Overview

The distinction between Tragedy and Comedy is one of the oldest in aesthetics, dating back to ancient Greece. While colloquially defined by their endings (tragedy = death, comedy = marriage), philosophically they represent two different ways of looking at the human condition. Tragedy deals with the individual’s struggle against inevitable fate or cosmic laws. Comedy deals with the social group’s struggle to integrate and survive despite human folly.

Core Idea

  • Tragedy isolates the hero. It is about the greatness of the human spirit facing overwhelming odds. It evokes pity and fear.
  • Comedy integrates the individual. It is about the resilience of the community and the absurdity of human rigidity. It evokes laughter and relief.

Formal Definition

Aristotle defined Tragedy as an imitation of an action that is serious and complete, involving a reversal of fortune (peripeteia) for a noble character due to a fatal flaw (hamartia), leading to catharsis (purging of emotions). Comedy, for Aristotle, is an imitation of inferior people (not bad, but ridiculous), involving some blunder or ugliness that does not cause pain or destruction.

Intuition

Tragedy is Oedipus realizing he has killed his father and married his mother. It is the crushing weight of truth. It feels vertical (man vs. gods). Comedy is a man slipping on a banana peel but getting up again. It is the realization that we are all clumsy animals. It feels horizontal (man vs. society). Tragedy says: “Life is serious, and actions have consequences.” Comedy says: “Life is absurd, and we will get through it if we don’t take ourselves too seriously.”

Examples

  • Tragedy: Hamlet. A noble prince faces a corrupt world and his own indecision, leading to the destruction of the entire royal court.
  • Comedy: A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Lovers are confused, magic goes wrong, identities are mistaken, but in the end, order is restored and everyone gets married.
  • Tragicomedies: Modern works (like Waiting for Godot) often blend the two, finding the tragic in the absurd and the funny in the despair.

Common Misconceptions

  • Tragedy means “sad”: A tragedy can have moments of joy, and it is often celebrated as “uplifting” because it affirms human dignity. It is about significance, not just sadness.
  • Comedy is “frivolous”: Comedy often tackles serious social issues (satire) but frames them in a way that allows for correction and survival rather than destruction.
  • Catharsis: The specific emotional release provided by tragedy.
  • Hamartia: The “tragic flaw” or error in judgment that leads to the hero’s downfall.
  • The Carnivalesque: A mode of comedy that celebrates the body and the overturning of social rules.

Applications

  • Storytelling: Understanding these structures helps writers craft satisfying arcs. A tragic arc requires inevitability; a comic arc requires coincidence and flexibility.
  • Psychology: We use “tragic” and “comic” frames to process our own lives. Seeing a misfortune as a “tragedy” makes us a victim/hero; seeing it as a “comedy” makes us a survivor.

Criticism / Limitations

  • Genre Blurring: In the modern era, the strict separation has collapsed. Chekhov called his plays “comedies” despite their melancholic tone.
  • Elitism: Historically, tragedy was for the upper classes (kings and heroes), while comedy was for the lower classes (servants and fools).

Further Reading

  • Aristotle. Poetics. (The foundational text).
  • Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Birth of Tragedy. 1872. (Apollonian vs. Dionysian).
  • Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism. 1957. (Theory of myths/genres).