Curren Vs Siddhartha

The Tale of Two Tragic Lives When examining the level of tragedy a character has within a novel, readers often overlook the idea of individuality and its effects on tragedy itself. The amount of control a character has over their life plays an enormously important role in how tragic they are within the work of literature. Both Age of Iron, and Siddhartha, are novels that possess tragic characters due to the level of control they have over their lives, however the books’ respective authors each develop this tragedy in different creative manners.
In Age of Iron it seems as though every character other than Mrs. Curren possesses a great deal of control over their actions. The fact that Mrs. Curren is terminally ill exaggerates this notion to …show more content…
Trying to decide whether or not Mrs. Curren, is a more tragic character than Siddhartha, or vies versa, puts readers in a difficult spot. Siddhartha evokes emotions within his readers in that even though he has not figured out his life at all whatsoever, he still is constantly trying to help those that are close to him. Even when he finally does reach enlightenment, he helps his best friend Govinda reach enlightenment. Most readers would feel that Siddhartha should act in a bitter manner towards Govinda due to the fact that Govinda abandoned him to become a monk. However, Siddhartha shows his true character, and in a graceful manner helps Govinda. Through his enlightenment, Siddhartha finally gains freedom and peace, items in which Mrs. Curren never …show more content…
Curren’s character that allows author J.M Coetzee to develop her into a tragic character is her terminal illness. This illness is never named, nor given any symptoms other than pain, and Coetzee does not do this by accident. By limiting the amount of characteristics of the illness, Coetzee develops it into this mysterious, cloud like being that constantly hangs of Mrs. Curren’s head. Coetzee develops separate story lines in the novel, such as Bheki’s death, and in doing so, causes readers to forget about Mrs. Curren’s illness. However, by bringing the illness back into the story, he reminds readers that Mrs. Curren’s time on earth is extremely limited. It is in this way that Coetzee notifies readers that Mrs. Curren is completely powerless in life. The illness makes all of Mrs. Curren’s actions completely irrelevant and helpless, and a great deal of the tragedy surrounding her is within the fact that the few friends she does have are only spending time with her to acquire her estate after she inevitably passes away. It is in this way that Mrs. Curren’s character is much more tragic than Siddhartha. Siddhartha has the rest of his life to continue to grow wiser, and live in an enlightened state. Mrs. Curren on the other hand, did not have that luxury, and eventually ran out of time and passed