I do not really think The Wild Duck was a tragedy because Hedvig's death wrenched the heart more than it did finalize a theme. Also, compared to Antigone where we flat out knew she was going to die, Hedvig was unexpected. Hedvig was also an innocent character, whereas Antigone was guilty and knew she was.
Also, according to the elements of tragedy discussion we had today, undeserved suffering is not tragic. Hedvig did not deserve to die. Another critical thing we discussed was that tragedy required there to be beauty in truth, which was the opposite of what I saw with Hjalmar. When he knew the truth, everything in his life grew ugly and the whole play became quite a mess.
Gregers reaction to Hedvig's death breaks another rule of tragedy. He seems pleased, as if he had succeeded, while the end result of a tragedy is no one emerges victorious. Kinda like Romeo and Juliet where members of Capulet and Montague both died.
No comments:
Post a Comment