ABSTRACT
Tragedy dramatizes human life as potentiality and fulfilment. A dramatic act is a commitment. It creates a situation in which the agent must necessarily make a further move; that is, it motivates a subsequent act. Tragic drama is so designed that the protagonist grows mentally, emotionally, or morally, by the demand of the action, to the complete exhaustion of his powers, that limit of his possible development. The fact that the two great rhythms, comic and tragic, are radically distinct does not mean that they are each other's opposites, or even incompatible forms. Society is continuous though its members, even the strongest and fairest, live out their lives and die; and even while each individual fulfils the tragic pattern it participates also in the comic continuity. The humorous interludes in tragedy are merely moments when the comic spirit rises to the point of hilarity.
