On of the central themes of the Star Wars legend is the fall of various Jedi to the Dark Side of the Force. The most famous case of this fall is of course Anakin Skywalker's transformation into Darth Vader. Other cases include the legendary Jedi Ulic Qel-Droma and of course Luke Skywalker himself. These falls are examples of the tragic fall, a common part of drama for thousands of years. In this course we will examine the development of tragedy over time and look at the three main eras of tragedy in drama. Finally we will return to the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker and compare it to that of other figures in literature.

The Central Theme of Tragedy

All tragedy has a common theme, the idea of the tragic hero. In every piece there is a tragic hero who, through some twist if fate, falls from grace and suffers their own tragic fall. This fall is represented by the Greek word peripeteia, the tragic reversal of circumstances. Often the characters are powerful or of great social standing, as this makes the fall even greater - since the more one has, the harder it is to lose it all.

What is often blamed for this fall is what today is known as the "Greek Golden Mean." The ancient Greeks believed in moderation in all things and doing nothing to any excess. This idea was essential to their tragedy and had a big impact on all tragedy following that.

The Beginning of Tragedy

Tragedy - and indeed drama as we know it - first emerged in ancient Greece. There are several different views on how tragedy evolved in Greece. The three main theories are as follows -

1. The first view and least likely to be true tells of a legendary Greek named Thespis, who was famous for riding around in a cart performing drama.
2. Another view is that tragedy itself is derived from the Greek word tragoidos, meaning goat-song. The reason behind this name is that performers either danced for the prize of a goat or wore costumes made from goatskin.
3. The final is from the 4th Century BC Greek philosopher Aristotle. Aristotle was the first recorded person to have researched drama and he concluded that it evolved from the performing of choral singing known as dithyramb.

In truth we do not know the actual reason for the origin of drama in ancient Greece, however it is most likely a combination of the three above reasons. The character of Thespis was probably based on a real life performer in ancient times, though perhaps he was a performer of epic poetry - such as the Illiad and Odyssey by Homer - rather than a conventional actor as we see one today. The second reason would certainly explain the basis of the word tragedy and where that had its beginnings. The third reason is the easiest to link to what we actually know about Greek drama; however the surviving examples of dithyramb we have today have hardly any similarity in form to the earliest plays available.

It is possible that after a time a single actor was added to the chorus in order to portray the various characters that would crop up in the stories. The earliest tragedies we have are mostly chorus, with only short interludes where a character would make a speech. In the earliest plays only one character would ever appear on stage at once. This convention was changed to a huge extent in the course of 100 years. It began in 525BC, with the birth of the first of the three great tragedians Aeschylus. He fought in the Persian Wars at the Battles of Marathon and Salamis in 490 and 480. His is one of the few surviving trilogies in Greek literature, the Oresteia (Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides), and he is credited with the addition of a second actor to the proceedings. This in turn developed what is known as stichomythia, an exchange of short lines between two characters often as an argument. His other great play is the Persians. This was an account of the Persian hierarchy receiving the news of the Battle of Salamis and its aftermath. It is notable as being the only surviving tragedy based on a recent historical event and reads almost as propaganda making fun of the Persians.

The other two great tragedians of 5th Century Athens were Euripides and Sophocles. Sophocles was the earlier of the two, having been born a decade before Euripides. Sophocles' tragedies include Ajax, Electra and his most famous creation the three Theban plays, commonly referred to as the Oedipus Trilogy. The three plays are Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone. Euripides' surviving plays number more than Aeschylus and Sophocles together and include Medea, Hippolytus, Iphigeneia in Tauris and Trojan Women. Though Aristotle claims that Sophocles was the first to introduce a third actor to the stage, this seems unlikely. There are in fact three speaking actors on stage at various points in Aeschylus' Oresteia; however, never at any point is there a conversation between three characters. Only two characters ever speak at a time, yet a third is sometimes present who will speak when one of the others has finished. The Oresteia was produced in 458BC, while Sophocles' career had begun only a decade before this. It is unlikely at this early stage in his career that Sophocles would have been able to make such a big change in the accepted way of things. What is far more likely is that he added a third character that actually joined in the conversation.

Examples

Oedipus the King by Sophocles is called by Aristotle the greatest of all tragic heroes, yet many have argued that his tragic fall is not any fault of his. As you no doubt know if you are at all familiar with the story, the baby Oedipus, son of the King and Queen of Thebes, was born with a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. Upon hearing this, his father Laius and mother Jocasta sent a servant to leave the baby on a mountainside. However, unbeknown to them, the servant gives the baby away and the King and Queen of the neighboring kingdom Corinth eventually adopt the young Oedipus. A drunken reveler tells him that he is not his parent's son and he makes his way to the Oracle at Delphi to explain this. The Oracle reveals to him the prophecy and he flees Corinth, seeking to protect the people he believes to be his parents. Eventually he makes his way to Thebes where he gets into an argument with a traveler on the road, who Oedipus kills in anger. Oedipus enters Thebes after freeing them from the fearsome Sphinx and he is rewarded with marriage to the Queen and the crown of the city. All this has happened previous to the play and it is at this point that the action starts. Thebes has been beset by a plague and investigation reveals that it will only be ended by the expulsion of the murderer of Laius, the previous King. Further digging by Oedipus reveals not only that Laius was the traveler Oedipus met on the road, but also that the King was his father. The remaining action of the play results in Jocasta, wife and mother of Oedipus, killing herself and Oedipus blinding himself and leaving in disgrace.

The argument that Oedipus is not responsible for his fate revolves around the fact that it was prophesied from birth. However it can be argued that his fall is not as a result of what is prophesied but stems from his constant digging and probing into finding the truth. The reason behind his peripeteia is not the fact that he has killed his father and married his mother, but that the fact his own drive causes him to discover this fact. Therefore it can be said that his relentless drive for the truth - whatever the cost and despite the hints not to from those around him - is his excess.

Hippolytus by Euripides - No where is the danger of excess shown more than in this play. The action takes place at the court of King Theseus. At the beginning of the play the goddess Aphrodite is revealed. She explains how she wants to unleash her anger on a mortal named Hippolytus and the deity he worships Artemis. With Theseus away Hippolytus is alone in the palace with his father's wife Phaedra. Aphrodite's plan is to make Phaedra fall in love with Hippolytus. Hippolytus' mother was an Amazon Queen who was raped by Theseus and, perhaps as a result of this, Hippolytus has resolved to remain always chaste and never to have anything to do with women. The virgin goddess Artemis is his choice of patron and he refuses to even acknowledge Aphrodite. As promised by the Goddess of love, Phaedra falls passionately in love with Hippolytus. When she reveals this to him he rejects her and as a result she kills herself because she cannot bear the pain. Theseus returns to find his wife dead and in addition discovers a note from her claiming that she was raped by Hippolytus. Theseus calls curses from his grandfather Poseidon upon Hippolytus and the latter is struck down. As Hippolytus lies dying Artemis reveals the truth to Theseus and swears her own revenge on Aphrodite. Hippolytus dies, having forgiven his father.

Each of the three main characters shows their own excess. Hippolytus shows the excess of chastity, Phaedra the excess of lust and Theseus the excess of anger. Like every Greek play it is these excesses that contributes to the downfall of all three characters.

Shakespeare and his Contemporaries

The period of the 1500s-1600s saw a massive increase of the writing of tragedy. Perhaps the most famous writer of tragedy at this period is arguably England's great writer of any time, William Shakespeare. Although he wrote many plays - including historical plays and comedies - his tragedies are among the most famous in the world. They include Macbeth, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Othello and Titus Andronicus. Shakespeare's tragedies were often characterized by a strong central character who begins the play with certain admirable qualities yet falls from grace by their own free will. It is often true that at any point in the play the central character has the chance to back out of their destiny, yet they never do. Another characteristic of Shakespeare's tragedies is the extraordinarily large amount of characters that end the plays dead. This is shown greatly in Hamlet where the characters Hamlet, Claudius, Polonius, Gertrude, Laertes, Ophelia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are all deceased by the end of the play. Indeed the only main character to survive the play is Horatio, though he does threaten suicide at one point.

Another great tragedian of the time was Christopher Marlowe. In his play Tamburlaine he was the first English author to make use of blank verse, where the writing has a meter but no rhyming. He had an extremely eventful life with conspiracy theories regarding his death still being discussed today, rumors that he was a spy in the service of Sir Francis Walsingham and the introduction to The Jew of Malta written by the famous Machiavelli. Other famous plays include Doctor Faustus, Edward II and The Massacre at Paris. Other English tragedians of the period include John Webster (plays include The Duchess of Malfi and The White Devil) and Ben Johnson (plays include Sejanus and Volpone). The two were very different. Webster wrote disturbing, dark plays which had a very bleak view of human nature. They seemed to be a precursor to Gothic literature of the 18th century. Johnson wrote some tragedies based in Roman history, such as Sejanus and Catiline. He also wrote some very dark comedies, like the play Volpone. At the end of this play, although the young innocent characters have come out of it well, the title character and several others have come to a very nasty end.

There were also many tragedians from other countries of this period. The most notable are the French rivals, Jean Racine and Pierre Corneille. They wrote many plays, some based on Greek tragedies, and often competed directly against each other and other tragedians - Racine in particular released Iphigénie and Phèdre in the same years as versions were released by Leclerc and Pradon respectively. Corneille's works include Médée and Andromède.

Examples

Faust by Christopher Marlowe - this tragedy portrays one of the most used excesses in tragedy. The German Doctor Faust uses dark magic to summon up a demon Mephistopheles. Mephistopheles is obliged to grant his wishes, but only at the cost of Faust's soul. Faust gains wealth, power and the most beautiful woman in the world - but eventually Mephistopheles returns for him.

Faust's excess is obvious. It is his relentless ambition that leads to his summoning of the demon and to his agreeing to Mephistopheles' bargain.

Macbeth by Shakespeare - on the surface this play seems to follow the same pattern as Faust; however, it is slightly different. For those unfamiliar with it, the story follows the Scottish Thane Macbeth, who meets three witches after a battle. They prophesy he will first gain another Thane title and then become King. At first Macbeth is disbelieving, but as the first prophecy comes true Macbeth begins to believe. He returns to King Duncan's court expecting to be made heir to the throne, only to find Duncan's son is to be the next King. Soon he returns home and relays the story to his wife. She pushes him into murdering the King. Despite several attempts to get out of it Macbeth eventually murders Duncan. What follows is Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's individual descents into madness. Lady Macbeth's leads her to suicide, whereas Macbeth's leads to rebellion amongst the Scottish people and his eventual death at the hands of Macduff.

Though on the surface it seems that Macbeth's crime is ambition, there is a key difference. Whereas all of Faust's actions are done through his own choices, Macbeth is driven by people around him. His ambition, rather than forcing him to act, is used and exploited by firstly the witches, then Lady Macbeth. Therefore it can possibly be said that his excess is not an excess of ambition but an excess of weakness in standing up to people.

Hamlet by Shakespeare - this play takes a different direction to Macbeth. The story follows Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. His father is murdered by Claudius, Hamlet's uncle. Claudius marries Hamlet's mother and becomes King himself. During the course of the play Hamlet kills his love Ophelia's father by mistake and she kills herself. At the end of the play Ophelia's brother Laertes challenges Hamlet to a duel. The duel results in them both being killed, as well as Claudius and the Queen.

Hamlet is probably the most discussed character in the history of drama. The rather simplified view of his psyche is that he is simply indecisive. His famous speech which begins "To be or not to be" illustrates this. However many people have argued that he is a man torn between a duty he feels he must do and the fact that he doesn't want to do his duty. He wishes to avenge his father yet the fact during the play he must completely satisfy himself of Claudius' guilt is evidence of this unwillingness to act. Therefore his tragic fall is not the result of an excess but perhaps a lack of willingness to act - a lack of excess perhaps.

Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare - one of the most famous love stories of all time, but also one of the most famous tragedies ever. The story is very basic: two young people from feuding families in Verona meet and fall in love. Romeo's best friend Mercutio is caught up in a fight between Juliet's brother Tybalt and a reluctant Romeo. Mercutio dies and Romeo kills Tybalt in anger. The authorities then exile Romeo and in order to escape to be with him Juliet takes a potion, which gives the impression of her being dead. However the messenger saying she is not dead cannot reach Romeo and he hears instead of her death. He goes to her and takes a poison himself to be with her in death. She awakes to find him dead and takes her own life with his dagger. After their deaths the two families are reconciled and agree to end the feud.

Romeo and Juliet is less a tragedy of character, but more a tragedy of mistiming and bad luck if anything. However, tragedy does not always have to be about an excess of a negative quality and in this case it is possibly an excess of love that results in their downfall.