Shakespearean Tragedy

Shakespeare’s Tragedies*
 
A tragedy is a story of exceptional calamity leading to the death of a man in high estate.​ (A.C. Bradley)

I. Shakespeare’s plays usually classified as “tragedies” are:

Titus Andronicus (1592)

Romeo and Juliet (1592)

Julius Caesar (1599)

Hamlet (1600-01)

Othello (1603)

King Lear (1605-06)

Timon of Athens (1605)

Macbeth (1606)

Antony and Cleopatra (1606)

Coriolanus (1608)
 
II. Shakespeare’s tragedies take us on a journey:

They confront our greatest hopes and fears, our best and worst
of actions.

They probe the extremities of what it means to be human.

They expose the suffering we inflict and the suffering we bear.


The Origins of Tragedy
 
“Tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious, and also, as

having magnitude, complete in itself ... with incidents arousing pity

and terror, with which to accomplish its purgation of these emotions.”

Aristotle, Poetics, 6.

Between 600 and 400 BC, poetry and drama flourished in Greece. The chief playwrights of this era were: Aeschylus (525-456 BC), Sophocles (496-406 BC), Aristophanes (c.448-c.380 BC) and Euripides (484-406 BC).

Greek Tragedy

The origins of drama lie in the songs and dances of ancient rites and religious festivals connected to the seasons. Tragedy was born in ancient Athens and has its roots in choral poetry. Dionysius was the nature god who died and was reborn every year. A chorus 50-strong would perform a hymn in his honor, called a dithyramb. According to Aristotle, tragedy grew out of the dithyramb when a solo actor - Thespis - stepped forward and began a dialogue with the dithyramb. The word tragedy means literally “goat-song.” Quite what this means is uncertain, but the goat was perhaps the prize for a song.
 
 
The Hero

All of Shakespeare’s tragedies have a tragic hero, or “protagonist” who is put into a situation of conflict which he must resolve. A combination of bad luck and misjudgment lead to the hero’s death. He is often a man of high social standing:

Lear and Macbeth are kings

Hamlet and Othello are princes - Othello is also a military general

Coriolanus and Titus are Roman Generals

Julius Caesar and Antony are rulers of Rome

Timon and Romeo are wealthy citizens (what about Juliet!)

The Nature of Tragedy

Tragedies are tales of harshness and injustice. They chart the downfall of a hero, whose own death leads to the downfall of others, for example in:

Hamlet Ophelia, Laertes, Polonius, Gertrude, Claudius, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern also die

Titus Andronicus 13 characters die

King Lear Cordelia, Goneril, Regan, Gloucester, Cornwall, and Edmund die

Romeo and Juliet Mercutio, Tybalt, Lady Montague, and Paris all die
 
 
The Structure of Tragedy
 
There are four parts to the tragedy (theorists argue the same structure applies to comedy too):

Part one - protasis, the setting up the situation
Part two - epitasis, the complication of the action
Part three - catastasis, the main body of the action
Part four - catastrophe, the ending or unwinding

The Tragic Flaw

All of Shakespeare’s tragic heroes have a flawed nature or blind spot that leads to their downfall:

üfor Hamlet it is procrastination

üfor Macbeth it is ambition

üfor Coriolanus and Othello it is pride

The decisions made by people in positions of power have tremendous consequences.

 
Catharsis

Catharsis is a medical term meaning “purgation.” By means of purgation, an organism rids itself of noxious substances and so is healed. In his Poetics, Aristotle (384-322 BC) writes that tragedy should succeed in arousing pity and fear in such a way as to accomplish a catharsis (i.e. purgation) of such emotions.

 
Revenge Tragedy
 
Thomas Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy (c. 1589) was the first play to be called a Revenge Tragedy. The play appears to have developed an appetite amongst theatre-goers for the form for the genre flourished in Elizabethan and Jacobean theatres.

I. Examples of Revenge Tragedies:

Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd

The Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlowe

The Revenger’s Tragedy - an anonymously published play often attributed to Middleton

Titus Andronicus and Hamlet by Shakespeare

II. Common features of Revenge Tragedies include:

ghosts

a hero’s quest for vengeance

scenes of real or feigned insanity

scenes in graveyards, severed limbs, carnage and mutilation

a corpse-strewn stage

the restoration of order after chaos
 
 
Differences between Comedy and Tragedy
 
In Comedy -
The characters tend to be ordinary people, rather than kings and queens

The emotions and dangers are comparatively mild

The outcome of the action is happy - the plays generally end in marriage

The main thrust of the action is from chaos to resolution

In Tragedy -
The characters are of very high social standing (kings, princes, generals)

The dangers are extreme

The conclusion is sad

The action moves towards a state of chaos
 
Here is a brief synopsis for Hamlet; King Lear; Macbeth; and Othello:

Hamlet
The young prince Hamlet discovers that his father died by foul play, murdered by his brother to gain the throne. He is visited by the restless ghost of the old King Hamlet, who tells him this and asks his son to avenge his death without harming his mother who has since married the new king. Hamlet wavers. He is presumed mad at court because of his erratic behavior. He traps his uncle into showing his guilt, but then fails to murder him. He is estranged from Ophelia whom he had once loved and she is driven to distraction and then death. Hamlet is sent away and his murder secretly ordered by the King. Though Hamlet evades this and returns to complete his business, he is too late to save anyone from death - not even himself.

King Lear
The old king Lear sets out to divide his kingdom between his three daughters, according to their love for him. Goneril and Regan profess great love for their father, but Lear’s youngest and favorite daughter, Cordelia, says nothing. Enraged, Lear banishes Cordelia and gives away her portion of the kingdom to her sisters. But with nothing left to gain from their father, Goneril and Regan no longer wish to care for him and turn him out to the cold. Meanwhile Edmund, the illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester, contrives an estrangement between his father and his half-brother Edgar and declares his love and allegiance to both Goneril and Regan. Cordelia raises an army in France to fight her sisters’ powers, while Edgar, disguised, acts as shepherd to his broken Father. Both Lear and Gloucester realize too late that they have put their trust and themselves in the wrong care.

Macbeth
Returning victorious from battle, Macbeth meets three witches who prophesy that he will rise to the throne of Scotland, though its heirs will be the descendants of another general, Banquo. Spurred by this prophecy and the encouragement of Lady Macbeth, he murders the sleeping King Duncan and assumes the throne. Having fulfilled the first part of the prophecy, Macbeth then rushes to preempt the rest - setting out to murder Banquo and his son. Meanwhile Duncan’s son Malcolm raises an army in England, with the help of Macduff, about whom Macbeth has been warned. Together they fulfill the prophecy for Macbeth’s overthrow.

Othello
The celebrated general Othello has secretly married Desdemona, the daughter of a Venetian senator. But when he is accused of stealing her, Othello explains himself and is given a new commission by the Senate, to lead the Venetian forces in a battle for Cyprus, against the Turks. Othello lands victorious in Cyprus, where he is joined by Desdemona. Their peace is shattered by Iago, a soldier, who manipulates Othello into believing that his wife is unfaithful and in love with Cassio - Othello’s trusted lieutenant. Possessed by jealousy, Othello murders his wife.

*Text adapted from materials found on the RSC website:
http://www.rsc.org.uk/hamlet/tragedy/tragedies.html
 
 
Polonius’ breakdown of genres: “tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastorical-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral, scene individible, or poem unlimited” (Hamlet, II.ii.379-81).