The portrayal of the tragic love story: through pictorial and operatic representation

Background/Introduction My essay is going to look at the portrayal of the tragic love story. I am going to compare a variety of different stories, and look at how significant moments and situations have been conveyed through the use of pictorial representations and musical settings . Each stage of the tragic love story is characterised in a different way, for example the way the person dies, or the ending; I am going to concentrate on …

…through music, e.g. polyphemus throwing a rock at Acis. One thing for certain though, is that both the musician and artist succeed in the successful portrayal of the narrative by being able to express all dramatic points. Both the active events, but also the more static moments relating to the internal emotional activity which has occurred as a result of an active event, such as the portrayal of emotion after a lover has died.