| The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996. |
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| NUMBER: | 8209 |
| QUOTATION: | No one attaches a transcendent meaning to the “errors” of comedy, much less of farce. Mistaken identities, misunderstandings about what some character said or meant, mistakes about bedroom doors—these help to complicate the plot and are all part of the fun. On the level of farce, Oedipus was mistaken about the identity of his parents, he misunderstood the true significance of what the oracle said, and he went into the wrong bedroom.... The difference in tragedy is that the errors are fatal and that, although they can be dissipated at the end, their consequences cannot. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Geoffrey Brereton, British educator, critic. “The Legacy of Aristotle,” Principles of Tragedy, University of Miami Press (1968). |
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| | | The Columbia World of Quotations. Copyright © 1996 Columbia University Press. |
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