modern tragedy literature
English Literature – How would I answer this? Cat on a Hot Tin Roof?
In class we are reading Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and I don’t understand how to go about answering this question.
Okay so this is the question:
In The Sociology of Modern Drama Georg Lukacs defined heroes of new dramatic tragedies as ‘more passive than active’ their heroism one of resisting despair and anguish not of bold aggressive action……a retiring kind of hero a man at the intersection point of great forces and deeds not even his own. Consider the dramatic impact of the character of Brick as a tragic hero in light of these or other statements you have read about a tragic hero.
Brick ain’t the hero of George Lukas’ Star Wars. Notice how he lies around in bed, drinks, bitches at Maggie, and frequently revisits his past. That’s not an action hero. He is a pretty passive character. Does he ever leave the bedroom? TW’s plays center around this sort of morose “hero,” with a botched up past and never happy with himself and never finding happiness.
You could certainly compare Brick with a Harrison Ford type of Star Wars hero–action adventure, or a Shakespearean Hamlet or Macbeth, in which the hero is essentially on glidepath to death.
Slavoj Žižek. Confronting Humanity & The Post-Modern. 2009 1/17
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Shakespeare and the Apocalypse (Hardcover) $106.99 Description not available. |
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