Discussion History Main / Tragedy

I think you are confusing \\\"tragedy\\\" in the narrower sense of the literary genre with the more common modern usage of the term as \\\"something really sad\\\". Classical tragedy, by its nature, involves the downfall of a person through their own flaws and mistakes. Often, the character in question will be a male aristocrat, since the \\\"fall\\\" in his case will be greater and more pronounced. The character need not be a sympathetic one, nor must his downfall be seen as a DownerEnding (cf. {{Macbeth}}).

Only later did it come to mean any story with a sad ending and, by extension, unfortunate events in real life.

I think you are confusing \\\"tragedy\\\" in the narrower sense of a literary genre with the more common modern usage of the term as \\\"something really sad\\\". Classical tragedy, by its nature, involves the downfall of a person through their own flaws and mistakes. Often, the character in question will be a male aristocrat, since the \\\"fall\\\" in his case will be greater and more pronounced. The character need not be a sympathetic one, nor must his downfall be seen as a DownerEnding (cf. {{Macbeth}}).

Only later did it come to mean any story with a sad ending and, by extension, unfortunate events in real life.

I think you are confusing \\\"tragedy\\\" in the narrower sense of a literary genre with the more common modern usage of the term as \\\"something really sad\\\". Classical tragedy, by its nature, involves the downfall of a person through their own flaws and mistakes. Often, the character in question will be a male aristocrat, since the \\\"fall\\\" in his case will be greater and more pronounced. The character need not be a sympathetic one, nor must his downfall be seen as a DownerEnding (cf. {{Macbeth}}).

Only later did it come to mean \\\'\\\'any\\\'\\\' story with a sad ending and, by extension, unfortunate events in real life.