Most Tragic Moment?

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Well, isn't the end of every tragedy supposed to bring us back out of the horror?

It might depend on the time and the author...

But this also raises the question whether a tragedy should give us the hope or the uplifting with it's content, by somehow suggesting that there still are lives to live for or hope in the horizon (like I see LotR doing it)? Or is it just this katharsis that Aristotle spoke of, where it is the general characteristics of a tragedy to let us experience the strong and frightening feelings in a safe way and thus feel relieved emotinally? So what makes a tragedy: the actual content of it or the reaction it arouses in us?