When we hear the words tragedies and comedies we can reference them to death and jokes; however, there is more to these concepts than can come to one’s mind especially in drama. In tragedies there is often the downfall of a tragic hero whereas in comedies the unexpected rise of the comic protagonist is to be laughed at due to the wit and humor used. Tragedies end in catastrophe as seen in the death of Romeo and Juliet unlike in comedies where the conflicts are to be made fun of, for example in Sure Thing, Bill the comic protagonist, makes every possible mistake when trying to pick up a girl in a café, but somehow still ends up getting the girl after many attempts. Tragedies and comedies are mostly defined by the emotions they evoke in the public …show more content…
The plot of a tragedy tends to end in the misfortune of a tragic hero: it seems to be expected. Aristotle refers to tragedy as “…the downfall of a basically good person through some fatal error or misjudgment, producing suffering and insight on the part of the protagonist and arousing pity and fear on the part of the audience” (Simpson). Tragedies do not only affect bad characters on the contrary it has a bigger effect if the heroine suffers the misfortune due to a mistake made, ‘consequences could include the loss of power or their life’ (Kennedy and Gioia 680). Aristotle, has three basic principles for a tragedy which are, it “should evoke pity and fear on the part of the audience, the tragic hero must be essentially admirable and good, [lastly] the hero’s demise must come as a result of some personal error or decision” (Simpson). Romeo and Juliet meets all three principles, for instance of all the people they could have fallen in love with their families rivals, giving signs that their love was doomed to end in catastrophe, therefore evoking pity …show more content…
These forms of comedy have different approaches on how intend to make the public laugh, for instance in satiric comedy they tend to make fun of a characters weakness, the way they act, or what they believe in. High comedy will consist more of “wit and wordplay” on the contrary of low comedy who show a “greater emphasis on physical action and visual gags” (Kennedy and Gioia 690-691). Romantic comedy is differs the most of the four since it tries to get the public to view characters with kindness as they fall in love with unfortunate accidents. In Sure Thing we meet Bill and Betty, Betty is sitting in the café reading quietly until Bill comes around asking for a seat this scene repeats itself various times, but the response from Betty changes after the sound of every bell. Just the idea of this one-act play is comedic, by seeing how the protagonist Bill, is struggling to obtain the attention of Betty after make many mistakes with every opportunity given by the bell. For example, in this scene from Sure Thing we can take notice of how the characters responses