Oh, Oedipus...You So Tragic!

Your assignment: Find a parallel tragic hero in modern history, literature, movies, television,etc.

Complete a full, written sketch of your modern tragic hero. Follow Aristotle's definition. You have a chart(which we will discuss tomorrow) that very nicely illustrates these qualities. Use the chart!!!

Yeah, you can probably Google this. You can find millions of professor-given examples online. But c'mon, this isn't so hard. Utilize your interests to get this done. Me, I love celebrity gossip, so I'm likely to pick some sad starlet. Or Steve Jobs. Maybe.

Is anyone off-limits? Of course. Actual tragic heroes, from literature? Off-limits. And what constitutes modern, you may ask? For me, it should be a figure that existed or was created anywhere from 1900 to the present. That's a pretty big window.

This can't be emailed to me because I'd like it to be pretty. I'd like a picture of your hero, surrounded by their Aristotlian, (is that a word?) tragic qualities. You should be as specific as possible. If every hero needs a flaw, for example, you should name that flaw. Maybe even give an example of it in action. If I was doing Steve Jobs(ahem...this another no-no for you guys), then I may say his flaw was his ego. That ego was deadly, in fact, because it led to him believing he could cure his cancer without modern medicine, which, in turn, killed him. Tragic stuff.

Here's my pathetic example...here

I only completed one of the six characteristics, but I hope you get the point. Contact me at any point before the due date(January 2nd!) if you have a question.

Rock out.

The Day Room 230 Stood Still...

It was so empty today.

I did show up, three times, to teach my kids.  We read Oedipus for the second time, and I think it only gets better.  I had such a great time today in class; days like today remind me why I love my job so much.

If you weren't there, it was awesome and the story progressed a bit.  Oedipus talked to a prophet, Tiresius(who happens to be blind) and was incensed that Tiresius wouldn't tell him all he knew about the murderer in Thebes.  Tiresius and Oedipus insulted each other for pages until finally, Tiresius told Oeddy that he knew something about his family that would devastate him.  That's where we left off.

This weekend, read and annotate the following article.

Tragedy and the Common Man

If you can't print, please take notes instead of annotating.  We'll discuss the article AND continue reading on Monday.

I'll be posting a few other tidbits this weekend.  Until Monday, enjoy: )