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6. Theory of the Positive Value of Tragedy
According to Maguire tragedy has “a potentially positive value for the expansion of moral consciousness” 358. However, it is possible to admit that
suffering is intrinsic to living. Given the ability to choose, “whether tragedy and suffering contribute positively to one’s growth depends entirely on one’s response
to them” 358. Further, Maguire states “what is special about a person is their ability to
transcend suffering and transform it into something positive” 359. A horse, for example, that was born deaf and blind would be best put to death. On the contrary,
Helen Keller, was born with these terrible disabilities, and yet “she was a person and as such was able to transcend them marvelously and bring much fulfillment to
her own life and much hope to the lives of others” 359. Here, the words tragedy, suffering, and the unavoidable events are used
interchangeably. The positive thing that people can grasp from the tragedy is that, “as a moral teacher, it draws the consciousness more deeply into the foundational
experience of the personhood” 359. As what Helen Keller has shown to the world, her greatness related to her tragedy.
Leclereq, as cited in Maguire’s, goes so far as to say: “I can take it as a general rule that when I meet a man in whom I discern some profundity of
character, that is to say a strong personality, I almost always find when I come to know him well that he has been scarred by suffering.” 359. In terms of ethical
method, one’s response to suffering can bring moral depth to his character and can make his affective response to moral truth more sensitive. In the light of tragedy
22 and suffering, Maguire refers to a painful experience that is not of one’s own
choosing, something that cuts athwart one’s plans and hopes, which he would avoid if at all possible. Tragedy is the hurting experience that he would do
anything to avoid 360. Leclereq, as cited in Maguire’s, says “suffering is never absolute, as long
as man is conscious of pursuing his end. If there is meaning that endures in spite of the suffering, then the tragic dimension will not blot out hope or stifle the
process of growth 361.. Tragedy is an opportunity and may be an opening to creativity. It is said that someone who has experienced great tragedy “he was
never the same after that.” Tragedy acquaints people with reality in a new way. It changes them. Perception, however, is conditioned by their state of being. They
are not the same after tragedy, nor do things appear to them afterward in the same light.
B. Theoretical Framework
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