Doom is tragic

Well, that's what my old school has said, anyway.

While I've just left school to go to a more local college one of my friends stayed there to study English in the Sixth Form. Apparently today he was presented an introduction to the Tragedy genre in his inductionary English class. He says one of the examples of a "sophisticated tragedy plot" in the presentation was in fact Doom.

What.

You're right I forgot how funny Doom was.

To be serious, though, I can see how it fits. Doomguy is a tragic hero in that he has a "flaw" (doesn't kill civilians for his duty), and then spends the rest of the piece trying to redeem himself.

Well, it is pretty tragic to see the mankind on the brink of destruction by Hell.

Now how that's sophisticated tragedy, I have no fucking idea.

Doom? Was it the classic Doom we know, Doom 3, the movie, the novels, the other novels, the other other novels, or something entirely unrelated to Id's franchise except by being named Doom as well?

A testament to Doom's greatness: it's now considered a Western literary classic and taught in schools and college as serious educational material.

It was listed as a video game in the presentation, so definitley not the books, comic or film.

EDIT: and I'm actually going to college to study game design, so here's to hoping I have to study Doom, as well.

doomguy stands atop of a hill, watches all the CoD's and quakes and other vertically aiming bastards toil and fumble around. he shouts to the skies: "is this why i held the hell itself at bay?" a single manly tear trails down his bloodied cheek. when it falls to the ground, he dies standing. curtain drops, the orchestra plays siegfried's funeral.

I know wikipedia isn't the most valid source in the world but

Wikipedia said:

Tragedy (Ancient Greek: τραγῳδία, tragōidia, "he-goat-song"[1]) is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure.

Attempts to escape from Phobos, mysteriously arrives in Deimos, dumped in hell, defeats mastermind, severed rabbit head, infinite number of Doom PWADs. I think that fits the definition.

I say it's a fucking tragedy. It's been close to two decades and somewhere, right now, our hero is fighting his way through hell for the billionth time.

dew said:

doomguy stands atop of a hill, watches all the CoD's and quakes and other vertically aiming bastards toil and fumble around. he shouts to the skies: "is this why i held the hell itself at bay?" a single manly tear trails down his bloodied cheek. when it falls to the ground, he dies standing. curtain drops, the orchestra plays siegfried's funeral.

Technically he would be shouting in front of him since he can't look up. However this is epic.

Why yes, of course it is. He has lost everything that he hold dear in this world (his rabbit), he's constantly battling the forces of Hell with no room for breathing, he's constantly saving the world yet no one seems to recognize him for that, he has probably lost his mind a long time ago as he have spent every minute of his life fighting to survive...

Face it. He's stuck in an endless cycle of death and tormention. All he does is killing demons and halting Hell's attempts to take over the world. I bet he hasn't even seen anything more human than one of those zombies ever since he was sent to Phobos. All this teleportation around and going through Hell while seeing all kinds of satanic imagery must have been burnt into his conciousness by now. His sanity must've been long lost and would make it impossible for him to function normally around human beings. I don't think you could even call him human by this point. Once a man, now a insane, psychopatic murdering machine.

@dew: That is SUCH a piece of ending text. Now all we need is the artwork ...

If you could make a level set with that as end text, that would be awsome. Infinite Doom.

To Doom or not to Doom?

That is the question.

Where's your big fat reward and ticket home?

IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO END THIS WAY!

Rebuilding Earth ought to be a lot more fun than ruining it was.

DoomUK said:

A testament to Doom's greatness: it's now considered a Western literary classic and taught in schools and college as serious educational material.

Seconded!

It's missing the part where he kills his best friend or lover. Well, except for that one imp.

dew said:

doomguy stands atop of a hill, watches all the CoD's and Halos and other vertically aiming bastards toil and fumble around. he shouts to the skies: "is this why i held the hell itself at bay?" a single manly tear trails down his bloodied cheek. when it falls to the ground, he dies standing. curtain drops, the orchestra plays siegfried's funeral.

Fixed.

hex11 said:

...except for that one imp.

The Doomguy has just that moment in paradise... Or at least what ever comes second to that.

Not all Doom and gloom.


lol

Doom is tragic, Doomguy is the only human left on phobos, then teleported to deimos that is floating above hell.
Basically he's owned, stuck in hell, with no food, nothing, just his weapon(s) and ammo, only to kill the more demons he can kill before being submerged and die, he know he will lose the fight and die, whatever the number of demons he kills, but have no choice but to fight until the end.
(Thus, I dislike the "hell is playing fair" in the end of Doom, with the opening portal to earth, doomguy is not doomed anymore, maybe this is not really earth and his own personal hell, a earth invaded by demons to fight eternally...).
Maybe he dies at the end of ep1, thus being "teleported" to deimos, and endlessly fighting in hell through PWAD, believing eternally he's alive and surviving until a death that won't come.

mekka said:

no food

What about all that meat?

mekka said:

nothing

He can get a lot of cool clothing from the zombies, let alone the armor vests and all those demon hides.

mekka said:

just his weapon(s) and ammo

If Doomguy could sell every weapon he encountered so far, he would be a millionaire :-p

In fact, he can change his shotgun for a new one every minute, if so he wishes.

Maes said:

If Doomguy could sell every weapon he encountered so far, he would be a millionaire :-p

In fact, he can change his shotgun for a new one every minute, if so he wishes.

But what use would he find for money? Unless he'd find some abandoned soda machines in one of UAC's many facilities or something. And who would he sell the weapons too?

Doomhuntress said:

And who would he sell the weapons too?

Cheating deathmatchers? :-p

"Hey buddy, pssst, need some shells before those griefers realize you don't have anymore?"

But every marine he ever encounters is dead in one way or another. We're talking about the Doomguy, remember? I doubt that he has seen a human face in ages.

Depends.

In Doom II he gets radio communications with living people. In several mods (especially ZDoom mods with their scripted marines) he can even go back to base after a mission and see his buddies alive and well (at least until the last mission).

And then there's coop.

And in The Gateway Experiments he have a girlfriend. :D

You guys are forgetting the fact that Doomguy voluntarily remained in Hell after Doom 64. He's not tormented, he's in paradise.

Tragic Paradise? Or just plain 'ol Paradise?

Am I the only person surprised that an English professor is even acknowledging a 2nd person story as a "sophisticated tragedy plot?"

At least all the English teacher's I've had subscribed to the thought that 2nd person can not exist in story telling and that any examples are simply in poorly written 1st person.