an attitude that can lead himself or herself, and even the other people, to the tragic situation. Lemme says in his theory that, “Stress occurs when a person perceives
an event as threatening and feels overwhelmed, helpless, and unable to cope” 1995: 400. This means that when a person is facing something which makes the
person threatened and unable to overcome it, the person will feel stressed. According to the theory, stress can lead someone to have many emotional
responses, such as anger, annoyance, or grief 1995: 400. Further explanation was given by Lemme that,
The general rule is that as stress increases, negative emotions increase. Stress can impair cognitive ability and task performance, disrupting
attention, concentration, memory, and judgment. It can lead, too, to interpersonal problems as the individual becomes self-absorbed, insecure,
irritable, and so on 1995: 400-401.
Stress does not only lead someone to some negative expressions, but also there are some effects. The effects of stress can be dangerous. There are some
symptomps when somebody gets some depressions in life, such as feeling of hopelessness, pessimism, and thoughts of suicide or death Lemme, 1995: 416.
D. Theoretical Framework
In this study, the topic that is going to be discussed is the contributions of main character’s characteristics to the tragedy. To discover that, the first thing that
must be done is finding out the characteristics of the main character. The theory that is going to be used to figure out the characteristics is Abrams’ theory of
characterization. This theory will be used to reveal the characteristics of the main character, and the method is by paying attention to the speech and acts of the main
character. Another theory of characterization that will be used is from Christopher R. Reaske. This theory will be used to reveal the characteristics by looking at the
language, hidden narration, dialogue between characters, etc. The next theory that will be used in this study is the theory that explains
about tragedy. The theory that will be used is from Edward J. Gordon. The theory will be used to give explanation on what kind of tragedy that becomes the focus of
this study, so that all the tragedies which are presented and discussed in this study are the same with the tragedy which is defined by the theory.
After revealing the characteristics of the main character and the tragedy in life, the next thing to do is to find out the relation between main character’s
characteristics and the tragedy. In doing this, some theories of psychology will be used to explore the personality of the main character and to reveal how they give
contributions to the aspects in life, in this case, the tragedy. The theories used do not explain about direct contributions to the tragedy, but to provide explanation
that one’s characteristics can give effects to certain elements which later can lead to the tragedy in life.
