Fate, Vitality And Tragedy

The question Zhu Guangqian discussed in ‘the Psychology of Tragedy' is: Why do we love tragedy? How can they bring us pleasure while making us painful? In the process of looking for answers, he criticized and absorbed various tragedy pleasure theories. Against this background, this paper attempts to find out the standard of his criticism, which is closely related to his tragedy view.Chapter one: Tragedy and the "psychological distance" theory. Zhu Guangqian used the famous "psychological distance" theory to emphasize the aesthetic function of tragedy, and criticized the "malevolence" theory of Faguet, the "sympathy" theory of burke, because they confuse the real world and the aesthetic world. Tragedians take a variety of measures to lead the audiences(readers) into the aesthetic world so that they may get a deeper understanding of fate and vitality.Chapter two: Tragedy and fate. By criticizing Aristotle's theory about the character of tragic protagonists, Zhu Guangqian chose fate instead of justice as the decisive force in a tragedy, and accordingly criticized the tragedy theories of Hegel and Bradley. As far as he is concerned, the concept of fate is essential to a tragedy and the understanding of tragedy from the perspectives of secular philosophy and religion would gradually make tragedy die.Chapter three: Tragedy and vitality. Only by using aesthetic eyes can we recognize the presence of vitality. Zhu Guangqian's opinion of vitality is roughly the same as Nietzsche's Will to Power, which is not only the driving force of eternal lives, but also the fundamental source of the pleasure of tragedy as well. Individuals transform pain into pleasure during physical, mental and emotional activities while they see triumph of life in the destruction of the tragic hero.Through my study, it could be found that Zhu Guangqian's tragedy view has never been succeed in separating from two concepts: the real world and the aesthetic world. They each represent the real state and the ideal state of men. However, transcending from the real state to the ideal state is the inherited nature and deep aspirations of human race, which depends on the will of life and could bring us supreme pleasure. The secret of tragedy is the presentation of eternal will and the highlight of the ideal world.