Modern Tragedy and its Goergian Impications

Abstract

The aesthetics of late realism and early modernism brought about great chan­ges in the world literature, including the canon and dynamics of the genre of tra­gedy. Among the fundamental changes revealed in the tragedies of this period, the following deserve special mention:

• Transformation of the epicenter of the tragedy from “hero” to “victim”;


• Weaving the history of tragedy into everyday life;


• Activation of taboo topics;


• Transformation of tragic pathos.

The pioneer of these changes is Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), who is rightly considered the founder of Modern tragedy. Ibsen took the tragic stories out of the walls of palaces and luxurious interiors and transferred them to everyday life. Ibsen's characters explore a contradictory world full of lies, hypocrisy and forgery, only to discover that, despite their opposition, they, as human beings, are part of this world and, by inheritance, carry the destructive code themselves. August Strindberg, John Millington Saing, Gerhart Hauptmann, Anton Chekhov, Luigi Pirandello are success­fully working in the same direction, developing the tragic theme of "sinful reality" and human self-isolation in it.

The process of shifting the focus from the hero to the victim was also reflected in Georgian writing. This metamorphosis was first reflected in the work of the genius author of the late realism era, Vazha-Pshavela – “Snake Eater”. The main subject of Vazha-Pshavela's attention is a person, an individual who exists in the conditions of a certain society, i.e. objective environment and tries to establish himself in it as an individual person. As a result, he finds himself in fatal conflict with society. This new perspective of vision expressed in Vazha-Pshavela's texts, coupled with the concept of decadence, represents a direct path to Georgian modernism in parallel with European writing, where the era of modernism is already shining on the horizon.

This trend was continued with great success in the work of another Georgian classic writer David Kldiashvili, who was able to read the tragic code of his time, when in the midst of social distress and acute spiritual crisis, it was not death, but life, that made human tragedy. Besides, Kldiashvili was famous for an indeep stylistic use of satire and humor. Satire and humor diluted in tears became one of the most important levers of David Kldiashvili's writing. In Kldiashvili's dramaturgy, humor acquired an almost medieval depth of parody (Rabelais, Cervantes) and a reviving (lost values) function. Kldiashvili's humor represented the aesthetic reverse of the dramatic, tense, often tragic, re-opening the social life dilemmas of ordinary people, the extremity of their situation, the crisis of relationships. Kldiashvili’s characters are forced to live in lies and illusions, hoping to somehow survive. However, in most cases, illusions are shattered, and this shattering leads to tragic consequences.

David Kldiashvili's two plays – "The Misfortunes od Darispan" and "Irene's Happiness" – premiered European modern tragedy in Georgian national dramaturgy. The dramatism of those texts is determined by the reality reflected in them: the extreme social poverty of the dying class – the petty nobility, economic, spiritual and intellectual destruction, the crisis of relations. "The Misfortunes od Darispan" is a modern tragedy, bordering on, but not equal to, the pathos of Shakespeare’s tragi­comedies: Kldiashvili’s play stylistically – with a synthesis of the tragic and comic, as well as with an emphasis on the grotesque-comic and philosophical laughter – carries a pro-Shakespearean spirit, however, conceptually it meets the aesthetic require­ments of its era and remains the Georgian analogue of the tragedy of Ibsen, Chekhov and other founders of the modern drama. "Irene's Happiness" is devoid of the genre of tragi-comedy and stands as a serious drama. The central character of the play – Irene, with her strong character and sense of dignity, is related to the gallery of "strong women" created by Lope de Vega and Tirso de Molina. Irene fully under­stands her plight, learns the tragedy of her own pseudo-happiness and even struggles to save herself, but – in vain. The writer moves the physical death of the character to the background – Irene dies spiritually.

Although the third text of Kldiashvili discussed in the article – "Samanishvili's Step-Mother" – is not a play, we believe that its interpration is quite appropriate in terms of the fragile model of Modern tragedy and Lessing's Theater of sympathy. In this text, the regenerative function of parody is implemented, against the background of strengthening the function of the reader. The reader/viewer observes not only the fate of the heroes, representatives of a certain social stratum – an impoverished principality – but also the actions and consequences arising from this misfortune, and goes through the most difficult phases of ethical transformation: on the one hand, the reader/viewer sympathizes with the character, on the other hand , he reflects on the character's degraded moral obligations, and finally – the reader/viewer is reborn. This path leads not to Aristotelian fear and pity, but to Lessingian compassion.