Paper :- 101, Literature of the Elizabethan and Restoration period.
Roll number :- 08
Enrollment number :- 4069206420210025
Email id :- himanshiparmar3004@gmail.com
Batch :- 2021 - 23 (M. A. Sem 1)
Submitted to :- S. B. Gardi, Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.
What is tragedy?
Word tragedy was derived from the Greek word,tragoidia,it means 'the song of the goat'. which is refers to ancient rituals, sacrifice of goat,which is associated with Dionysus,The ancient Greek God.
According to Oxford Dictionary,
"Tragedy is an event causing great sadness,or suffering." Or we can say.
"Tragedy is a serious play with an unhappy ending."
This is the general meaning of Tragedy,now let me discuss Shakespeare Tragedy.
What is a Shakespearean tragedy?
"Shakespearean tragedy is a play,which was written by Shakespeare himself,and in his own different style."
"Shakespearean tragedy is a play written by other authors,but is in the style of shakespeare."
Shakespear wrote 10 tragedies during his lifetime..
(1)Titus andronicus
(2)Romeo and Juliet
(3)king Lear
(4)Hemlet
(5)Othello
(6)Julius caesar
(7)Macbeth
(8)antony and Cleopatra
(9)coriolanus
(10)Timon of athens
All these tragedies have a hero or we can say protagonist that must overcome external and internal obstacles and the end of all heroes are quite tragic, and miserable Shakespearean tragedy is a very different form of writing tragedies.
This are the most important elements of shakespearean tragedy which are known as characteristics of shakespearean tragedy.
(1)THE TRAGIC HERO
A tragic hero is one of the important figures of Shakespearean tragedy. Mainly this kind of tragedy revolves around one person. Or we can say protagonist. The person or protagonist is either male or female, and he or she must suffer because of their cruel fate. Some flow their own or other characters. The hero is someone who is the most tragic person in the play. According to Andrew Cecil Bradley, notable 20th century Shakespeare scholar,Shakespearean tragedy is "essentially a tale of suffering and calamity conducting to death".
Mainly the hero died in such kind of play. Also the hero or heroine of the play's is towering personality in state /kingdom/ Country, and holds the high position. May be such kind of figures are kings, princess, military, generals, and others. If we analyse Macbeth, we find he is a general or kingsman. Who later on became king. Also Hamlet, prince of Denmark, highly educated, sociable, charming and philosophic bent. At the end meet his own tragic end. So the heroes of Shakespearean tragedy, we always found unfortunate and most tragic personality among others.
(2) STRUGGLE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL
Shakespearean tragedies always struggle between good and evil. Mostly the supremacy of evil. Suppress the good. Evil characters are always introduced as having the most solid personality and necessary existence. As Edward Dowden, poet of light century and Literary critic of the same age, noted that,
"Tragedy as conceived by Shakespeare is concerned with the ruin or restoration of the soul and of the life of man. In other words, it's subject is the struggle of good and evil in the world".
The main character turns to evil at last and suffers terribly, and fails due to his fatal flaw. This we see in Macbeth also, as in starting he is shown as a good character and then turned into the evil. In between, we found him suffering from his own mental confusion, and conflicting mental States.
(3) HAMARTIA
We found the word complex because hamartia is a greek word,used for 'sin' or 'error',which derives from the verb hamatanein,it means 'to ear' or ''to miss the mark". In Shakespearean tragedy this word is used for tragic flaw. If we analyse Shakespearean tragedy, we must find that every hero fell, or died just because of his or her own tragic flaw, or we are also able to say that they have a strong deed Indeed and that's why they always met a tragic end at last. Sometimes they fall from high positions or sometimes fate leads them towards death. one good example of Hamartia we found in Macbeth where at last Macbeth died because of his extreme greed and fat also Lady Macbeth soon died.
(4) Conflict
There are two types of conflict in the Shakespearean tragedy.
1 external conflict
2 internal conflict
1 - External conflict:
This type of conflict causes a mess in the mind of a tragic Hero. in a Shakespearean play every Shakespearean hero Suffered by the external conflicts.Hamlet we see,he wants to kill his uncle,Claudius as a revenge but because of his tight and effective security. Hamlet isn't able to translate his idea into action.
2 - Internal Conflict:
In Shakespearean tragedy,internal conflicts are reflected as an inner confusion in the mind of the hero. Internal conflict is mainly responsible for the hero's fall,along with fate or destiny. The tragic Hero can not make a decision,which will come out as his failure. Macbeth is a perfect example: somehow,he wants to kill the king, but somewhere, he was confused about his work. Similarly, Hamlet wanted to kill his uncle but felt inner conflict, ''Do, or not to Do'' which at the end led him towards his death.
(5)CATHARSIS
This is a remarkable feature of Shakespearean tragedy. mainly the work of catharsis is to help the audience to release their emotions by tragedy. For example, if we watch any play, we connect the character personally. and that gives us some opportunity to feel pity for a certain character and fear for another. when a villain is working against the hero,we feel disgust for him and when hero like Macbeth, Hamlet and Othello died, we feel sorry for them and the same time we also feel happy that finally they received their punishment.
(6) SUPERNATURAL ELEMENTS
Supernatural Elements are always in the middle of Shakespearean tragedy. In the play they create a kind of atmosphere of wonder,fear,awe etc. They generally used to advance the story and drive the plot, As we see in Macbeth. The three witches by their progressive lead the play ahead. Similarly in Hamlet,the ghost of king Hamlet leads the play.
(7)COMIC ELEMENTS
Shakespeare used comic scenes in his play. He didn't follow the footsteps of his classical predecessors..while writing tragedies, Greek and Roman writers didn’t use comic relief. But Shakespeare wanted to relieve the tension for the reader and lighten up the mood here and there. A few examples of comic relief scenes include the gravedigger scene in Hamlet, the drunken porter scene in Macbeth, the fool is smarter than the king dialogue in King Lear.
Conclusion :-
Thus to conclude, we can able to say that, Shakespearean tragedy is fully different tragedy, introduced by William Shakespeare. He broke down all the stage rules and tried to write something which no one else wrote. And this came out as a Shakespearean tragedy. Most popular form and still playwrights used to write in this widely.
Words:- 1183
References :-
https://www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/an-introduction-to-shakespearean-tragedy
Well done 👌👍
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