Creating Tragedy Out Of Triumph - 1079 Words

Brittany Reier September 11, 2014 Creating Tragedy Out of Triumph â€Å"The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life† (Wendell Berry). This quote highlights the importance of the soil as the all-encompassing bridge between life and death and how vital it is to us, especially when it comes to hunting and gathering and growing the food we need to survive. Why change something that works? The agricultural revolution was a great tragedy in the history of the world, bringing about bodily changes, health defects and diseases, and a disparity of the sexes. Jared Diamond, author of â€Å"The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race†, believes the agricultural revolution to be a tremendous mistake. He cites numerous examples of ways in which agriculture has had negative effects, including malnutrition and starvation, inequality of the sexes, and disease. Women were also given demanding jobs that caused many of them to have a decline in their health. â€Å"Farming could support many more people than hunting, albeit with a poorer quality of life.† (Diamond, page 5). Jared Diamond believes that the world needs to turn back to its hunter-gatherer ways and remove itself from this dilemma. Archaeologists have been able to study the remainsShow MoreRelatedTheme Of Fate In Romeo And Juliet991 Words   |  4 Pageswhat it wants. In general, it is seen as an opposing force that is always out to get someone and make sure that person gets what they deserve. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a great example of fate in that it twists the main characters’ destiny into a series of unlucky events. It shows how a so-thought love story can turn out to be a horrible tragedy: the death of Romeo and Juliet. The story seemingly make s this tragedy Romeo’s fault, but the only one to blame for it is fate itself for this misfortuneRead MoreThe Most Tragic of Heroes828 Words   |  3 PagesTragedy, like comedy, is in the eyes of the beholder and what makes a particular fictional character more tragic than another can be argued until the end of time. However, despite this, it seems that an undeniable part of what makes a character tragic is their ability to save themselves from their predicament but, for whatever reason, refuse to do so, thus damning themselves to their wretched fate. Likewise, the more obvious this ability, the more control that a character has over their fate, theRead MoreA Midsummer Night s Dream And The Taming Of The Shrew1254 Words   |  6 PagesA comedic story can be summed up as one thing; a hero who triumphs over evil and wins the day. In these tales, our main character encounters around one hardship and overcomes it with much ease. The ancient Greek playwrights had a similar view on comedic tales: in order for something to be a comedy, the main character must reach a positive outcome. So no matter what comes their way, our hero will be in a better spot than he was at the beginning. Well-known comedies include A Midsummer Night s DreamRead MoreMonsters in Literature Essay925 Words   |  4 Pagesbiblical genealogy of the House of Cain in a later christian re-adaptation of the â€Å"pagan† story. Being of the line of Cain, Grendel exhibits direct lineage in his mirroring of Cains fatal downfall: jealousy. For having killed his own brother Abel out of pure jealous rage, Cains clan was banished by the Creator, who â€Å"had outlawed /and condemned [his descendents] as outcasts† of society to reside only in the miserable company of other monsters (106-7). IN a world where the mead hall was the centerRead MoreThe Tragedy Of Central Europe By Milan Kundera Analysis827 Words   |  4 Pagesthe end of the First World War, humanity has yet to aban don the values acquainted with modernity present in today’s society, and eventually replace them with more traditional ones. This is to be done in hopes of realizing mankind’s aspirations of creating the â€Å"good society,† while obtaining a sustainable sense of fulfillment throughout one’s lifetime. Subsequently, the challenge of expunging a fundamental aspect of societies across the globe, such as innovation, has proved to be quite a dauntingRead MoreThe Tragedy Of King Lear Essay1745 Words   |  7 PagesIn William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of King Lear, human suffering is exploited through exploring social destruction caused by love, lust, and loss. King Lear’s kingdom is broken down through the excess of love and hate. Behaviors resulting from such emotions becomes tragic flaws for the characters within the play, as the need for approval disrupts all natural social order, which is then represented by the natural world. The natu ral world and nature of society become intertwined as the plotRead MoreThe Birthmark Analysis1198 Words   |  5 Pagesdefined as a trait in a character leading to his downfall and the character is often the hero of the literary piece. This trait could be the lack of self-knowledge, lack of judgment and often it is hubris† (Tragic). Tragic flaws derived from Greek tragedies and normally were associated with the tragic hero of the play. â€Å"It was Aristotle who introduced this term first in his book the Poetics and his idea was that it is an â€Å"error of judgment† on the part of a hero that brings his downfall† (Tragic). InRead MoreDrama Analysis1366 Words   |  6 Pagesthe gods! I have longer/ to please the dead than please the living here:/ in the kingdom down below I’ll lie forever./ Do as you like, dishonor the laws/ the gods hold in honor†. This passage is significant because it exemplifies that divine laws triumph over man made laws. Polynices, Antigone’s brother, was seen as a traitor to Creon. When Polynices dies in battle Creon leaves his body unburied as a â€Å"city- wide proclamation† and forbids anyone to bury him or even mourn him. Antigone is outraged byRead More Iago as the Perfect Villain of Shakespeares Othello Essay1416 Words   |  6 Pageshis daughters escapades with the Moor. At the end of the court scene in the first act, Iago and Roderigo are left alone with the poor doting lover in great despair. Roderigo takes a decision to drown himself. Iago easily convinces him out of it by pointing out Othello’s shortcomings. Says he, She must change for youth: when she is sated with his body, she will find the errors of his choice. This satisfies Roderigo and Iago’s hate starts taking definite shape: I hate the moorRead MoreEssay On The Atomic Bomb873 Words   |  4 Pagesof a deadly technology that is ever evolving to reach more dangerous heights: atomic and nuclear weapons. These weapons have only been fired twice, and yet the entire world is on edge when a country threatens to use them. The Atomic bomb was created out of fear and necessity; to be used for such a purpose; but it was still a weapon of mass destruction. At first, the greatest fear of the Allied science community was the fact that the Nazis had already started work on atomic weapons. Scientists from