Paper-3 Difference between Tragedy and Epic

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       Name :- Gohil Umaba B

       Paper no :- 3 (Literary Criticism  & Theory)

Topic :- Difference between tragedy and epic

                                                   According to Aristotle there are numbers of similarities between tragedy and epic

                                      Epic poetry must maintain the unity of plot in this it is allied with tragedy against history. History tells us all that happened during the certain time period or to certain people and such it is often somewhatdisconnected. Epic poetry should focus on one particular story that remains as organic whole. Homer is an excellent example of such epic poet.

                                          Epic poetry shares many of elements of tragedy like tragedy. It should be either simple or complex and it should be either simple or complex and it should deal primarily either with the character or with the suffering six part of tragedy are all present in epic poetry. Epic poem can reasonably last as long as whole series of tragedies provided it can be presented in one hearing .the plot of an epic poem can be far more expansively because it is not limited by stage epic can jump back and forth between events happening at the same time in difference places in a way that would be impossible on a stage ..Epic poetry should be narrated in heroic meter while tragedy is normally spoken in iambic meter.

                      The main difference being that tragedy conveys all this by means of action while epic poetry does so many of language alone they deal in the same genre so the only difference are determined by the different limitations imposed by the different media of expression ,a tragedy for instances cannot be as long as epic nor can it portrays so many different happenings or get away with as many fantastic events on the other hand tragedy is more focused and epic poetry cannot make use of music or spectacle of stage performances.

 Tragedy is more realistic medium because we see everything in a tragedy happening .before our eyes the action is limited to realm of human possibilities .on the other hand epic poetry is a purely narrative medium imagination of the poet and listener. Most important to both is that they maintain unity of plot. Epic poetry by virtue of its length. Is more suited to episode and digression but these digression must be tied to plot as tightly as the fewer digression found in tragic poetry. Tragedy is performed before large audiences which result in melodramatic performance or over catting to please the crowds. Epic poetry is more cultivated than tragedy because it does not rely on gesture at all to convey its message

Tragedy is superior to epic poetry comes in three waves. First  he lists all the argument out mostly by showing they are livened against the performance  of tragedy rather than anything in genre itself third  he lists the advantages that tragedy has over epic poetry which can be boiled down to two main points

1.            Tragedy has all the elements of epic poetry

2.            Tragedy is more condensed and so has a more concentrated effect.

According to Aristotle both tragedy and epic are forms of imitation .tragedy imitation directly by means of mimesis and digesis while epic imitates solely by means of words , tragedy also imitates by means of spectacle .both epic and tragedy portray people better or greater than the average spectator.

Tragedy ideally has a single unified action which is often restricted to a specific time and place and a small and a number of character .while epic has a broader scope of coverage.

   One of the difference between tragedy and epic is length tragedy by its nature more concentrated and compact hence its size is much more limited than that of the epic the length of a tragedy is based on the principle that work must be short enough to be grasped as an artistic whole the time limits of the epics are not fixed. Epic relate a number of incidents happening simultaneously to different person at the same time .tragedy cannot show more than one incident happening at one place at one time . This is what gave rise to the concept of unity of place .Aristotle says is that tragedy cannot represent more than one incident at one time and then it cannot show incident happening at different place at the same time.

      Tragedy can make use of greater variety of metres while the epic has to content itself with the heroic metre the epic uses the mode of the narrative and tragedy the mode of the dramatic. The plot of epic as of tragedy must have unity yet within the overall unity the epic .allows for more and longer incidents than doe’s tragedy the epic allows multiplicity of stories which would be unthinkable in a tragedy. Tragedy has vividness which is absent in epic

Common characteristic of a tragic hero

The hero’s action result in an increase of self-awareness and knowledge

The hero is noble birth

The hero possesses a tragic flaw that eventually leads to his downfall

The hero’s down fall is a result of his own free choice .but his misfortune is not completely deserved .the hero’s death is not pure loss because it brings greater knowledge and awareness

The suffering of the hero must not be senseless; itmust have a meaning

The heroesof classical tragedies are usually, male an exception is Cleopatra from Antony and Cleopatra

Characteristic of an epic her

the circumstances of the hero’s birth are unusual.

The hero is reputed to be the son of a god

At the birth of the hero there is often an attempt to kill him. He may be kidnapped or sent away for his protection

The hero become aking

Epic hero is a super human. He is braver, stronger, smarter and cleverer than an ordinary man.

Aristotle concept of tragedy

         The tragic hero is aman of noble stature .he is perfect combined with strength. There is usually weakness, thehero’s down fall because of his own fault .the result of his on free choice

Catharsis is experienced where as in epic hero not gives up.

Tragic hero accepts his fate and gain wisdom whereas epic hero helped by god

Aristotle seems to be treat tragedy and epic largely similar .tragedy It seems is a more realistic medium .because we see everything in a tragedy happening before our eyes the action is limited to the realm of human possibilities Greek stagecraft became in caressingly complex allowing actors to fly about suspended from cranes and so on but too much of this would be absurd indeed Aristophanes the great comic poet made good comic use of such devices.

      Epic poetry on the other hand is a purely narrative medium and such a limited only by the imagination of the poet and listener because we have no help in visualizing events the epic poet can more easily recount the improbable  without disturbing us .Aristotle refers to the episode in the Iliadwhere Achilles chases hector three time around the walls of troy .homer makes no mention of the rest of a Greek army which presumably must have been sitting idly by watching the chase such a picture would immediately seems on stage but because homer can focus exclusively on the character of Achilles and hector .. We are liable not to notice this absurdity.

                  In spite of these differences Aristotle seems to think that epic poetry and tragedy can judge according to similar criteria .Aristotleaddresses a number of criticisms that can be levelled against poetry .First among this accusation that the events depicted are impossible .Aristotle lays out the general principle that a poet should always aim for convincing impossibilities in favour of an un convincing possibility.

                  Further not all poetry meant to be describing thing as they are. Some poets describe things as they ought to be and other write to accord themselves with popular opinion rather than realism. He advances several reasons for considering tragedy is superior. first it has all the element s of an epic poem and has also music and spectacle which the epic lacks secondssimply reading the play without performing it is already very potent .third tragedy is shorter suggesting that it is more compact and will have a more unity in tragedy as evidence by the fact that a number of tragedies can be extracted from one epic poem. the fact is Greek  tragedy  has produced number of master works and posterity suggests that no Greek epic poet after homer approached the great tragedies in term of quality , but this seems to be more of an argument in favour of tragedies that have been written rather than  favouring the genre in the abstract. 

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