Is tragedy a result of excessive pride or a result of a cruel twist of fate?

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litteacher8 | High School Teacher | (Level 3) Distinguished Educator

Posted on

Whether tragedy is a result a fate or fault depends on your philosophy.  If you are a fatalist, you believe that all fate is predetermined and it does not matter what a person does.

The idea of a tragic flaw dates back to Aristotle’s concept of hamartia, which we usually translate to “tragic flaw,” implying that a character has a fault that causes his downfall.  However, this may not be accurate.

Yet a reevaluation of the term has interpreted it as “missing the mark,” an idea that suggests tragedies occur when characters simply misunderstand their place in the world.  (enotes tragedy)

Therefore we have to look to our own analysis of life, or a character’s actions.  For example, in Macbeth the title character does face destruction.  However, you can interpret it as coming from a tragic flow of ambition, or from manipulation by outside forces including fate.

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user1450001 | Student, Undergraduate | (Level 1) Valedictorian

Posted on

Try to answer this question to yourself - Is our life a tragedy?

Whatever answer you get would be the answer of your question you have posted.

That means- it is depend upon us what are our philosophy, our beliefs.

In depth- the results of everything is the design of destiny but still we are free to get the answers of our question from surface to depth, from logical to illogical, from practical to beyond practical.

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