Joseph Krutch's essay "The Tragic Fallacy" is an interesting piece that brings to light several fascinating ideas on the topic of tragedy. He references tragedy as "an expression, not of despair, but of the triumph over despair and of confidence in the value of human life" This is a perspective on tragedy that I have not thought of before. It's not the tragic event itself, but the triumph of defeating it. It was such an enlightening idea seems we usually see it as dark, sad, and gloomy when in fact it is the defeat of those things. 
           Another blogger describes tragedy as "a mode of transportation for moral lessons to society", which I find extremely interesting. When we read these tragic tales we think "Oh, how terrible!" but subconsciously we are thinking, "Oh, I would not and will not ever do something like this!" You see, we are learning from these tales and they are delivering moral lessons to us. It's not the tragic event, but the lesson we learn from it. Let's take Romeo and Juliet for example. Looking at tragedy in this new light we discover that it is not the fact that they fall into forbidden love and eventually die, it's the thoughts we have after of, "That would never happen to me." It's the "lesson", so to speak, that we learn. That's the tragic part. 
           Krutch has an intriguing thought when he says "If a teenager is shot at random in a drive-by shooting, his death does not count as a literary tragedy because the victim did nothing to bring such misfortune upon himself." That one will throw your brain for a loop. Everything we had previously thought about tragedy would lead us to believe that this is one of the most tragic things we have ever heard. But in fact, there is nothing tragic about it. There is no lesson to be learned from it because the teenager did nothing to deserve being shot. This act is no longer a tragic occurrence, just a terribly sad one. Thinking about tragedy in this way allows us to redefine the word itself. It is no longer what we thought before.

Antigone is the story following the events of Oedipus. Oedipus' sons have taken control of Thebes and fulfilled and oracles prophecy by killing each other. Antigone's uncle Creon takes control and his son gets engaged to Antigone. This is where Antigone's tragedy begins.

After the battle between the two sons. Creon orders one to be buried and the other to be left out on the battlefield. Antigone feels a moral obligation to bury her brother even though Creon threatened death to anyone who did. Antigone ends up burying her brother and caught by guards. When Creon questions Antigone of her actions she says that she did it and would not let the laws made by man overthrow the laws given by the gods. Antigone is then locked in a cave to die. Eventually Creon changes his mind and goes to uncover Antigone. When he gets there, he finds Antigone dead after she hung herself. Creon's son then commits suicide all Romeo and Juliet style and later Creon's wife does the same. 

The victim of the tragedy is Creon. Antigone dies but she dies doing what she thinks is right. Creon is left alone with the guilt of three deaths haunting him until he dies. This story goes along with the theme of fortune or oracle's visions playing a key role in the Tragedy and determining how the story would end.

Are we in control of our own decisions? Or just a selection of the options we are given? This TED talk really got me thinking. When we are given options, we are under the impression that we are in charge of making our own choice. In fact, we are only able to make a choice out of the options we are given, and when given different options our choice will change. So are we really in control of our decisions? Or are the people making our options in control of what decisions we will make? It's kind of a scary thing to think about. We are manipulated a lot by the options we are given. It makes me wonder if our decisions are pre-determined? Do the creators already know what we will pick, given the right options? This is quite the tragedy when you think about it. Or maybe the tragedy is that we don't even realize what's going on when this is happening.

Miller: "Tragedy of the Common Man" talks about the idea that everybody has an equal chance to fall victim to a tragedy. Normally when we think of tragedies we think of Kings, heroes and those in positions of power because they have a long way to fall. If you think about, the common man has just as far to fall, just in a different way. A King losing an oversea colony is a pretty tragic but a man's car breaking down can be equally devastating. If he needs his car to get to work then he will most certainty lose his job. If he loses his job, he loses his house. A King's colony is far more expensive than a man's car but the loss is more devastating for for the man because he has less. We rarely appreciate tragedy of the common man because it is almost familiar to us. We expect that at anytime a common man can lose everything. Miller said, "the common man knows fear best." A King who lives in a palace seems stable and less likely to lose everything because we don't normally see it happen. 

                                   "Let's make sure that our ideas of success are truly our own"
What is success? Who knows? So many people have an idea of what success is, but I believe everyone's success looks different. Success is achieving whatever goal you have set for yourself. For some it's getting married, having a family, and just being happy. For other's it's getting a college degree and becoming the CEO of a company. There is no one specific definition for success because it looks different for each person.

                                          "We need to be authors of our own ambition"
Often times we are motivated by the desire to please or impress other people. We do things because we think that's what society wants from us. If I drive a nice car and wear expensive things then people will be impressed with me. If I marry the millionaire then people will look up to me. I think it's time we become motivated by the things we want to achieve. Maybe our desire is to open up a delicious donut shop, but we put that goal on the back burner because society tells us it won't pay good enough. Maybe our goal is to become a model but society tells us we don't want to be seen as a dumb blonde. Maybe our goal is simply to live a happy life but society tells us only money will make us happy. Well let's stop putting our true desires on the back burner, and lets start becoming the authors of our own ambition.

                                                  "We can't be successful at everything"
Some people who read that just went into a panic attack. But it's true. I think the problem with today's generation is that we try to be the best at everything. The fact of the matter is that there's almost always going to be someone who's better at something than you (unless you're Usain Bolt. In which case, you are the fastest person in the world.) We are never going to be the best at everything, so why do we try so hard to be? Pick a few things you're good at and you love to do, and do them to the best of your ability. When we spread ourselves to thin and attempt to do everything, we end up dropping the ball. Don't try to be successful at everything because you will never succeed. 

Tragedy: a drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with   unfavorable circumstances. This is the (one of many) technical definition, but we do we think tragedy is? It can be a small occurrence or a catastrophic event. Normally we think of tragedy as something we read about in plays or stories but it can be plainly seen in our everyday lives.  Tragedy is pouring a bowl of cereal, only to discover there is no milk left. Tragedy is the mother who dies giving birth, while the baby lives. Tragedy is the ruler whose kingdom crumbles before him. 
Tragedy is the main theme of many works of literature throughout history. Examples include: Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Oedipus Rex, Julius Caesar, Of Mice and Men, The Book Thief, The Fault In Our Stars, The Lovely Bones, et cetera, et cetera... Each one has a different type of tragedy, the most common being death. In Romeo & Juliet, both Romeo and Juliet die. In Hamlet, who doesn't die? In Macbeth, again, pretty much everyone dies. It continues on for the rest - people die. 
Tragedy makes you feel. It doesn't always have to make you feel sad, but it makes you feel something. It's passionate and extreme and raw. One's tragedy could be dropping their phone in the toilet while another's is the death of a parent in a terrible car accident. 
There is an interesting paper online that talks about the idea that American pop culture does not value tragedy, that we find tragedy depressing. It offers interesting perspective to this topic that is not generally thought about. It includes the following quote:
         "Tragedy is more important than love. Out of all human events, it is tragedy alone that
             brings people out of their own petty desires and into awareness of other humans'
        suffering. Tragedy occurs in human lives so that we will learn to reach out and comfort
                                                                               others"
                                                                          --C. S. Lewis