Shakespearean Tragedy
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A Shakespearean Tragedy is a tragedy attributed to William Shakespeare.
- Context:
- It can (typically) features a noble protagonist who is flawed and placed in a stressful situation, ultimately leading to a fatal conclusion.
- It can (typically) feature a tragic hero who possesses a fatal flaw (hamartia) such as ambition, jealousy, or indecision.
- It can (often) end in catastrophe, where the protagonist and other key characters face death or downfall.
- It can involve themes of fate versus free will, often highlighting the characters' struggles against destiny.
- It can portray intense psychological and moral dilemmas faced by the protagonists.
- It can include supernatural elements, such as ghosts or witches, influencing the course of events.
- It can be characterized by its use of dramatic irony, where the audience knows more about the characters' fates than they do.
- It can range from being a straightforward depiction of downfall to exploring complex philosophical questions about human nature and morality.
- It can involve rich and complex language, with soliloquies that reveal the inner thoughts and motivations of characters.
- It can be studied as a reflection of Elizabethan and Jacobean societal and political contexts, exploring issues like power, corruption, and betrayal.
- It can include famous speeches and dialogues that have become integral to English literature and culture.
- ...
- Example(s):
- Counter-Example(s):
- a Shakespearean Comedy, which focuses on humorous and light-hearted themes with happy endings.
- a Shakespearean History Play, which dramatizes historical events and figures, often focusing on the English monarchy.
- a Shakespearean Romance, which blends tragic elements with comedic and fantastical components, usually ending in reconciliation.
- See: Tragicomedy, Elizabethan Drama, Jacobean Drama, Tragedy, William Shakespeare.
References
2016
- (Wikipedia, 2016) ⇒ http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespearean_tragedy Retrieved:2016-2-22.
- Shakespearean tragedy is the classification of drama written by William Shakespeare which has a noble protagonist, who is flawed in some way, placed in a stressful heightened situation and ends with a fatal conclusion. The plots of Shakespearean tragedy focus on the reversal of fortune of the central character(s) which leads to their ruin and ultimately, death. Shakespeare wrote several different classifications of plays throughout his career and the labeling of his plays into categories is disputed amongst different sources and scholars. There are 10 Shakespeare plays which are always classified as tragedies and several others which are disputed; there are also Shakespeare plays which fall into the classifications of comedy, history, or romance/tragicomedy that share fundamental attributes of a Shakespeare tragedy but do not wholly fit in to the category. The plays which provide the strongest fundamental examples of the genre of Shakespearean tragedy are Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra.