Tragedy Paper Description (2025)
This project asks you to analyze a game in terms of tragedy. I know that is not very specific, but I cannot necessarily predict what *kind* of of analysis you should do, or what “terms of tragedy” will be relevant to your experience of the game. So, if I am cryptic here, it is because I am giving you space to tell me about your game and what makes it tragic–or, what elements of the game most resonate with the scholarship on tragedy we have read.
I have one major, non-negotiable content requirement for the paper: it has to draw upon Aristotle, Curran, and one other source from Canvas, to craft a theory of catharsis. This section has to summarize, compare, and/or contrast at least 3 different versions of catharsis explored by Curran in her piece. I want someone who has never heard the term to read this section of the paper and understand that there’s several viable ways scholars use this term to describe different (but, um, maybe similar) aesthetic experiences. This section of the paper should be at least a page, if not two. I need to see you wrestling with the theoretical terms, tactfully and respectfully comparing complicated ideas, and articulating your own sense of the term.
Note that you might use more than one definition of catharsis in your paper, exploring how different senses are operating simultaneously. You might spend more time in your paper focusing on the complex ways the game modulates our relationship to the tragic protagonist. Maybe you want to walk through a lot of scenes that show us the characters tragic flaw (hamarita) in action. The analysis, the body of the paper, is really up to you (and I’ll get into this more below).
Whatever you choose to do, the paper should “close read,” similar to how we read a song in class, or the ways I try to analyze Last of Us, particular scenes. Take us really close to a specific scene–the scenes that most help us understand what, in terms of tragedy, the game does well. Or, show us what it doesn’t do well! Whatever. It is your paper, your experience. I just want to make sure that you can take esoteric, complex theory (catharsis) and apply it to a lived experience. Because that’s the world I want to live in–a world in which people can use their own experience as evidence for the world they want to construct.
Vitals
- The paper should be 8 to 12 pages (say 2000 to 3200 words)
- The paper should be written in MLA or APA format with a corresponding Works Cited / Reference List. You should use the OWL MLA or OWL APA websites for formatting.
- As I indicate above, the paper needs to develop a definition of catharsis. This should include citing and explaining (the ambiguities) in Aristotle’s definition and explaining at least two of the competing definitions Curran presents. It will likely take you 2 pages (double-spaced) to do this. You might explain two versions of catharsis relevant to your paper, or contrast two and ultimately only use one. The learning objective for this part of the paper is that you can summarize/explicate intricate theory in your own terms.
- The paper needs to work with one additional term we’ve discussed this project (see resources below). You might have to look up other sources to help develop your understanding of the term (Wikipedia, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, etc). Be sure to include these in your Works Cited / Reference List (check formatting in OWL). It is your job to talk about how/why this term relates to catharsis and then, in the paper, to talk about why that term is specifically important to understanding your experience of that game.
- Taken together, these explications build what we, in the humanities, often call the Theoretical or Critical Lens for analyzing a game. The interpretation of catharsis you champion here HAS to show up in your analysis. Did *you* feel clarification, purge, refinement?
- ^^^The paper needs to discuss your experiences and feelings. Not everyone will feel the same way about a piece of art. Where are the moments that grabbed you? Or failed to grab you? Etc.
Whatever your focal point, the paper should close-read 2-4 scenes from the game that help me understand the answer to one (or more) of the following questions [or any other interesting question you can develop that has something to do with tragedy, catharsis, etc]:
- Is this game a tragedy (by Aristotelian standards)?
- Did you have a cathartic experience? What is that experience? To what extent does it concern “pity” or “fear”? Might you suggest a different word/emotion?
- How/does the interactive nature of the game augment/diminish its potential as a tragedy capable of producing catharsis? Think of Last of Us and how [redacted]. HOWEVER, if you were to focus on [redacted], then we aren’t “acting,” we are merely witnessing, watching. (And, were I to write about this game, I would have 3 sections of the paper: Loss (focusing on the opening scene, Tess’ death, [redacted]), [Redacted] (redacted), and Lies (redacted).
- Explore the complex relationship to the game’s protagonist / argue for the agent of the tragic action etc. Revisit the tragic term list, what other term comes to mind when you think of your game? [Shadow and unexpected turn / epiphany for instance]
Remember that these questions are mostly suggestive or advisory. Meaning–you can write about what deserves to be written about, so long as it is anywhere near the ballpark of what we’ve discussed in class. You do have to show me you can read several academic sources and define catharsis–the stuff in the first bulleted list is non-negotiable. The stuff in the second bulleted list is offered as potential avenues for analysis. However, what you do in the paper is up to you. I want to read a paper that uses the concept of catharsis and another Greek aesthetic term to say something smart. Point to specific elements, scenes, choices, dialogue in the game. Don’t merely summarize plot, but analyze aesthetic intent and effects.
Finally, the paper needs to have an introduction that details your argument. Your answer(s) to that/those question(s) is your thesis. It is the point that your paper is attempting to prove. Make sure your introduction lays the argument out and “road maps” the route the paper will take to get there. The paragraphs examining scenes are your evidence in support. As I have already probably emphasized in hyperbolic and melodramatic ways, I really care that your opening paragraphs are written after your paper.
The exact argument and organization of the paper is up to you: I cannot predict or assure that the questions I lay out above will work for every person’s experience with any given game. They are starting points. If you analyze specific scenes of the game using the theoretical readings we’ve read and discussed in order to reflect on your play and the designer’s intentions, you are ensured at least a B on the paper (see the rubric in Canvas). As the examples we’ll look at emphasize, I do advise using meaningful section headings.
