TRAGEDY
What is the point of tragic aesthetics?
The function of tragedy is to chronicle calamity. Some kind of misfortune is set in motion, either through character flaw or random occurrence, and it inevitably leads to “doom and gloom.” It may be crass and unfair, or just and deserving, but either way the outcome is pre-ordained. “The mills of the gods grind very slow, but they grind exceeding fine.” It may take a long time, even a life-time, but sooner or later the chain of events that is underway will “bring the mighty down” or “undo the noblest efforts.”
Why do we want to know, or need to know such sad things? One possible reason is that to be forewarned is to be forearmed. Things do not always work out well – over the course of a career or a life-time there are bound to be some failures and disappointments. To the extent that we do not even contemplate such possibilities, their eventual occurrence hits us even harder than can be accounted for simply by the facts of the matter – if we are unprepared for adversity, it will do double damage, both to our fortunes and to our expectations.
The ancient Stoic philosophers believed the one could achieve peace with oneself and the world with an attitude of calm acceptance of the inevitable. Those who believe in fate, or providence, or luck, or chance find it wise to embrace the tragic outlook because it is a basic aspect of their reality. Those who are Existentialists interpret these same processes differently, but there is still room in their philosophy to recognize the tragic: the course of people’s lives is shaped by the decisions they make and the choices they take; but even knowing this, many people make bad judgments and point their lives in directions they claim they don’t want to go. And there is tragedy in that, either in not really knowing what you want, or in not following through on the decisions and choices that would get you what you want.
How is tragedy used?
Religions (both supernatural and civic) use the prospect of a tragic outcome to one’s life (either not contributing to the common good, or having one’s soul damned for eternity) as a source of intimidation for their brand of social control. Environmentalists use “the tragedy of the commons” to pressure for collective measures that would enforce policies of sustainability on all of humanity. Humanists use the tragic dynamics of “master and slave” to argue that only a global democratic culture that acknowledges and respects all human beings equally is worthy of humanity at this stage of its personal and political evolution. The unifying concept in all of these projections is that the only way to avoid a tragic outcome, and have a future worth living, is to accede to their vision of a good society. Their real stage for tragedy is in the political theatre.
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