When Aristotle first explained tragedy, he pointed out that tragedy is a serious matter in life. It is not synonymous with sadness, pain, sadness, pessimism or death and misfortune. And the meaning of the word "tragedy" in everyday language is not exactly the same. As an aesthetic object, tragedy must be able to make people rise, improve their spiritual realm and produce aesthetic pleasure. Tragedy temporarily suppressed beauty through ugliness, but strongly demonstrated the ultimate and inevitable victory of beauty. Therefore, in fact, the aesthetic characteristics of tragic beauty must reflect a kind of lofty beauty, which is quite shocking. For example, Prometheus Bound, an ancient Greek tragedy known as a classic tragedy, shows Prometheus' indomitable spirit of being tortured for justice and shows a tragic and lofty beauty.
As early as the 5th century BC, ancient Greece left brilliant achievements in tragic creation, and famous great tragic writers such as Aeschylus, Sophocles and euripides appeared. Most of the tragedies at this time are myths, legends and epics. Prometheus Bound is a famous masterpiece. During the Renaissance, Shakespeare developed the tragic art to an unprecedented height. At this time, most of the tragic works promote the political ideal and life ambition in the emerging asset stage from the perspective of humanism. Its content has left myths and legends, but most of them are historical stories, such as Hamlet and Othello. /kloc-Europe in the 0/9th century, driven by romanticism and critical realism, witnessed a number of outstanding tragedies, such as Ernina by Hugo, La Traviata by Dumas and Thunderstorm by Ostrovschi.
In the history of China's drama development, Wang Guowei only used the term tragedy in 192 1 year. But that doesn't mean that China began to create tragedies at that time. For example, Dou Eyuan by Guan Hanqing and Peacock Flying Southeast by Anonymous are all early tragic works, which are widely circulated in the world.
In the traditional Greek tragedy creation, the fate of the characters is the most important factor in the tragedy, which is reflected in the protagonist's sense of powerlessness in the face of fate, and the audience can also get a sense of oppression from this unspeakable power. First of all, we should realize that this originality often represents a basic desire of people. Later, in Aristotle's theory of tragedy, the mode of tragedy is related to how people appreciate the psychology of tragedy. His two important theories are: first, the protagonists of tragedy are people similar to us. They are not morally perfect, so they will be at fault. In tragedy, people see the great tragic consequences caused by their own small mistakes, thus causing tragic effects. Secondly, when people appreciate tragedy, it causes pity and fear, which leads to the purification of these emotions. This too strong emotional catharsis restored the peace of mind, thus maintaining mental health. Obviously, Aristotle reduced the formation of tragedy and its psychological effect to the level of ordinary people, and a mutual pity for fate between people was reflected in the aesthetic activities of tragedy. Later, Lessing extended the theory of tragedy. He believes that the pity and fear shown by the audience when they appreciate the tragedy do not act on themselves or the characters in the tragedy, but combine their own destiny with the destiny of mankind, and think that such a tragedy can happen to anyone, which is the most tragic thing.
There was no special tragedy theory in ancient China, but from the psychological effect of human tragedy, China's tragedy has been developing. Mr. Lu Xun also put forward a famous tragic proposition in the 1920s: "Tragedy destroys valuable things in life for people to see." The tragic art revealed here is characterized by "valuable things in life", rather than sadness, grief and suffering in general life. The aesthetic value of tragedy is based on the social value of life, and its expression means is "destruction for people". Beautiful and valuable things are destroyed, and the feeling it gives people should be extremely shocking. This is the core of Lu Xun's tragic view. It has also become the most representative concept of China's modern literary tragedy theory.
China's famous "tragedies", such as the earliest and best long narrative poem Peacock Flying Southeast in the history of ancient China literature, are more representative. The tragic art of poetry is generally reflected in three aspects: first, the story creates a tragic atmosphere in the narrative of the plot. The setting of the original title, the initiation at the beginning and the rendering of the atmosphere in the development of the plot are all aimed at creating the sadness of love. Secondly, the tragic beauty of characters is the most infectious tragic force. Liu Lanzhi, the hero, is perfectly shaped in appearance, thought and character. The more perfect the characters are, the more prominent their tragic effects are. Therefore, Liu Lanzhi's tragedy is actually a social tragedy. Jiao Zhongqing's weak character bound by feudal ethics is the main reason for his tragedy. Third, the artistic technique strengthens the tragic effect. Traditional expressions such as fu, bi and xing increase the emotional concentration of tragedy; Contrast and contrast highlight the aesthetic effect of the characters; Detailed description, multi-level rendering and other techniques clearly and orderly condense the tragic atmosphere into one. The hero realizes the eternal value of spiritual life because of the destruction of life, arouses tragic feelings and purifies people's hearts and spirits. This is the aesthetic power of tragedy.
There are also things like "Dou Eyuan". The power of this tragedy mainly comes from the tragic fate of kind and helpless little people in unfair society. This tragic scene is not consistent with the traditional western tragedy theory. First of all, Dou E didn't show any mistakes in the play. Secondly, Dou E represents a typical class social figure. She is tortured by a dark force and cannot represent a universal force in society. In other words, the traditional western tragedy theory is aristocratic, while the tragedy of the lower class in China represents a reality.
Romance of the West Chamber, Peony Pavilion, etc. These show a strong inner conflict of the characters and the suppression of the general social forces. Here we can see the conflict between the power of human lust and social pressure.
The tragedy of scholar-officials. This is not directly reflected in literary works, but their life, the pursuit of ideals and the realization of perfect personality represent China's unique tragic temperament, that is, an ideal personality of "knowing what not to do" and "disregarding all setbacks". The tragedy of this ideal personality lies in the lack of realistic spirit, and it is impossible to achieve better results from a pragmatic perspective when facing the complexity and sharp contradictions of reality. Such as Qu Yuan and Wen Tianxiang.
A Dream of Red Mansions represents a more complicated tragedy. It not only shows the weakness of human beings in the face of impermanence of fate, but also shows the conflict between personal ideals and universal social forces. At the same time, it also has the tragic fate of small people in cruel reality, and all this reflects a deep sense of disillusionment in life.
According to the above examples, I have roughly summarized four kinds of tragedies. A, the impermanence of fate (Greek tragedy, a dream of red mansions). Second, the conflict between life ideal and universal power (the tragic theory of Jia Baoyu, Socrates and Hegel in A Dream of Red Mansions). Third, the realization of ideal personality (China's scholar-bureaucrat spirit). Fourth, the tragic fate of ordinary people in the dark. Dou E's injustice and Lessing's tragic theory. The psychological effects of these tragedies in people's minds can also be said to be different, such as sympathy, fear, empathy, the voice of fate, the sense of security that did not happen to them (similar to sublimity), and the joy of the soul mentioned by Hegel. But it should be said that no matter what kind of tragedy, it is the embodiment of beauty. Life is limited, the pursuit of immortality. Tragedy shows us the cruelest side of life, arouses our horror, but also inspires us to pursue a better life and understand the beauty of tragedy more deeply.
Bibliography:
1 Editor of Aesthetic Principles Jiang Kongyang North China Normal University Press 1999 Edition.
2 "The Complete Works of Tang Tao" Volume 9 "The Realism of Peacock Flying Southeast" Social Science Literature Publishing House 1995.
3 The History of China Literature (1), edited by You Guoen, People's Literature Publishing House, 1983 edition.