Tragedy is an ancient literary structure, established by Greek playwrights and philosophers, often revolving around a character’s personal ruin and destruction. Aristotle analyzed the genre, stating that it centers on a person of high status who faces loss due to personal weaknesses. Shakespeare added new features, such as ordinary protagonists and strong moral undercurrents. Modern tragedy often contains commentary on societal failings.
The genre of tragedy is one of the most ancient literary structures. The word “tragedy” is not used here in its usual sense of a real-world catastrophe bringing misery or loss of life, but rather dramas, often revolving around a character who is brought about to personal ruin and destruction, often through his own actions or deficiencies. The genre was established by ancient Greek playwrights and philosophers when creating stage drama, and later writers such as Shakespeare created masterpieces using the distinctive features of tragedy.
Theatrical drama was created by the ancient Greeks during public holidays more than 2,500 years ago. The word “tragedy” means “song of the goats” and refers to the goats that were used as prizes or sacrifices during these festivals. At that time, there were only two genres for drama – comedy or tragedy – which inspired the comedy and tragedy masques that still symbolize drama in modern times. Early Greek masters of tragedy included Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus.
Aristotle wrote an early analysis of the tragedy genre in his book Poetics in the third century BC. According to Aristotle, a tragedy always centers on a person of high status, such as a nobleman or a king. Over the course of the game, this person faces the loss of his status, loved ones, and even his life, usually due to personal weaknesses or failures. Often this lack is hubris, an inflated sense of a person’s importance and infallibility. Aristotle believed that such tragedies provided positive emotional and moral effects to the audience, a process he called catharsis.
Subsequent playwrights added new features to the genre. In Shakespeare’s tragedies, the protagonists might be ordinary people, like Romeo and Juliet, and their tragic ends were often brought about by circumstance rather than personal fault. There was also a strong moral undercurrent. Tragedy befell characters who had made great mistakes, such as Julius Caesar’s Brutus or Macbeth, both of whom assassinated national leaders. Shakespeare’s Hamlet fulfills all the classic characteristics: he is a well-born hero whose quest for vengeance against a king, however justified, leads to a tragic end.
Some features of the genre of tragedy have changed in modern times. Playwright Arthur Miller wrote two of the greatest stage tragedies of the 20th century, Death of a Salesman and The Crucible. In the hands of Miller and other contemporary writers, tragedy often contains subtle commentary on the failings of society rather than, or in addition to, the foibles of the central characters. Many modern writers have adapted Shakespeare’s timeless tragedies for their own purposes. Director Akira Kurosawa, for example, moved Shakespeare’s King Lear to the age of Japanese samurai for his 20 Ran film, adding epic battle scenes to the tragic tale.
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