- May 2024
-
academic.oup.com academic.oup.com
-
That watching a tragedy entails a balance or tension between identification and distance is already implicit in Aristotle’s linking of pity and fear as the desired effect of tragedy.
suggests that when an audience engages with a tragedy, there is a delicate balance or tension between two factors: identification with the characters and events (empathy) and maintaining a certain level of emotional distance or detachment. This concept is rooted in Aristotle's theory of tragedy, where he states that the emotional response of pity and fear should be evoked in the audience, leading to a cathartic experience.
-
As Goethe writes in his brief essay on tragedy: ‘Whoever is in pursuit of truly moral education of the mind knows and will concede that tragedy and tragic novels do not soothe the spirit, but rather unsettle the emotions and what we call the heart.’
This statement reflects the idea that tragedy, as a genre, challenges the audience's emotional stability and forces them to confront uncomfortable truths or profound dilemmas. Rather than offering reassurance or placidity, tragic literature often prompts reflection, introspection, and a deeper engagement with complex moral and existential questions.
-
These issues of agency and volition intersect with yet another uncertainty that emerges in Shakespeare’s tragedies’ representation and evocation of affect: the problem of ‘authenticity’ and ‘theatricality’, of whether affects simply exist, welling up like forces of nature, autonomically and automatically, or whether they can be ‘put on’, like clothes; and the quality of the relation between these two possibilities.
- the dichotomy between authenticity and theatricality in the portrayal of emotions. He questions whether emotions arise naturally and authentically within characters (as forces of nature) or whether they are consciously performed or "put on" for dramatic effect (like clothes worn by actors).
- Hillman introduces the idea that the portrayal and elicitation of emotions (affect) in Shakespeare's tragedies are intertwined with questions of agency (the capacity to act) and volition (the will to act). These uncertainties add layers of complexity to how emotions are depicted and experienced within the dramatic context.
-
Clearly, every tragedy puts its characters, actors, and audiences through a wide spectrum of emotions, some of them ostensibly contradictory. It takes no Sigmund come from the grave to show us that emotions such as love and hate, or love and jealousy, are at some level inseparable; that one emotion can be used as a cover story for another; and that irrationality and confusion undo any simple attribution of emotion to a given situation.
acknowledges that tragedies evoke a range of emotions, often simultaneously, within characters, actors performing the roles, and the audience. These emotions can be complex and even contradictory, reflecting the depth and complexity of human experience portrayed in tragic narratives. Hillman further explores the complexity of emotions by highlighting how one emotion can serve as a mask or cover for another underlying emotion. Additionally, he notes that irrationality and confusion in tragic situations can complicate straightforward attributions of emotion, adding layers of depth and ambiguity.
-
emotion generally functions to release the characters from societal shackles, offering an avenue of temporary liberation. Temporary—because Shakespeare’s comedies eventually work to re-bind tragic potentialities in formalized, communal arrangements. His tragedies, on the other hand, repeatedly depict the breakdown of such ritualized, ceremonial public structures and rites of passage whose function it is to contain and redistribute emotion—funerals, weddings, investitures, laws
This emotional liberation provides characters with a temporary sense of freedom and autonomy. Hillman notes that while Shakespeare's comedies initially allow for this emotional release and freedom, they ultimately steer characters back towards structured societal norms and communal arrangements. The temporary liberation through emotion is eventually reconciled within a structured framework by the end of the comedic narrative. Hillman contrasts this with Shakespeare's tragedies, which depict the breakdown of formalized societal structures and rituals designed to regulate and channel emotions. In tragedies, these structures often fail to contain or redistribute emotions effectively, leading to chaos, conflict, and tragedy.
-
The way in which ‘intense states of emotion’ lead to radical transformation is, as Eugene Waith has suggested, perhaps the main reason for Shakespeare’s lifelong fascination with Ovid—with the way metamorphosis in the earlier writer is an expression of, indeed a result of, such emotional intensity; and this is true in the comedies as in the tragedies.
intense states of emotion lead to radical transformation could suggest (made by eugene) is the main reason shakespeares lifelong fascination with Ovid
-
And yet paradoxically enough, it often seems that these primal emotions constitute precisely the core around which the protagonist’s heroic subjectivity is formed. Their anguished jouissance both makes and unmakes them.
Hillman is pointing out the paradox that despite the intense and sometimes destructive nature of primal emotions (such as passion, desire, and anguish), they often serve as the central driving force that shapes the heroic identity of the protagonist in tragic works. These emotions become the core elements that define the character's sense of self and purpose.He highlights how the protagonist's experience of intense pleasure (jouissance) intertwined with anguish can simultaneously create and destroy their heroic identity. The very emotions that empower the protagonist can also lead to their downfall or unraveling, blurring the lines between creation and destruction.
-
we can see that Shakespeare, more than anyone else, plumbs the emotional depths—and concomitantly reaches the affective heights—afforded by the tragic form.
Shakespeare thoroughly explores and examines the profound and often intense emotions experienced by characters in his tragedies. This includes feelings such as love, jealousy, anger, despair, and ambition, among others. Shakespeare's characters are portrayed in a way that allows the audience to deeply empathize with their emotional experiences.
-
How much more so, then, attempting to characterize the relations betweentragedy and affect; as Samuel Goldwyn is said to have declared: it’s absolutely impossible; but it has possibilities.
suggesting that it is particularly challenging to analyze or describe the connections between tragedy (as a literary or dramatic genre) and affect (the emotional impact it has on individuals).
-