![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Throughout the history of theatre up to and including the Renaissance, this general axiom of tragedy held. Therefore, you experience what Aristotle called catharsis, that is, feeling all the pity and the terror of the hero’s circumstances, in all its fullness, and thereby be cleansed of it, your understanding of suffering deepened. You don’t have to root for the character, or hope that this time it’ll be different - this time, our hero is going to defy the odds and win. This is the nature of tragedy: relieving the audience of suspense: if you know in advance that Oedipus is going to end up ruined or Antigone is going to die, you can sit back and appreciate, not what happens, but how and why it happens. There’s a long history in Classical literature, beginning, as far as we know, with Greek tragedy, of giving away the end before the play starts. It’s Day 4, 48 hours until the Tomb opens. ![]()
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