Post 12: Public Figure Tragedy & Modern vs. Classical Tragedy

A tragedy, in general, is defined as a great suffering, distress, and destruction, such as an accident, crime or even a natural catastrophe. It is something that occurs suddenly and sometimes unexpected, and it never ends well. A tragedy can ruin the lives of many, such as someone losing a person through a tragic event that they are extremely close to and who meant the world to them. This can break a person's heart, and tragedies such as these cause serious pain and suffering for days, weeks, months, years and even a lifetime for those who can't ever seem to let go of it. Tragedies are unforgettable, and will live within those whom it affects for eternity.

In my opinion, I think that modern tragedy is somewhat relatable to classical tragedy in the sense that they both are horrible events that affect people in a negative manner. Their difference occurs in the article we read in Workshop 7 titled Fate, Family and Oedipus Rex, where Aristotle believes that a tragedy must be about a mostly great character who makes one bad mistake, however I don't entirely agree with this statement. I believe that a tragedy most certainly CAN be about someone who makes a bad mistake and has to suffer for it or watch others suffer for it, but it doesn't ALWAYS have to be based on "one mistake" of a certain person. For instance, what about those tragedies where someone randomly dies of a stroke, cancer, heart attack, etc. unexpectedly? 98% of the time there is nothing that someone can do to prevent those kinds of tragedies, so technically no one made a bad mistake. I do think that they can occur in the way that Aristotle believes, but someone doesn't have to make one bad mistake or choice to be affected by a tragedy.

A public tragedy I think is truly a tragic event and that hits very close to home is the Lauren Giddings murder, which happened right here in Macon, GA. Lauren Giddings was a 26 year old Mercer Law School student who was murdered by her fellow classmate, Stephen McDaniel in 2011. Giddings went missing on a Saturday night, where McDaniel used a spare key to her apartment, came inside in the middle of the night, attacked Giddings and strangled her to her death. Along with the horrific death, McDaniel also dismembered her body and dumped the limbs in different trash cans in the area,  where later the autopsy identified the remaining torso as Lauren Giddings. McDaniel was interviewed the day she was reported missing, where he acted in complete shock and grief at her disappearance, but days later was arrested and eventually plead guilty to her murder, where he admitted everything he did and that he wanted to get away with the perfect murder. I can't even begin to imagine how the family, friends, classmates, and acquaintances of Giddings must have felt, reacted, or even how they feel about it now. This event was a true tragedy, that has not only shaken up and horrified Giddings' loved ones, but even the town of Macon, Georgia. This case has even caught the attention of the US as well, where an episode based on this horrific tragedy was remade and aired on cable TV as "Nightmare Next Door" on the Investigation Discovery channel. Based on this tragedy, a man did indeed make one bad decision, that cost the life of an amazing and brilliant woman, and now he will suffer for it (although that will never amount to enough) but most unfortunately, her loved ones will suffer through life without her because of one man's selfish act and decision as well.

http://macon.13wmaz.com/news/news/body-found-during-search-macon-law-graduate/54621
http://www.macon.com/news/local/crime/article33540897.html