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Dual Standard of Tragedy: Public Vs. Private Motif
Summary: Writers often utilize the public versus private motif as a tool of suspense, in which evil characters can maintain their privacy and appearance of high moral character, while the exposure of even a small part of innocent characters' lives result in the public's judging them beyond reason. A comparison of William Shakespeare's Othello and Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter illustrates the aspect of tragedy when this motif is introduced.
Often within books, readers find that authors, in the name of excitement for the reader, give the best to the villains and the worst to the innocent. It is this added element of giving the best to the "bad guys" that not only remains necessary for the development of the story, but adds suspense to the mind of the reader and furthers the plot of the tragedy. The public versus private motif has always been used as a writer's tool of suspense, allowing the evilest of creatures to keep their privacy and seem moral, and at the same time the most innocent of characters lives are exposed, allowing the public to judge them beyond reason. The dual standard of a public and private life in a tragedy is that the most evil private lives be kept secret, and the most innocent private lives be exposed. It is this...
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This section contains 1,122 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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