The Tragic Survival Of The Single Individual

Tragedy originated in ancient Greece and is the product of human spiritual activities.As for the important aesthetic category of tragedy,theorists explore the aesthetic characteristics of tragedy,reveal the essence of tragedy,and form a rich theory of tragedy.In the second chapter of the upper part of his work Either/or,The Tragic in Ancient Drama Reflected in the Tragic in Modern Drama,Kierkegaard explores a series of problems of tragedy in the contrast between ancient and modern tragedies,and expounds his own ideas of tragedy and thoughts.It can be seen that his discussion of tragedy focuses on the survival experience and feelings of tragic characters,which is a tragic view of existentialism.On how to understand Kierkegaard’s tragic view of survival theory,this paper makes a horizontal analysis from three aspects,including what is the tragic nature of existence,what is the tragic state of existence,and the resolution and signi ficance of the tragic nature of existence.First of all,human survival is always inevitably with a tragic background,in the comparison of ancient and modern tragedies,the tragedy of individual people can be clearly defined.First,the tragic performance is suffering,in classical tragedies,the plot or action is the key factor,the suffering of tragic characters is the consequence of actions under the control of fate;in modern tragedies,affected by the personality factors of characters,its suffering can be attributed to self-inflicted blame.Second,the real tragedy needs a factor of tragic sin,which is the root of tragedy,which is embodied in classical tragedy,and the tragic characters follow the universal ethical principles;in modern tragedies,it is ethical sin,and tragic characters lack ethical and moral consciousness,and their sins are transformed into ethical sins.The difference of tragic sin also leads to the difference of tragic emotion,such as direct sad emotion in classical tragedy and reflective painful emotion in modern tragedy.Third,in the ancient and modern changes of tragedies,the prominent feature of modern tragedies is "angst",which is the category of modern tragedies.Kierkegaard integrates ancient and modern tragedies and places Antigone in modern tragedies.Antigone feels the angst of survival in the cognitive and hidden tragic conflict.Angst always exists in existence,and it makes the feeling of pain more profound.Secondly,human tragedy is fully reflected in the specific state of existence.Whether it is direct aesthetic survival or universal ethical survival,it is the tragic survival state of the single individual,and they all move towards the survival dilemma,that is,the melancholy of survival is a sense of guilt,and leads to the demise of survival in despair.Aesthetic people take the pursuit of pleasure as the purpose of life,and therefore experience the nothingness and melancholy of existence,self-angst and uneasiness,and move towards destruction in the sense of guilt.Ethical people feel worried and suffer from ethical criticism because they can not meet the universal requirements of moral ethics.Finally,how the tragic conflict is resolved and the tragic significance of survival lies in the redemption and compassion of religious forces.Angst,as an important opportunity,is not only the dizziness of freedom,but also provides the possibility for free survival and leads people to choose their belief in religion.Religious survival requires that man must come to God as a "single person",and even give up the universal principle for this,which is illustrated by the ethical suspension.Therefore,the knight of faith as a limited existence must be infinitely abandoned with great passion for survival,only to make a choice for religious survival,the leap of this belief is the embodiment of its tragedy.In this process,suffering becomes the basic expression of religious survival,but the Pathetique of survival is dispelled by religious redemption and compassion,and the tragedy of giving up finite because of infinity becomes blurred.The knights of faith are no longer worried about their sins,and the nothingness,despair and pain in existence become negligible from the point of view of the self with eternal validity.They are not only obstacles to survival,but also the driving force for the search for infinite survival.The tragedy of survival therefore brings the possibility of happiness.On the other hand,after making a horizontal analysis of Kierkegaard’s view of tragedy,we must put it in the context of the vertical development of western tragedy theory in order to find its value and limitations and make a comprehensive evaluation and reflection on it.Kierkegaard’s tragic view of survival theory is based on the survival feelings and emotional experiences of tragic characters.compared with other classical tragic theories,its uniqueness and value are mainly reflected in the following three points:first,the sin of the key factor of tragedy.it is subdivided into aesthetic sin and ethical sin,and tragic emotion is embodied in sorrow and pain according to the difference of tragic sin.Second,with the aesthetic effect of emotion as the basic feature,it highlights the inner and emotional experience of tragic characters,rather than the character or image shaping of tragic characters,and pays attention to the internal emotional factors of tragedy,especially the discussion of the psychological state of angst,which lays a foundation for later generations to study tragedies from the perspective of psychology.Third,its tragic spirit is embodied in the concern for individual survival and the respect for human subject initiative,which encourages individuals to find the meaning of life in the continuity and experience of existence,which is also the embodiment of its tragic beauty.Its limitations are mainly reflected in the following two aspects:one is that behind the individual’s subjective initiative and positive action,the individual’s subjectivity is placed under the religious power,and the tragic beauty is weakened,reflecting its weakness;on the other hand,the excessive attention to human inner emotion makes it neglect to think about the essence of tragedy from the perspective of the relationship between environment and human,reality and human,which has a certain one-sidedness.The enlightening significance of Kierkegaard’s tragic view is that by revealing the tragic survival of individuals,Kierkegaard intends to guide people to pay attention to and think about their own survival,and to survive with positive action,so as to become the single individual with eternal validity in the continuity of existence.