Modern Domestic Tragedy
Literature in English: Cambridge International GCSE A Streetcar Named Desire, topic 1.3.2
Characters in Modern Domestic Tragedies
In modern domestic tragedies, the characters do not have to be as grand as a King or a Prince but they often still have a particular status in the society in which they operate.
Tragic flaw
- The main character can still have a tragic flaw.
Character and society
- The wider society may be considered tragic because the text is set in a particular era or time period.
- Very often, the tragic hero or heroine will find themselves at odds with the society around them - so that they do not quite fit.
- Sometimes, a character tries to rise too quickly in society and pays the price for their ambition.
Features of Modern Domestic Tragedies
Modern domestic tragedies such as A Streetcar Named Desire often have the following core components:
Harsh reality
- They explore the painfulness of a world where fictions of a rational social order can no longer be maintained.
- E.g. Blanche knows that the ordered past can no longer be relied upon.
Anti-heroes
- The figures of modern tragedies are anti-heroes. This means that they are just ordinary people as opposed to the great men and women of earlier tragedies.
- E.g. Blanche and Stanley are just normal people in New Orleans.
Family life
- They focus on family life – the drama tends to look inward at one’s self and one’s immediate surrounds.
- E.g. the focus here upon Stella and Stanley’s apartment.
Psychological emphasis
- There is a psychological emphasis.
- E.g. with all of the main characters in the tragedy Williams had constructed.
Disorder of the mind
- The emphasis in modern tragedy is on the disorder of the mind as well as the disorder of the wider world.
- E.g. when Blanche suffers from a breakdown at the end of the drama.
Test yourself on Modern Domestic Tragedy
In what ways are tragic heroes in modern domestic tragedies like traditional tragic heroes?
Which of these are often true of tragic heroes and heroines in modern domestic tragedies?
What makes the characters in modern tragedies different from those in earlier tragedies?