Arrogance as Evil in the Tragic Hero, Study notes of Law

Download Arrogance as Evil in the Tragic Hero and more Study notes Law in PDF only on Docsity! 1 Arrogance as Evil in the Tragic Hero Jon Grogan INTRODUCTION Aristotle, considered by many to be the father of Western thought, believed and taught that conflict is necessary for growth, that without opposing viewpoints and influences in the lives of human beings, the mind and will stagnate. In all lives there are turning points when decisions and choices must be made, particularly in the lives of adolescents. Our students witness conflict every day – sometimes on a staggering scale as in the recent Columbine incident in Littleton, Colorado and the continuing antagonism and genocide in Bosnia that has been present for hundreds of years. Many may harbor a belief that conflict is all of reality. They must grow to realize that conflict is a motivator for change, not an end unto itself. In youth, we will often fiercely follow one path or the other to discover what works or does not work to produce the conditions we seek. Some choices we make will take unplanned directions and unexpected diversions. We will blindly pursue this course of action for a few times, learn from trial and error (experience), and begin to progress by more carefully considering the consequences of the act. Would any of us have become what we are today as adults and educators without the value of trial and error? How many of us are doing what we envisioned and planned our lives to be as young adolescents? Probably very few. Choices can bring razor sharp boundaries that fence us into a self-imposed space as well as free us to pursue the next stage of what we are to become. Through seemingly impossible choices and decisions we are required to make at times, we eventually learn to go within ourselves, temper our feelings, and make informed decisions based on past experience. We also learn from the successes and setbacks of our peers and the society in which we live. We learn to recognize good and evil, not by definition, but rather by how our experience of these concepts affects us in a given situation. We learn from pain the consequences of incorrect choices, and usually change our thinking and actions when presented with a similar choice a second time. Vengeance and ill will permeate our environment at every turn. It is so very convenient to become victim and then perpetrator, again and yet again, ever changing roles. Evil is a malevolent force, maybe soft yet constant, cunning and powerful, or deadly brutal, but always hypnotic, seductive and addicting. Objectives For our purposes, let us loosely define catharsis as a personal emotional identification with the protagonist or antagonist of a story. This identification promises us an inside glimpse into what motivates characters within the framework of their social mores and cultures. We observe from a safe place – the outsider looking in – and most often, we see pieces of our lives printed or filmed 2 under an alias. The most basic needs and desires of people do not change over time, just the setting and the costumes. The works for this unit reflect and address our most essential needs and conflicts in human relationships, society, and our search for a more secure perspective of our place in the world in the presence of good – and evil. Method This unit is designed to be taught in a high school English curriculum in segments of two-week intervals over six weeks, staggered throughout the school year. Three major works, appropriate to high school students in grades 10 through 12, are selected to be taught in sequence. Beginning with Greek tragedy and introducing the Greek tragic hero, this unit is to define the basis and need for these figures in society then as well as now. Tragic heroes, being elevated from humanity, have lost touch with much of their mortality and believe themselves to be above universal and man-made laws. This arrogance illustrates the evil, borne out of self, will run riot and the price the hero pays for squelching all opposition to himself. When the hero loses control, so goes rationality. Objectives for the student are to: 1. Connect literature in historical, current, and personal aspects. 2. Identify and expand the concept of evil or dread into the classical Greek model of the tragic hero. [dread – Alford's definition includes being vulnerable, alone, or mortal] 3. Realize the eternal nature of the tragic hero by identifying comparisons, contrasts, and evil or dread present in the profiles of three tragic heroes from three distinct periods of literature or contemporary films. 4. Project the fate of the tragic hero through a predictable pattern of behavior. 5. Experience catharsis and explain or understand how a story or play might aim at this. 6. Possibly alter the fate of the tragic hero by rerouting the negative energy of the tragic flaw, give dread (the acting out of evil due to powerlessness) another place...in the future. DISCUSSING THE TRAGIC HERO: HIS DREAD, HIS EVIL, AND HIS FLAW The tragic hero's flaw, arrogance as evil, is referred to by Alford as having its origins in the dread of living the human experience (Alford, What Evil Means to Us, ch. 3). Certainly people of such high station in life with their "heads in the clouds" can easily lose grasp of their human nature by having disassociated from the mainstream civilian – the ordinary man below his station. 5 Definition and Characteristics of Tragic Heroes and Why They Are Arrogant The tragic hero: 1. Enjoys an exalted position in society either by birth or extraordinary achievements. 2. Demonstrates wisdom, moral or philosophical greatness – sometimes physical prowess. 3. Adheres to and exemplifies a code of conduct including reverence toward the laws of God and the universe, loyalty to the family, and respect for government. 4. Possesses a flaw in personality or psyche that ultimately brings about total destruction. ANTIGONE [480 B.C.] “The Bad Seed” Of the tragic figures in Antigone, Creon is the most obviously evil because his motives are self- serving and his fate, the worst. As the play begins, we learn that Antigone has defied Creon's royal decree by performing sacred burial rites for her exiled brother, Polyneices. Polyneices has been declared an enemy of the state by Creon. The sentence for anyone attempting to bury him is death by stoning. Creon has become King of Thebes by default, as a result of Oedipus' fate as previously predicted by the Oracle at Delphi: Oedipus murders his father and unknowingly marries his mother. Jocaste, his mother and wife and Creon's sister, commits suicide upon learning the truth. Between Oedipus' two sons, Creon sides with Etocles in his claim for Oedipus' throne and exiles Polyneices. Polyneices, in exile, raises an army against Thebes, attempting to seize the throne for himself. The two brothers fight and slay one another. Etocles is awarded an honorable burial by Creon for bravely defending the city, but Polyneices is denied any burial because of his act of treason. Denial of a ritual burial was damming and nearly sacrilegious to the ancient Greeks. Creon is enraged to discover his decree has been disobeyed. When he learns it is Antigone, his niece, he asks her if she has heard the decree. She says yes, that the decree was declared publicly and openly – she answers that she understands the consequences. Creon further asks Antigone if she is blatantly defying him. She replies that she is answering and obeying a higher law. Creon condemns her, and in doing so violates the unspoken law of loyalty to the family. Creon's will be done! Creon: Do you want me to show myself weak before the people? Or to break my sworn word? No, and I will not. The woman dies. I suppose she'll plead "family ties." Well, let her. If I permit my own family to rebel, How shall I earn the world's obedience? (Antigone, 3.26-31) 6 Beginning with the messenger, who brings news of Polyneice's burial, Creon repeatedly accuses everyone, including his advisors, the Chorus, and Teiresias of accepting bribes. These paranoid and constant accusations raise questions concerning Creon's motives. Creon: No, from the very beginning There have been those who have whispered together, Stiff-necked anarchists, putting their heads together, Scheming against me in alleys. These are the men, And they have bribed my own guard to do this thing. Money! There's nothing in the world so demoralizing as money. (Antigone, 1.102-108) Has Creon deliberately created the conflict between the brothers by siding with one and exiling the other? Is it not better for Creon if the sons of Oedipus fight each other rather than him for the throne? Has Creon usurped the throne by planning their conflict and deaths? This is evil and premeditated murder. We also learn later in the play that Creon has had previous knowledge of Oedipus' fate before Oedipus knew it himself. Teiresias confronts Creon. Creon: I admit my debt to you. But what have you to say? Teiresias: This Creon: You stand once more on the edge of fate. Creon: What do you mean? Your words are a kind of dread. (Antigone, 5.7-9) [They sputter and spar.] Creon: The generation of prophets has always loved gold. Teiresias: The generation of kings has always loved brass. Creon: You forget yourself! You re speaking to your king. Teiresias: I know it. You are king because of me. (Antigone, 5.61-64) By condemning Antigone, Creon is alienating his son and his public. He will ultimately be responsible for the deaths of both his son Haimon and his wife Eurydice as a result of his self-will. He does not consider the fallout of his actions. He is deaf to all counsel. The following dialogue is from Scene 3. Haimon: Your temper terrifies them – everyone Will tell you only what you like to hear. But I, at any rate, can listen: and I have heard them Muttering and whispering in the dark about this girl. They say no woman has ever, so unreasonably, Died so shameful a death for a generous act... (59-64) 7 Creon: (completely out of control) Fool, adolescent fool! Taken in by a woman! Haimon: You'll never see me taken in by anything vile. Creon: Every word you say is for her! Haimon: (quietly, darkly) And for you. And for me. And for the gods under earth. Creon: You'll never marry her while she lives. Haimon:Then she must die – But her death will cause another. (112-119) Eurydice kills herself upon learning of Haimon's suicide after he finds Antigone dead in her vault of stone. We cannot exit the play without a brief examination of the tragic female hero – Antigone. I do not hold her as the primary example of arrogance as evil because her motive is clean and her action pure. By burying her brother Polyneices, she is obeying the law of heaven and showing loyalty to the family. She is further victimized because she is a woman and spoken of by Creon as a less than equal being. Creon: Your pleasure with her would soon grow cold, Haimon, And then you'd have a hellcat in bed and elsewhere. Let her find her husband in hell! Of all the people in this city, only she Has had contempt for my law and broken it. (Antigone, 5.21-25) Antigone's rank is royal by birth. She is one of Oedipus' daughters, and thus carries the curse of the house of Oedipus. Antigone, like Creon, suffers from excessive pride, hubris; her blatant challenge of Creon's civil authority forces him to sentence her according to Greek law. We can say that her arrogance results in a chain reaction causing the untimely deaths of three people – herself, Haimon, and Eurydice. Antigone cuts a haughty figure for us as she disdains Creon and the Chorus on her way to death. Antigone's attitude is almost a self-sentencing guilt and bravado aimed at the seed of incest she carries. Perhaps she is punishing herself. Perhaps she is ending the curse for future generations with her death. Chorus: You has passed beyond human daring and come at last Into a place of stone where justice sits. I cannot tell What shape your father's guilt appears in this. 10 JULIUS CAESAR "Big Boys Don't Cry" Brutus, the "noblest Roman of them all" (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, 5.5.68) is the only innocent conspirator, according to Marcus Antonius. This tragedy presents the epitome of the green-eyed monster named jealousy, along with envy, greed, and avarice. It is a true story based on Plutarch's Life of Julius Caesar. Several of the major players are struck by jealousy and greed – certainly Cassius, who begins this evil conspiracy to assassinate Caesar out of personal jealousy, but needs Brutus' credibility to make it happen. We eventually see Mark Antony gloat in his new- found influence and power over the mass of citizenry when he pronounces their interest in Caesar's will. All: Most true; the will:–Let's stay and hear the will. Antony: Here is the will, and under Caesar's seal. To every Roman citizen he gives, To every several man, seventy-five drachmas. Second Citizen: Most noble Caesar! We'll revenge his death. (Julius Caesar, 3.2.244-48) When the play opens, Rome is enjoying a time of peace and prosperity after several years of civil war. Caesar has returned, victorious over Pompey, and the treasury is full. Some noble Romans fear Caesar's great power may turn him into a tyrannical dictator. Some are jealous of him. Cassius: Why, man, doth he bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus, and we petty men Walk under his huge legs and peep about To find ourselves dishonorable graves. Men at some time are masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars But in ourselves that we are underlings. (Julius Caesar, 1.2.135-140) Caesar is without a doubt the most powerful man in the known world. He is a military genius, and people believe him to be blessed by the gods because of his epileptic condition, the "falling sickness" (Julius Caesar, 1.2.244). Was Caesar ambitious? Probably! He refers to himself in the royal "We," and he seems quite taken with his own invincibility even after the augurs failed to find a heart in the beast in his quandary whether to go to the Senate, or stay at home as Calpurnia wishes. Caesar: The gods do this in shame of cowardice. Caesar should be a beast without a heart If he should stay at home today for fear. 11 No, Caesar shall not. Danger knows full well That Caesar is more dangerous than he, We are two lions littered in one day, And I the elder and more terrible. And Caesar shall go forth. Calpurnia: Alas, my lord, Your wisdom is consumed in confidence. (Julius Caesar, 2.2.41-51) It appears everybody wants something for themselves except Brutus. He believes himself to be a descendant of Lucius Junius Brutus that drove out the last of the emperors of Rome and instituted a republic. Brutus is a praetor by Caesar's hand, a high ranking judge and official in the Senate. Brutus is by creed a Stoic. Big boys don't cry (or big girls either). Portia: Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose 'em. I have made strong proof of my constancy, Giving myself a voluntary wound Here in my thigh. Can I bear that with patience And not my husband's secrets? (Julius Caesar, 2.1.298-302) Stoics live lives of rationalism, reason, and responsibility, never submitting to emotional or physical pain. Duty is first. They (in Brutus' case) are the strong, silent types that take their own counsel [too] seriously and don't listen to those closest to their own hearts. Portia knows Brutus is not ill as he pleads that the reason for his peculiar behavior. "You have some sick offense within your mind" (2.1.268). This internal conflict is the very weakness used by Cassius to convert Brutus to the conspiracy “than that poor Brutus with himself at war, forgets the shows of love to other men” (1.2.45-46). He sees only duty as the descendant of a noble Roman and the ideals of his creed. Brutus is not exactly a brainy guy. The conspirators have no plan of action after they kill Caesar. They have not even sworn a pact of allegiance. They don't kill Antony, Caesar's right hand man, but rather let him speak at Caesar's funeral with Brutus' permission! Earlier, he is easily taken in by haphazard notes thrown into his window (Act 2, scene 1) without proof, and makes some poor military decisions (Act 5). Brutus hides in the ideals of Stoicism and this desensitizes him from the everyday workings of life like getting your hands dirty to raise money to pay your troops (4.3.65-80), or even grieving the death of your wife – something for which Brutus is directly responsible. Portia, in Brutus' absence, has grown "distracted" and "swallowed fire." Brutus is the great rationalizer. His arrogance has become evil through his blind devotion to Stoicism. He literally "dreads" dealing with the realities of being human and prefers suicide to capture. The very order he was trying to preserve in Rome is destroyed with the assassination of Caesar. During a lucid moment prior to Caesar's assassination, Brutus makes an analogy of man as a microcosm and the fallout of his will on the macrocosm of society, correspondent to the beginning of his own degeneration. (The Elizabethan World Picture, 91-94) 12 Brutus: Between the acting of a dreadful thing And the first motion, all the interim is Like a phantasma or a hideous dream. The Genius and the mortal instruments Are then in council, and the state of man, Like to a little kingdom, suffers then The nature of an insurrection. (Julius Caesar, 2.1.65-71) By the end of the play, civil strife is rampant, many noble Romans are dead, and armies fight and die in battle. Even Caesar's ghost appears to Brutus. Strategies and Objectives As in teaching Antigone, the structure and conventions of Elizabethan tragedy would be stressed along with our universal definition of the tragic hero. Again, I would use a cassette tape for the first reading. Julius Caesar is a series of persuasive speeches in unrhymed iambic pentameter, divided by bits of dialogue. An interesting wrap activity for Julius Caesar might be persuasive in nature. A proposal follows. 15 throughout Umofia for his wrestling and his fearlessness. He signed heavily, and as if in sympathy the smoldering log also sighed. And immediately Okonkwo's eyes were opened and he saw the whole matter clearly. Living fire begets cold, impotent ash. He sighed again, deeply. (Achebe, 153) Okonkwo's personal and social chi, or karma, is good because he works, provides for his family, and serves his community. Okonkwo is forewarned by one of the elders, Ezeudu. His spiritual chi begins to degenerate with the murder of Ikemfuna (Achebe, 4). "That boy calls you father," he had said. "Bear no hand in his death" (Achebe, 121). This is after offending Ani, the earth goddess, for beating his wife during the Week of Peace. He is then exiled to his motherland for accidentally killing a tribesman's son while firing a gun, celebrating Ezeudu's funeral. As Okonkwo and his family flee, his compound is destroyed along with his barn, and his animals are killed. Okonkwo returns to Umofia after seven years in exile to a much different society; titles he would have earned by now belong to other men, and the invader has brought a government, money, and missionaries that have well-established themselves into power. "What do you want here?" "The white man whose power you know too well has ordered this meeting to stop." In a flash Okonkwo drew his machete. The messenger crouched to avoid the blow. It was useless. Okonkwo's machete descended twice and the man's head lay beside his uniformed body. (Achebe, 204) Okonkwo has no other choice but to kill himself. This is not a world he knows or of which can be a part. The most evil twist comes at the end of the novel, and the reader forgets the brutality of Ibo custom and the wrong of Okonkwo – killing a person he loved for fear of being thought weak. The thoughts of the District Commissioner: In the many years in which he had toiled to bring civilization to different parts of Africa he had learned a number of things...As he walked back to the court he thought about that book...The story of this man who had killed a messenger and hanged himself would make interesting reading. One could almost write a whole chapter on him. Perhaps not a whole chapter but a reasonable paragraph, at any rate ... He had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes On The Lower Niger. (Achebe, 208-209) Achebe suggests that colonialism has led to this entire tragedy, but the seeds of dread and self- will are obvious in Okonkwo. He is not a survivor. Our goal is to survive; and to teach and study that. In our journey through this life of good and evil influences, we purposefully choose our own end by the choices we make along the way. Success can be defined as the acceptance of all of our experience that has led us where we are today. Acceptance of ourselves is the key to acceptance and tolerance of others. 16 Strategies and Objectives Having taught the mechanics of Things Fall Apart as a classic tragedy with a tragic hero, I chose the poem "Journey" by Nikki Giovanni as a summative activity for this unit. Things Fall Apart is full of parables; idioms and sing-song sayings that provoke further response from the reader. "Journey" is an open-ended, positive poem about the surviving and living of life on life's terms. Using "Journey" as a writing catalyst, students will generate poetry, writing cooperatively and independently using imagery (sensory perception), similes, metaphors, and definition of specific vocabulary (see the following activity). My life is like a ______________________________________. (simile) I (see, hear, smell, taste, feel) ___________________________. (imagery) Interrogatives (who, what, when, where, why, and how) can also be useful. WORKS CITED Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Doubleday, 1994. Alford, C. Fred. What Evil Means to Us. New York: Cornell University Press, 1977. Aristotle. Rhetoric and Poetics. Edited by Friedrich Salmsen. New York: Random House, 1954, 230. Bartlett, John. Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 13 th ed. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1955, 355. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, 6 th ed. Edited by J.B. Sykes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972. Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 th ed., Vol. 17. "Stoicism." Chicago: Helen Hemingway Benton, Publisher, 1974, 698-701. Giovanni, Nikki. "A Journey" in Those Who Ride the Night Winds. New York: Quill Press, 1983. Plutarch from "The Life of Caesar" trans. by Rex Warner. Adventures in Appreciation/ Pegasus Edition. Orlando: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, Publishers, 1989. Shakespeare, William. Julius Caesar in Adventures in Appreciation/Pegasus Edition. Orlando: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, Publishers, 1989. Sophocles. Antigone, trans. by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald. Adventures in Appreciation/Pegasus Edition. Orlando: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, Publishers, 1989. Tillyard, E.M.W. The Elizabethan World Picture. New York: Vintage Books, 1972, 91-94. 17 READINGS FOR STUDENTS Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Doubleday, 1994. Giovanni, Nikki. "A Journey." Those Who Ride The Night Winds. New York: Quill Press, 1983. Plutarch from "The Life of Caesar" Trans. by Rex Warner. Adventures in Appreciation/ Pegasus Edition. Orlando: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, Publishers, 1989. Shakespeare, William. Julius Caesar in Adventures in Appreciation/Pegasus Edition. Orlando: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, Publishers, 1989. Sophocles. Antigone, Trans. by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald. Adventures in Appreciation/Pegasus Edition. Orlando: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, Publishers, 1989. READINGS FOR TEACHERS Brackett, Oscar G. "Theatre and Drama in Ancient Greece" in History of the Theatre. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Incorporated, 1982. This volume contains complete descriptions and diagrams of Greek theater in the fifth century, B.C. Bullfinch, Thomas. "The Sphinx" in Bullfinch's Mythology. New York: Avenel Books, 1978. This article tells the story of Oedipus' rise to the throne of Thebes. Hamilton, Edith. "Cicero's Rome: The Republic" and "Caesar and Cicero" in The Roman Way. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1932. Hamilton places the reader in Caesar's every day social and political Rome. Moyers, Bill. "Chinua Achebe," "Martha Nussbaum." A World of Ideas. New York: Doubleday, 1989. Both writer Achebe and philosopher Nussbaum speak of living with their craft, about being committed equally, personally, and professionally. Nussbaum, Martha. "Sophocles' Antigone: Conflict, Vision, and Simplification" in The Fragility of Goodness. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986. Nussbaum elaborates on her view of the Greek tragic vision and women. "Stoicism" in Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 th ed., Vol. 17. Chicago: Helen Hemingway Benton, Publisher, 1974. This article traces the evolution and practice of Stoicism from ancient times.