From ancient times, people composed stories to entertain themselves and to teach others certain lessons. Over time, genres appeared to which each story could be assigned, which significantly facilitated the process of creation of new art since writers now had certain templates to build upon. Tragedy has always been recognized as one of the most prominent genres since it usually deals with sensitive issues which are rarely discussed in public.
Tragedy originated in Ancient Greece and was first described by Aristotle, the man who set the standards for the genre. According to researchers, Ancient Greek playwrights forever defined the essence of the genre, and to this day, “an authentic tragedy is always an analogue of the Greek” (Blowers 7). Unlike comedy, tragedy explores serious topics and is centered around a protagonist, the main hero who faces challenges and who is destined to “fall from fortune into misfortune” (Mays 82).
In the play Fences by August Wilson, the protagonist is Troy, a middle-aged man who, over the course of the play, encounters a variety of problems. Determining whether Fences is a tragedy requires researching more in-depth the literary theory on the genre and examining the examples of tragic heroes.
As it was mentioned earlier, a tragic hero is always at the center of any tragedy since, without such a character, the genre would not exist. A tragic hero is a person who has both strengths and weaknesses, virtues and sins, and who suffers a downfall in their life due to “hamartia,” a flaw or an error made by them (Schleifer et al. 88). Essentially, every tragic protagonist is a person to whom the audience can relate and learn from their situations. Over centuries, humanity has created numerous tragic heroes who have their own stories and each of whom is worth exploring.
In my view, Hamlet is the ultimate tragic hero who constitutes a perfect example of a person whose flaw of acting recklessly brought his downfall and eventually led to his death. Before expanding on Hamlet’s tragic flaw, it is essential to explore other elements of tragedy in his story. One of them is a challenge he faces from the beginning of the play, namely, the dilemma of going against the law by killing his father’s murderer, Claudius. As an individual of noble birth, Hamlet cannot simply avoid defending his father’s honor.
Yet here lies the major tragic flaw of Hamlet’s character, specifically, despite being preoccupied with establishing the truth before and being indecisive, at some point, he nevertheless loses his composure and acts carelessly. He stabs Polonius, thinking that it was Claudius, and thus kills an innocent man. As a result, Hamlet no longer holds a moral high ground and is no longer better than the murderer of his father since he himself assassinated a person who did not commit any crime.
From this point, Hamlet realizes that he cannot escape death since now it constitutes his destiny which also represents a quality of a tragic hero. Essentially, the death of Polonius indicates the downfall of Hamlet and triggers the following chain of sorrowful events in the play. Finally, the element which is particularly important for every tragedy is the capacity to cause feelings of fear and pity in the audience. Hamlet’s story inevitably makes people who watched it or read it empathize with the main character to reflect on their own decisions in life.
There are multiple theories of tragedy in literature which promote different approaches to the genre. The theory of tragedy proposed by the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle still remains the primary one for the majority of playwrights since it in detail defines all the necessary elements of a proper tragedy.
The concept of tragic flaw signifying the fall of the protagonist, which was discussed earlier, is only one aspect of the Aristotelian tragedy. Catharsis, the moment when the audience starts to cry or experience sorrow, is another aspect of a good tragedy (Mambrol). Moreover, Aristotle believed that the main characters always had to be aristocrats and kings. Yet, Aristotle allocated the main role in the tragedy to the plot, which constituted an imitation of actions and not the characters. He even argued that it was possible to create a tragedy without characters simply by relying on the plot.
Renaissance tragedy embraced a different approach, despite relying on the Classical Greek theory as a foundation. Renaissance retained the use of noble characters as protagonists but added new features to the plot. Thus, plays during this period had subplots and comic relief moments which were not present in the Greek tragedies.
Renaissance tragedies also incorporated violent plots and long rhetorical speeches, which were common in Roman tragedies. During the Neo-Classical era, renowned French dramatist Pierre Corneille formulated his own theory of tragedy. He believed that the genre of tragedy had to depict historical and political subjects (Harris 91).
Finally, in the 20th century, the genre of tragedy experienced a considerable transformation since the plots dealing with individuals of noble descent had been largely replaced by common people. One of the main examples of modern tragedies is Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, which tells a story of an ordinary salesman who faces personal issues.
The protagonist of Miller’s tragedy is not subject to any fate but to his personal struggle of living in an environment where “failure” is viewed by society as the greatest flaw a person can experience (Fielder 36). Thus, over hundreds of years, the genre of tragedy has undergone significant changes but still retained its essence, which concerns the necessity of having a character who faces a downfall.
The play Fences August Wilson was published in 1985, tells a story which takes place in the 1950s in the US and depicts protagonist Troy Maxson, a former baseball player who became a garbageman. This play contains numerous literary elements which make it possible to view it as a tragedy and the main character as a tragic hero. First of all, it must be mentioned that Troy Maxson is not a king or an aristocrat, which indicates that the play can be characterized as the modern type of tragedy similar to Death of Salesman.
Yet, on the other hand, Fences also relies heavily on the standards proposed by Aristotle. Troy fits the description of the Aristotelian hero who must have both virtues and sins and whose downfall is not brought by his depravity but by an error. Troy is a decent man because he provides for his family doing hard menial work; he even says, “A man got to take care of his family” (Wilson 53). Yet, Troy makes a major flaw which hinders his relationship with his family.
Troy believes that throughout his life, he has been subject to racism which ultimately prevented him from advancing in baseball. Essentially, Troy has become extremely hostile towards the world and is certain that he knows best what other people have to do. Thus, the flaw he commits is being stubborn and deaf to the needs and feelings of others.
He discourages his son Lyons from pursuing his passion for playing music, saying, “You too lazy to work” (Wilson 23). He does not view music as a viable career option and tells his son to quit. Similarly, he does not let his other son Cory apply for a baseball scholarship, thinking he would not succeed due to discrimination, which Troy faced himself. He simply tells the baseball coach that Cory “will not play” (Wilson 79).
Finally, his egotistical nature eventually estranges him from Rose, his wife, when he tells her that he had an affair with another woman with whom he has a child. She promises him to are for the newborn but tells him that from now on, he is “a womanless man” (Wilson 114). Eventually, his bitterness and inability to empathize with others turn him into a completely lonely man. Yet, during his funeral, all of Troy’s family members unite to honor him despite his wickedness. This scene signifies the catharsis of the tragedy and makes the reader pity Troy.
Tragedy has been in existence for more than two millennia, and it still remains a popular genre, as evident by modern plays such as Fences. The genre itself originated in Ancient Greece, where its foundation was laid by Aristotle. The basic elements of the genre developed by this philosopher are used by playwrights to this day. Nevertheless, over centuries tragedy has experienced significant transformations.
The main change concerns the shift from the depiction of noble characters, which was common before the 18th century, to ordinary people. Fences by is an example of a modern tragedy which makes a tribute to the ancient standards. At the center of the play, there is a common person Troy, who has a tragic flaw of being arrogant and self-centered which ultimately leads to the deterioration of his relationship with family members and lonely death.
Works Cited
Blowers, Paul. Visions and Faces of the Tragic. Oxford University Press, 2020.
Mays, Kelly, J. The Norton Introduction to Literature. 13th ed. W.W. Norton, 2019.
Schleifer, Ronald, Davis, Robert, and Mergler, Nancy, J. Culture and Cognition. Cornell University Press, 2019.
Fielder, Su. Oxford Literature Companions: Death of a Salesman. Oxford University Press, 2017.
Mambrol, Nasrullah. Tragedy: An Introduction. Literary Theory and Criticism. 2018. Web.
Harris, Joseph. “Pierre Corneille.” French Studies, vol. 71, no. 1, 2017, pp. 84–96. Web.
Wilson, August. Fences. Web.