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| Egon Schiele, Portrait of Anton Peschka, 1909 |
Aristotle suggested that proper tragedy should always
move toward the moment of self-reflection/self-recognition (anagnorisis) that transforms the tragic hero’s consciousness. Does such a moment arrive for Gustl? Why or why not? Is Lt. Gustl a tragedy or a comedy?
I would say that it is more of a comedy than a tragedy.
ReplyDeleteGustl is a horrible, narcissistic egocentric character. he is a character that was made to be hated. if it were to be a "proper tragedy" then the reader should expect to see that in the end the main character reaches a point of "anahnorisis". after Gustl's encounter with the baker, when Gustl is walking the streets contemplating suicide and its consequences, this is the moment when the reader should expect to see a moment of realization. a moment where Gustl comes to see how his behavior and personality is flawed and how he can better himself if he changes. the reader, instead, sees that he comes to find the baker had coincidentally died.this allows the Gustl to avoid suicide (or further interaction with the baker) and continue on being the horrible person he is. in the end he notes that he says how sad he is for the death of the baker but internally he was holding back shouting and jumping on the billiard table. this false facade of sympathy with the internal enjoyment of the death of the baker that gives Gustl the ability to be rid of his sins and continue living as he has leaves Gustl with no moment of "anagnorisis". therefore this story is not a tragedy.
I completely agree with what Jordan has said. As Aristotle claimed, a tragedy should feature a character that changes and develops as the story progresses. Lieutenant Gustl should have, in a tragedy, been working on growing from his mistakes and shortcomings. However, as he contemplates suicide, his narcissism does not allow him to see past himself. He mentions multiple times how those close to him might react, but, each time, he finds a way to disregard their emotions and possible reactions, focusing instead on himself. At one point, he begins to write a letter saying goodbye to his "dear" sister, but then finds it too hard for him to write and dismisses the idea without another thought, even though it might have been beneficial to her. At no point in the story does he come to a moment where he reflects on himself and his actions up to this point. At the end, he does not feel remorse for the death because all he sees is that this turn of events has been beneficial to him. Overall, this story is definitely not a tragedy, but a comedy. Each time the audience thinks Gustl might be developing, he stops and continues in his self-absorbed, narcissistic ways, almost as if teasing us with the thought of character development.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that this story is a tragedy. For this story to be a tragedy, Gustl would have to show some type of character development or reached some level of self-awareness. Throughout the story, there are only a few instances where Gustl comes close to becoming self-aware, but each time he comes close, he doubles back. There are a few instances where Gustl eludes to readers that he is going crazy and at these points, Gustl just changes his train of thought right after he states it. Towards the end of the story Gustl thinks, “I believe I’m beginning to lose my mind” (47). But right after this, instead of building on this and actually realizing that this might be true, he begins to think about one of his previous romances Adele. His stream of consciousness is so discontinuous that it is at times hard to tell if what he is thinking is actually a deep and meaningful thought or just a quick fleeting surface thought. In addition to this, even if the reader just looks at the big picture of the story they can see that Gustl is no different at the end of the story than he is at the beginning. Even though he has been ‘saved’ from killing himself because the baker that he thinks insulted him died, if something similar happened to him again I think he would spiral out of control in the same exact way as he did in this story. The only reason that Gustl is even alive is because of pure luck.
ReplyDeleteA tragedy is a drama in which a character participates in a recognition and change of the self. Upon my first analysis, Lieutenant Gustl definitely doesn’t not go through a change in character or self-reflection. The novella is Gustl’s stream of consciousness about shallow and important factors of his day-to-day issues and assumptions about the things and people around him. He seems to be a selfish man, urged to commit suicide for attention and pity. After his thought of suicide, he did have flashes of consciousness such as his being scared (pg. 44) and possibly troubled about his lack of religiousness (pg. 28) because he thought his mother would be ashamed of him. It seems that we left Gustl in a liminal state of mind, where he initially thinks he no longer needs to end his life, however it is plain to see that the thoughts will likely reoccur. This novella seems to be a comedy more than anything, a play on the thoughts of an involved and esteemed man in the late 19th century.
ReplyDeleteContrary to Aristotle's suggestion, I believe Lt. Gustl is a tragedy because the protagonist never moves towards self-reflection or self-recognition. Throughout the novel he makes a habit of blaming everyone around him for his life, and believes that external circumstances dictate the way he acts and who he has become. He blames his friend for giving him a ticket to a show, which is a gesture that should be viewed as kind and is not an intentional punishment. After the show, he blames the baker for calling him a fathead privately after he very publicly told the baker to shut up. He later blames the baker for his own personal decision to attempt suicide because of the public humiliation he endured. However, Lt. Gustl only experienced that public humiliation because he told the baker to shut up. It’s tragic that the baker, a braver man than Lt. Gustl, died and Gustl, a self-absorbed man, blamed the baker for his ability to now live his life without anyone knowing that he was impolite. Lt. Gustl felt joy in the unexpected death of another man, but wanted people to mourn over the death he was planning. He never realized that he is responsible for his own life or that he is narcissistic and apathetic towards the suffering of others. There is a lot of situational irony in this novella, which usually creates a comedic effect, but this particular case leads us further into tragedy. I believe the true tragedy in this story is the fact that Lt. Gustl, in the face of potential suicide, still failed to realize how pathetic it was that he decided to live only because someone else died, and felt joy in that.
ReplyDelete“Lieutenant Gustl” is the story of an arrogant, egocentric, selfish man. These characteristics are depicted as the story unfolds and the main characters selfish actions are exposed. Lieutenant Gustl’s arrogance is highlighted in the scene when he contemplates which women are flirting with him at the opera. This mere obsession of himself leads me to believe that the main character is nowhere near moving towards a moment of self-reflection.
ReplyDeleteThis selfishness is visible to the reader all the way to the very end of the novella. Lt. Gustl reflects on the death saying, “I don’t think I’ve felt this happy as long as I’ve lived. He’s dead—dead!” He feels no sense of guilt, but instead he is overwhelmed with joy because he is better off.
It is clear to the reader that this story is not a tragedy but is in fact a comedy. A comedy is defined as a work in which “the main character(s) manage to avert an impending disaster and have a happy ending”. This is displayed in the main character in this novella and therefore, this story is in fact a comedy.