

Proper concentration: The Lab software is more attention enthralling for the students, where they are engaged with individual systems then it will be quite effective. 

Exhaustive : The Lab increases the pace of comprehension as students complete the one by one level of study. 

Effective learning process: The lab provides to learn the foreign language practice which eliminates the feelings of self-consciousness. 

Accuracy: By using text and audio can easily be integrated with actuality in everyday situations. 

Self evaluation: The students can do a periodical self evaluation to measure the progress as well as evaluate their language with that of the expert. 

Individual learning: Access to resources beyond the timetable encourages independent learning. 

Synergistic: The students can record their own voice and play back the recordings, interact with each other and the teacher, and store the results.

Disadvantages of language learning software 

Expensive to build: The language lab requires a high cost to be built in the university and to be kept on going. It is expensive to set up the language lab and in a country like India there is no lab syllabus and usually language classes are conducted as theory.  

Inconvenience to excess: The language lab would not let the English teaching-learning process be effective if there are some troubles with the technology. Even, it becomes useless when the electricity is off.

Trained teachers:  The language laboratory needs a qualified teacher to be able to activate all the technology provided in it and well trained in executing the language lab effectively.

Qualitative apparatus: Universities, or more precisely, faculties of English has to employ technicians who would keep the equipment in the language laboratory always in high-quality conditions.

Time Consuming:  These days students do not have enough patience to listen to pronunciation and practice, so the recording of pronunciation is useless.

Learning is inferior to traditional ways of learning: During natural communication, learners can see each other , they can use many ways to communicate such as facial expressions. During natural communication the listener knows the meaning of the speaker and if he cannot understand, he can judge by means of different ways, but Internet-based learning is powerless and it cannot give a detailed account of the learners’ recognition ability.

As technology changes rapidly, there should be a provision for upgrades in the medium of instruction, which can be a burden for schools in terms of finances.

What can be learnt from this language lab programme:

• To facilitate computer-aided multimedia instruction enabling individualized and independent language Learning.

• To sensitize the students to the nuances of English speech sounds, word accent, intonation and rhythm.

• To bring about a consistent accent and intelligibility in their pronunciation of English by providing an opportunity for practice in speaking.

• To improve the fluency in spoken English and neutralize mother tongue influence.

• To train students to use language appropriately for interviews, group discussion and public speaking.

• Better Understanding of nuances of language through audio- visual experience and group activities. 

• Neutralization of accent for intelligibility Speaking with clarity and confidence thereby enhancing employability skills of the students.

Basic information of Language Laboratory