Sunday, September 21, 2008
Tragic Ironic
I'm focusing on the tragic ironic square of the archetypes chart. Tragic Ironic usually deals with the death of a weak protagonist. This person is seen as very low in society; a misfit or outcast. Jesus is one example Frye gives because he was outcast from society, the irony being that He is obviously not weak at all. Another example I thought of was Lennie Smalls in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Lennie was mentally handicapped and therefore a weak member of society. His death is tragic, given that his crime was an accident and a result of his being handicapped. Frye calls tragic irony the "study of tragic isolation." The victim is also seen as someone unlucky, and his tragedy is that what happens to him was not at all expected or deserved for his character. This implies that the person is innocent and just a tragic casualty of life and society. All of this is true for Jesus or Job, another Frye example. Lennie isn't technically innocent because he did something wrong, yet he fits the tragic ironic mold because his fate was not expected for his character and seems to be an unfortunate victim of circumstances.
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