Another important concept we have learned in class, is how stories work, the archetypes of stories. Thanks to Northrup Frye we have some clearly defined concepts of the different types of stories you can have. The four main types of stories are:
· Tragedies – a hero who falls
· Comedies – a hero who rises
· Romances – a hero who falls and rises again
· Ironies – a low person who rises to a point and then falls back to his original state or lower
These are the basic archetypes of plots according to Frye, but not all critics agree with these definitions. Comedy and tragedy have many different definitions, and there are many different types of comedy and tragedy too. The different types of comedy include: farce, burlesque, travesty, lampoon, parody, and satire. The definitions of tragedy have changed too, from Aristotle’s definition of “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude” that is written to accomplish katharsis to Miller’s definition of a common man who refuses to give up his dignity or place in society even though it is hopeless. The definitions might not be the same, but there are reoccurring ways plots behave that are the archetypes of literature.
Great work. I think you did a great job of taking many complex concepts that we learned in class and simplifying them to be easily understandable in a short yet comprehensive manner. I think however you could elaborate a little bit with certain concepts. Maybe back up your enlargements with some examples? I find examples to always be helpful, other than that good work!
ReplyDeleteYour summation of Frye's work is great. The only thing that I think could be improved is more information on the types of comedy because seeing them listed out like that sort of confuses them for me. So seeing the differences between them laid out would be nice.
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