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CONTENTS
Foreword
Introduction........1
Chapter 1. The Mayor of Casterbridge. A Tragedy of Hybris.........10
Chapter 2. Tess of the DUrbervilles. A Tragedy of Transition.......28
Chapter 3. Jude the Obscure. A Psychological Clash...44
Conclusions.........68

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?Foreword

Tragedy is a term with many meanings and various critics and writers have endeavoured to give a definition of this concept. It can be applied to drama, poetry an fiction and its general function is to celebrate the individual’s dignity and greatness in the face of defeat.

This paper is aimed at giving more a practical application than a theoretical account on the concept of tragedy and at emphasizing Hardy’s position as a modern tragic writer.

In the introduction there are presented some theoretical aspects related to this subject starting with Aristotle’s definition given in his Poetics, followed by some opposed critical views expressed by modern writers. The three major types of tragedy have been defined here (tragedy of destiny, tragedy of psychology and tragedy of hybris) being applied to Hardy’s tragic novels: Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Jude the Obscure and The Mayor of Casterbridge.

The first chapter focuses on the novel The Mayor of Casterbridge seen as a tragedy of hybris. Michael Henchard is a tragic hero because he breaks a universal moral law by selling his wife and child for five guineas under the influence of his overwhelming pride. The novel combines tragic elements from the Greek tragedy with modern ones.

The second chapter entitled Tess of the D’Urbervilles. A Tragedy of Transition underlines Tess’s position as a victim both of “fatum malus” and of her own tragic flaw represented by an exaggerated guilt and an impulsive, passionate personality.

The last chapter deals with Hardy’s protagonist, Jude Fawley who is torn between “flesh” and “spirit”. This duality becomes his tragic flaw and reinforces his position as a tragic hero, incapable of finding peace and happiness in a disordered world.

I have chosen to analyse this subject because Hardy remains an important Victorian writer who underlined man’s greatness in failure pointing out some deficiencies in the modern society.

INTRODUCTION

For centuries tragedy was a debated concept and various writers have endeavoured to define it and to express their opinion about tragic plot and tragic themes. An outstanding representative of these is Thomas Hardy who was influenced by the Greek tragedy, the Old Testament and Shakespeare in his artistical orientation and helped him become a great tragic writer.

The etymology of the word “tragedy” is very elusive and it can be traced to the Greek word “tragoidia” which literally means “goat-song”. The term can be defined as a dramatic presentation of serious actions in which the main character that is the tragic hero has a disastrous fate. This definition can satisfy us at a superficial level and that is why we shall try to echo other critics’ opinion on the subject.

The first flourishing period for tragedy was during Aristotle time the first who tried to define this form of art in Poetics.

He states that tragedy is “the imitation of an action that is serious, complete and of a certain magnitude; in 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 effecting the proper purgation of these emotions” [1 Aristotle, Poetics I, translated by Richard Janko, Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, 1987, p. 9]. And he continues: “Every Tragedy must have six parts, which parts determine its quality – namely Plot, Character, Diction, Thought, Spectacle, Song” [2 Ibid., p. 9].

The philosopher thinks that a work is a tragedy only if it arouses pity and fear. The feelings they arouse are subordinated to another effect which culminates in a cleansing of those passions and this is the famous catharsis.

Though used only once in Poetics, the word “catharsis” does not clearly explain what it means and we could say that it is an experience which touches the inner most being of each man. It is not only a purgation but also a purification and it is possible that tragedy purifies the feelings themselves of fear and pity.

Karl Jaspers believes that “paradoxically when man faces the tragic, he liberates himself from it. This is one way of obtaining purification and redemption” [3 Jaspers, Karl, Tragic Awareness, cited from Tragedy:Modern Essays in Criticism, ed. by Lawrence Michael, Richard B. Sewall, Prentice- Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1963, p. 24 ]. And in Hardy’s Jude the Obscure we encounter this form of catharsis.

Tragic fear, exactly like tragic pity shows us what we are and are not willing to lose. That is why tragedy is about central and indispensable human attributes disclosed to us by the pity that draws us toward them and the fear that makes us recoil from what threatens them.

According to Aristotle our qualities are the result of those basic combinations of traits which we were born with or develop as we grow but what really influences us is our actions. In consequence a perfect tragedy should imitate complex action that excite pity and fear: ”For Tragedy is an imitation, not of man, but of an action, and of life, and life consists in action, and its end is a mode of action, not a quality […]. Dramatic action therefore, is not with a view to the representation of character; character comes in as subsidiary to the actions” [4 Aristotle, op. cit., p. 11].

It is exactly what Hardy’s characters do: they are aware of their tragic functions precisely because they do more than contemplate sufferance and death; they act even if their actions provoke disaster. For it is only “through his own actions that man enters into the tragic involvement that inevitably must destroy him” [5 Jaspers, Karl, op. cit. p. 27].

In Aristotle’s view action refers only to what is deliberately chosen and capable of finding completion in the achievement of some purpose. The disastrous end of the tragic hero results from a mistaken action which in turn arises from a tragic flaw or from a tragic error of judgement. Often the tragic flaw is hybris an excessive pride that causes the hero to ignore a divine warning or to break a moral low.

The concept of tragic flaw has an important place in the development of tragedy. Each tragic hero has that fault or handicap in his character which brings about his downfall. Innocent or not the hero has to live with this burden and no matter what he does he cannot escape from its consequences. For Jude, Arabella incarnates his tragic flaw because he cannot control his sexual desires and this will drive him to desperate actions. With Michael Henchard his tragic flaw becomes hybris because he is too proud to see his mistakes and to repent. Tess’ tragic flaw on the other hand is her sensual nature which she tries to control but fails in doing it.

Another important aspect of tragedy is the battle for supremacy between opposed forces, a battle which takes place either between man and gods or between gods themselves. If man rebels against the gods he will surely lose because it is in the nature of the universe to crush the human being only because this one dares to oppose it. But the greatness of man lies in the fact that in suffering failure he is the one who conquers.

On the other hand “both the exceptional man and the sublime order have their own limits, beyond which they break down. What conquers in tragedy is the transcendent- or rather even this does not conquer for it makes itself felt only through the whole situation. It neither dominates nor submits; it simply exists” [6 Ibid., p. 31].

Between the collision of powers man is nothing but a pawn but he never loses his dignity. Hardy holds that the fate which defeats man is “unmoral”. “His heroes and heroines though so often defeated are never abject; they go down fighting. Around them stands the apparently indifferent universe […] entirely uncaring whether the individual lives or dies” [7 Veres, Grigore, A Course in 19th Century and Early 20th Century English Literature and Civilization, part I, The Novel, Iasi, 1979, p. 259].

An important place hold in Poetics is the tragic hero who has to carry out two functions: he must be noble-whether in spirit or in social status and he must be responsible for causing his own suffering which does not necessarily ends in death. For Hardy “happiness is an occasional episode in a general drama of pain’ [8 Baker, Ernest A., The History of the English Novel, vol. IX- The Day Before Yesterday, N.Y. 1966, p. 25 ] and his characters reflect this conception. In this respect Tess, Jude and Henchard are true tragic heroes because all their actions seem to turn against them death becoming the solution of their problems.

Taking Oedipus Rex as example Aristotle traces out a few characteristics of the tragic hero who should be:

- a leader in society;

- a person neither good nor bad;

- prosperous, powerful so his fall becomes more tragic;

- a victim because of his tragic flow;

- made a scapegoat for the sins and errors of his people;

- the cause of his punishment through hybris;

- the one who restores harmony.

Northop Frye believes that “the tragic hero is great as compared to us, but there is something else, something on the side of him opposite the audience, compared to which he is small. This something else may be called God, goals, fate, occident, fortune, necessity, circumstance, or any combination of these, but whatever it is the tragic hero is our mediator with it” [9 Frye, Northop, The Mythos of Autum, cited from Tragedy: Modern Essays in Criticism, ed. by Laurence Michael, Richard B. Sewall, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 1963, p. 112 ].

The denouement of the tragedy tends to be catastrophic and it is perceived as the concluding phase of a downward movement. Dostoevsky says that suffering is the sole origin of consciousness and though the tragic hero suffers terribly, this brings him redemption. Karl Jaspers agrees saying that “breakdown and failure reveal the true nature of things. In failure, life’s reality is not most; on the contrary, here it makes itself wholly and decisively felt. There is no tragedy without transcendence. Even defiance unto death in a hopeless battle against gods and fate is an act of transcending: it is a movement toward man’s proper essence, which he comes to know as his own in the presence of his doom” [10 Jaspers, Karl, op. cit., p. 37 ].

The role of the chorus is the intensification of the tragic feeling and it always emphasizes man’s tragic ending. In Hardy’s novels the function of the chorus is assumed by the folks who act exactly according to Aristotle’s requirements.

The importance of Poetics is without doubt of great significance being a step forward in the evolution of the tragedy as a form of art. But there are some contemporary critics who disagree with the philosopher’s views.

Liiceanu is of the opinion that Poetics offers tragedy few theories and that only the concept of “catharsis” can be used efficiently by the modern tragedy. He disagrees with Aristotle’s statement “through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions” [11 Aristotle, op. cit. ,p. 9] saying that this implies that catharsis contains both pity and fear.

On the other hand Gouhier in Tragique et transcendance [12 Gouhier,H., Le Theatre Tragique, Ed. du C.N.R.S. ed. II, Paris, 1965, p. 381] states that the philosopher’s definition is that of a tragedy which lacks the tragic dimension. For him pity and fear do not belong entirely to tragedy, but also to melodrama.

Of the same opinion is Northop Frye “It has already been suggested, however that the conception of catharsis, which is central to Aristotle’s view of tragedy, is inconsistent with moral reductions of it. Pity and terror are moral feelings and they are relevant but not attached to the tragic situation.” [13 Frye, Northop, op. cit., p. 115]

Another kind of tragedy is the Medieval tragedy which is a prose or poetic narrative and not a drama. The man is on “the wheel of fortune” and he can be one day on the top of the wheel and the next day under it.