The Tragic Hero of the Modern Period: The European Concept
Prof Edward Owusu
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Abstract
There is a hiatus between the Neo-classical and the modern period in the sense that, there was a dearth of tragedy in Europe in the 18 th and 19 th centuries when comedy became the major dramatic form. The 20 th century was a time of immense anxiety in the world. This anxiety can be traced to the disorder in the modern life as a result of the breakdown in religious discipline. This paper therefore aims to look at the unique personal characteristics to present this new hero whose personal lack of order does not present a deviation from the system but confirms a dislocation in the system itself.
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International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation (IJLLT) The Tragic Hero of the Modern Period: A Comparative Study of the African and the European Concepts
International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation, 2019
It is very clear that there is a foundation for cultural dimensions in modern tragedy. This is because the tragic hero differs from culture to culture in the modern society. As a result of this, it is crucial to point out that whereas the modern tragic hero in the Western culture is an anti-hero, in cultures such as, Asia and Africa, the tragic hero holds unto some traits of the Greek heroic figure. This paper, therefore, fulfills an identified need to study these two tragic traditions by juxtaposing the appendages of the traits of the Greek classical tragic hero in the African concept alongside with the unique personal characteristics of the European concept to present a new hero, whose personal lack of order does not present a deviation from the system, but confirms a dislocation in the system itself (Adade-Yeboah & Owusu, 2013a). The study provides extracts from the works of Beckett’s, Miller, Achebe and Rotmi as supporting texts to present the two tragic traditions in the two modern periods.
The Recovery Of A Comprehensive View Of Greek Tragedy
An accurate view of Greek Tragedy is currently very much a desideratum. While in the poetical world of Tragedy, a human individuality is formed through the imitation of the gods by participation in the life of Family and State, contemporary views obscure this divine-human dialectic. Falling within the logic developed by Nietzsche in his Birth of Tragedy, they assume a human individuality complete in itself and make it the subject of the tragic action. 1 At stake in the recovery of a comprehensive view of Greek Tragedy is not mere archaeological exactness, but a right understanding of our spiritual history, ancient and modern. Tragedy has played an essential role in the development of that Hellenic spirit which together with the Judaic has animated our Western and Christian civilization. Moreover, a profound enthusiasm for Greek Tragedy has captured the European imagination since the end of the eighteenth century, and a deeper interpretation than that of Nietzsche is necessary to make that enthusiasm comprehensible. This article proposes, therefore, first to locate Tragedy in its general spiritual context, by presenting it as a further development of the spiritual world that the war between the Titans and Olympians has established. Second, it will argue that the Nietzschean view of tragedy does not respect the primacy of the Olympian gods in the formation of human individuality. Third, in a consideration of Antigone it proposes to suggest an Interpretation of one tragedy in accord with the principles expressed more generally in the first two parts of the article. Lastly, it will seek to show that in its discovery of a rational humanity imitative of the gods lies the true interest of tragedy both as part of our history and our contemporary life.
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