Tragedy (literature)

In literature, tragedy refers to a dramatic work that focuses on a heroic character who, as a result of certain choices or divine intervention, experiences dreadful suffering or meets an untimely death. Tragedy is believed to have originated in ancient Greece, where it reached its peak before beginning a gradual decline. The art form has experienced numerous surges in popularity over time and has survived into contemporary times. Although the term tragedy originally applied to a type of play, it may be used to describe works such as films or novels that feature similar elements.

Brief History

Historians generally believe that tragedy, as a literary form, began in the late sixth century BCE in the ancient Greek city-state of Athens. Tragedies often were performed at festivals that celebrated the god Dionysus. Prior to these festivals, Athenian leaders held auditions to judge the various plays. Only the best received the necessary monetary support for stage performances during the festival. On the day of the festival, a panel of judges assessed the merits of all the plays and selected a winner.

Performances of early tragedies generally involved a single actor who wore a mask. About 520 BCE, poet/playwright Thespis began having the actor in his plays speak to the leader of the chorus. The chorus was a group of actors who sang songs and danced but generally did not speak during performances. Thespis also introduced costume changes to help divide the play into different scenes.

Greek tragedy developed further and reached its peak during the fifth century BCE, beginning with poet/playwright Aeschylus, who lived from about 525 to 456 BCE. Aeschylus authored many tragedies, but only a few have survived to modernity. Among the most famous are Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides, which together make up the trilogy Oresteia. In terms of performance, Aeschylus helped develop tragedy by adding a second actor to fulfill less significant roles. He also incorporated more dialogue to add dramatic effect to well-known stories from Greek mythology.

Sophocles, who lived from about 496 to 406 BCE, authored more than a hundred plays, but only seven have survived. One of his most highly regarded tragedies is Oedipus Rex (or Oedipus the King), about a man who unknowingly kills his father and marries his own mother, leading him to gouge out his own eyes. Greek philosopher Aristotle, who included an analysis of tragedy in his fourth-century BCE work Poetics, considered Oedipus Rex a perfect example of tragedy. Like Aeschylus, Sophocles helped further develop performances of tragedies. He incorporated a third actor, which allowed for more complex plotting, and included painted scenery and scenery changes during performances.

Euripides, who lived from about 484 to 407 BCE, is considered the last of the great Greek tragedians. He authored tragedies such as Medea, Hippolytus, Trojan Women, and Bacchae. Following the deaths of Euripides and Sophocles, Greek tragedy entered a long period of decline. Greek writers continued to author plays and stage performances, but they focused on other genres, such as comedies.

Tragedy experienced a resurgence during the Elizabethan era of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries CE. Perhaps the most famous tragedian of the period was poet and playwright William Shakespeare. Shakespeare authored many tragedies, but some of his most famous are Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, and Antony and Cleopatra. These tragedies have endured and continue to be performed on twenty-first-century stages and adapted into other formats, such as films.

In subsequent centuries, authors began to adopt elements of tragedy into novels. Examples of tragedy novels include English author Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1847); American author Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter (1850); and American author F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925). In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, moviemakers have adopted aspects of tragedies in their films. Movies such as Titanic (1997) and Gladiator (2000) have tragic elements.

Overview

In his Poetics, Aristotle identified what he considered the six main elements of Greek tragedy: plot, character, thought, diction, song, and spectacle. Of these, Aristotle considered plot of utmost importance, followed by character. Plot refers to the action of the story, or the way in which the events unfold. Aristotle argued that a tragedy had to have an easily identifiable beginning, middle, and end, and that these parts had to come together in a cohesive way. Character refers to the people in a tragedy. The characters embody certain qualities or characteristics as they relate to plot. Thought refers to the processes that help characters come to realizations or make decisions and to the overall values or ideas the play expresses. Diction refers to the language the writer used to compose the play. Song refers to the musical accompaniment of the chorus. Spectacle refers to the stage design that helps set the scene. Aristotle considered spectacle the least important element.

Elements such as plot, character, and thought have remained an important part of tragedies throughout history. Most tragedies, regardless of who wrote them or when they were written, also share a few other characteristics in common. For example, the protagonist, or main character, is generally someone of high social standing, such as a noble, a hero, or a member of a royal family. In ancient Greek tragedies, the protagonist was often a hero of Greek mythology. The protagonist usually has a weakness, such as greed, envy, or pride. This weakness is often called a tragic flaw, and it typically leads to the protagonist's undoing. Some tragedies end with the protagonist's death. Others conclude with the protagonist facing some other form of suffering or punishment. In most cases, the protagonist comes to understand the errors or mistakes that led to his or her predicament and accepts that he or she must move forward, regardless of the dire consequences to come.

Most tragedies also share a common goal. Tragedies are meant to be cathartic, or cleansing, for audiences. Tragedies evoke feelings of pity and fear that cause audience members to feel sorry for the protagonist. Audience members can identify with the protagonist's feelings of despair when he or she is about to lose everything. Moreover, seeing the protagonist come to terms with his or her mistakes and push forward despite his or her pain ultimately leaves audiences feeling hopeful about the future of humankind.

Bibliography

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