Because Ernest Hemingway's four major novels are often referred to as tragedies, these novels are checked against Aristotle's criteria for tragedy. "The Sun Also Rises" is not an Aristotelian tragedy because the wounding of Jake Barnes precedes the events in the novel; it is, instead, an extended tragic epilogue. "A Farewell to Arms" is a modern anti-romantic tragedy of irony, a story of disillusionment which does not provide cathartic relief. The most nearly tragic in structure, "The Old Man and the Sea" does not provide a catharsis because Hemingway fails to arouse the necessary emotions. The most tragic of the four in effect, "For Whom the Bell Tolls" lacks the proper structure for tragedy, but is a tragic epical novel. Although all four of these books have elements of the Aristotelian tragedy, all are other types of tragedy.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Theatre, 2003. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 45-47).

This study defines and applies a theory of tragedy which is based on the work of Friedrich Nietzsche in The Birth of Tragedy. In the first chapter the writer argues for the need of a widely accepted theory of tragedy and show that we do not presently have one. In the same chapter, the writer presents the theory that tragedy is a very specific art type which transcends genre and which is the product of a synthesis of the Dionysiac and Apollonian forces in Western culture. The writer argues that by understanding the philosophical and aesthetic nature of the forces as they are expressed in tragedy we can isolate and define the essential elements of tragedy. Tragedy must have a person of heroic stature as its main protagonist. It must have a specific kind of plot in which a reversal of the hero's experience of the universe occurs. It must have a choric element, which is a combination of two components: communality and lyricism. Finally, tragedy must contain a mythic background which allows for the expression of two themes, the Dionysiac theme and the Apollonian theme.

Thesis -- Departmental honors in Classical Civilizations. / Includes bibliography: ℓ. 104-106.

No description available.

This thesis examines four plays by Shakespeare to illustrate the theme of men's downfall as caused by the women they love. One play from each type of relationship was chosen: Coriolanus for mothers who exert disastrous influence on their sons; King Lear for daughters responsible for their fathers' downfall; Cymbeline for the injurious effect of a wife on her husband, and is significant because the moral dissolution comes through her great virtue rather than through her character faults; and Troilus and Cressida for lovers who are not bound either by blood or legal ties.

A series of scenes taken from Greek theatre were collaborated and chosen to form what became known as An Evening of Greek Theatre. Along with the normal challenges of creating a production, such as memorization, blocking, costuming, and others, came challenges that were unique to this particular one. The training we are most familiar with is in the confines of realism, and this particular production had little to do with realism. The stylization created an amalgamation of techniques, which became a functional process used to create An Evening of Greek Theatre. Along with these problems were other ones, such as dealing with the mythological significance of the characters and the stigmas that go with them. This, too, provided a breeding ground for creativity and experimentation. All this came together to form a successful and rewarding production.

Thesis advisor: Irene Mizrahi / This study is an analysis of the theatre of the Spanish contemporary playwright Raúl Hernández Garrido. It explores in depth his tragedy Los engranajes and it applies (in a more referential manner) the results of this investigation to the rest of his plays: Los malditos, Los restos: Agamenón vuelve a casa and Los restos Fedra, included in the cycle Los esclavos. The author utilizes myth and greek tragedy intentionally in order to make readers reflect upon the concepts of destiny and the fragility of human action as well as the fragmentation, hopelessness and dissatisfaction of contemporary societies. My study demonstrates that the formal innovation of these plays and the use of tragedy as their argumental framework present not only a criticism about these concepts but also an approach towards change and a social ethic of hope founded in creative freedom and the cooperation between the text and all people involved in the creative process. As a theoretical frame of reference for my study I use texts from Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, Friedrich Nietzsche, René Girard and Emmanuel Levinas. Their reflections about the genre of tragedy and/or the concept of the tragic shed light upon my analysis of themes such as human suffering, trauma, the abuse of power, violence and the ethics of responsibility in the works of our author. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Romance Languages and Literatures.

Thesis advisor: Vanessa Rumble / The aims of my dissertation are 1) to explicate what I take to be the philosophical foundations of Freudian psychoanalysis with the aid of Schelling’s contributions to the development of the unconscious and the nature of human freedom and 2) to make use of certain fundamental discoveries of psychoanalysis in order to reinterpret Schelling’s dynamic and developmental vision of reality. My claim is that Schelling’s philosophy not only offers an important historical moment in the development of the psychoanalytic account of the unconscious, but also gives us a vision of human development—and indeed the development of Being as such—that is grounded in the unconscious and the activity of the drives. Where Freud is often viewed as a determinist, through a closer examination of the connections Schelling makes between the unconscious ground of existence and human freedom we can begin to open up the space for a more complex Freudian subjectivity. Furthermore, the advances Freud makes in terms of the structure of the unconscious, his work on the altered temporality (most notably Nachträglichkeit, or “afterwards-ness”) of trauma and repression, also serve to bring some of Schelling’s most abstract and speculative work to both a more practical and philosophically relevant level. In the work of both Schelling and Freud, the relationship between the human subject and the reality such a subject “confronts” is radically transformed. In Schelling, we find that the developmental phases of Being, of the Absolute and of Nature are also manifested in the structure of human becoming; that is, the catastrophic divide between subjective experience and objective reality is bridged by reinterpreting both as dynamic processes. Although Freud himself often has recourse to a more static view of “objective” reality, his work also speaks to a deep and disturbing revision of such a view. Indeed, Freud’s continued questioning of the boundaries between fantasy and reality, between the internal and the external, suggest that the irreducible otherness of the unconscious extends beyond the individual. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Philosophy.

This exegesis will aim to research and analyse the conventions of writing a black comedy in a feature film script. As a screenwriter with a particular interest in black comedy, my aim is to explore the technical structures of black comedy in order to facilitate the writing of a tragicomic screenplay. We will attempt to define the components of black comedy and survey its origin in theatre and literature. The exegesis will aim to explore what components comprise the middle ground between drama and humour and position it in relation to the classical genres of tragedy and comedy. The exegesis will also aim to examine the function of black comedy in relation to the psychology of the protagonist and the audience, as well as defining the characteristics of the genre in the context of Screenwriting. The exegesis will observe the film adaptation of the renowned play, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as a case study. The research will inform the writing of the feature length screenplay entitled The Actions.