The stuff of which
tragedy and comedy are made is the same stuff. The foibles of mankind
work up more easily into comedy than into
tragedy, and this is the chief difference between the two. We readily
understand the Nemesis of temperament, the fatality of character, when
it is exposed on a small scale. This is the business of comedy; and we
do not here require the labored artifice of gods, mechanical plot, and
pointed allegory to make us realize the moral. But in tragedy we have
the large scale to deal with. A tragedy is always the same thing. It is a
world of complicated and traditional stage devices for making us
realize the helplessness of mankind before destiny. We are told from the
start to expect the worst: there is going to be suffering, and the
suffering is going to be logical, inevitable, necessary. There is also
an implication to be conveyed that this suffering is somehow in accord
with the moral constitution of the universe.
~ John J. Chapman
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I have ideas sometimes. Things just come into my mind. Sometimes I do things with them - blog them, write about them, tell stories about them.
One time I had an idea for a play or a short story. The title was, "A Nightcap with my Nemesis." I didn't really get further than that.
I also had an idea for a new word - "apricats." But I couldn't decided if it was a sort feline fruit snack or some cool people who like apricots.
It's rare that the quote for my blog is longer than the entry. But this is one of those times.
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