Inheritance And Adaptation Of Tragedy

This thesis aims to study the inheritance and adaptation from the ancient Greek tragedy to the modern tragic novel via the perspective of Aristotle's tragedy theory.Albeit its multi-layer meanings,tragedy in this context is defined as a general concept across literary genre.As a classical work of fate tragedy,Oedipus the King condenses the essence of ancient Greek tragedy,named “the perfect tragedy” by Aristotle.Deeply influenced by the ancient Greek tragedy,Theodore Dreiser's tragic novel,An American Tragedy,permeates splendid Greek tragic spirits and the thought of fatalism.Using Oedipus the King and An American Tragedy as two concrete examples,this thesis mainly demonstrates the inheritance and adaptation of tragedy in An American Tragedy.The analysis is carried out respectively from the theme and the artistic form with a close reading of the text.The first chapter defines the meaning of tragedy,illustrating from the source to its changes.It then explains Aristotle's theory of tragedy.The second chapter elaborates the embodiment of inheritance.As of the tragic theme,Oedipus and Clyde have made indomitable struggles with their fates but eventually end in tragedy.On the artistic form,the inheritance can be found from the imitation of life,“reversal” and “discovery” of the plot and characterization.The third chapter expatiates in detail the adaptation of An American Tragedy.While Oedipus the King is a eulogy of human civilization,An American Tragedy negates neither human civilization nor human beings.The protagonist's shaping shifts from god and hero to lower-class people.Plot descriptions also draw from external to internal.To sum,both in form and content,enormously influenced by the ancient Greek tragedy,the modern tragic novel has not only inseparable relation with it,but also significant differences from it.