After months of analyzing short stories, poetry, and now tragic plays, the textbook finally asked me what my thoughts were concerning the ending of the tragic play "Oedipus the King." For those of you who don't know, this story consists of Oedipus rising to immediate power, but then realizing that he had murdered his father and married his mother, resulting in ultimate humiliation and exile. Sounds great, right?
So apparently, I'm supposed to think that the story was refreshing. According to my textbook, Aristotle believed that "after witnessing a tragedy, we feel better, not worse – not depressed, but somehow elated." Yeah, um, that didn't happen.
By the time Oedipus was gouging his eyes out, I pitied the character. I definitely did not feel better after reading such a tragedy. Now I realize that my opinion of literature is much different than that of supposedly great writers like Sophacles and Shakespeare. While their tragic stories can sometimes seem so true to life, I read books as an escape from everyday life.
I enjoy stories with happy endings, like Lord of the Rings, Pride and Prejudice, and the Chronicles of Narnia. If I know that a book or movie does not have a happy ending, I will not take the time to read/watch it! Maybe I'm just a wuss, but I cried all the way through the movie P.S. I Love You and was upset for days afterward, and X-Men 3 made me depressed for at least three days!
So yeah, my opinion is that sad stories are annoying and happy stories are the way to go. I have yet to see whether or not my English teacher agrees, haha!
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