When I was in high school, tragedy typically was presented as the 'fall from grace', such as through Shakespeare's Macbeth or Othello. There was even a very specific way in which tragedy was taught and presented--as a kind of cycle, where the protagonist has everything, only to succumb to the darker sides of fear, suspicion and mistrust. The natural cycle is often portrayed as something that is disturbed when the main character steps out of line of their proper place and role. I wonder if the emphasis on tragic plays in high school was not somehow serving as a warning to students not to do things out of a sense of greed and craving, but more so out of a sense of honor and self-respect.
Fast forward to another time, such as in one's middle age , and I believe that tragedy is not looked upon this way anymore. Why not? It's because there is a point where I start to reflect that life is not all about striving and gain, or position and status, or honor and dishonor. There are just certain things in life that are just built into the process of living, such as ageing and death, which don't fall under the categories of 'gain' and 'loss'--they just are, and no amount of striving will change this suchness of those things. In the face of that, there is no way to use the traditional motif of tragedy to describe what happens as people age or become ill. These experiences transcend gain and loss, and they teach us the very basic things that are taken for granted over the span of a life.
Even from a Buddhist perspective, I wonder if the view of tragedy might change to something that is more universal: the suffering experienced as a sentient being cannot be avoided. But in facing the reality of suffering, one can embrace that reality rather than trying to avoid it at all costs. In doing so, one takes the greatest risk of all, to accept that there is no secure and enduring body anywhere. But it also means that compassion is everywhere, because there is no one who is immune to the concerns of living.
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