Tragic Endings

This week we finished our tragic hero posters and began presenting. We also wrote essays over an element of our tragic hero and how it related to the tragedy of Oedipus Rex. My group and I did our project over The Great Gatsby, who's tragic hero was Jay Gatsby. He was the protagonist in the film who was destined for tragedy. I was assigned the element of catastrophe, which includes 4 different scenes; reversal of fortune, reversal of intention,  recognition, and scene of suffering. It is also broken up into two parts; peripeteia and anagnorisis. The reversal of fortune occurred when Daisy told Gatsby that she did love Tom once, but she loved him too. This wasn't what Gatsby was wanting to hear, it wasn't enough for him. Reversal of intention was when Gatsby was trying to calm Daisy by taking her for a drive, but ended up killing Myrtle. Skipping ahead, recognition occurred when Gatsby realized he was shot, and nothing will ever matter anymore because it's too late; he's about to die. The scene of suffering was sadly his funeral. Not a single one of the massive audience he used to entertain showed up except for Nick, his one true friend. Not even Daisy.

In Oedipus Rex, peripeteia and anagnorisis can both be found. Peripeteia, by definition, is the sudden reversal of change or fortune in circumstances; the plot then proceeds to its denouement. This occurs in the play when the Messenger shows up from Corinth. He is only trying to ease Oedipus' mind by telling him his news, when it backfires and leads Oedipus straight to his fate. Anagnorisis is when the character in the play makes a crucial discovery; it means recognition. This occurs when the combined evidence of the messenger and the shepherd force Oedipus to realize who he truly is and what he has really done. Oedipus became very curious about his past even though he was told to leave it alone, and ended up doing what the prophecy said would happen.