Literary+terms+-+tragedy

tragedy
The word // tragedy // derives from the Greek word //tragoida//, meaning "goat song." Originally, it referred to the ancient act of sacrificing a goat to the Greek god, Dionysus, and later came to be associated with the dramas performed as festivals honoring the god. In his //Poetics//, Aristotle defined the critical components of a tragedy as "plot, character, language, Thought, Spectacle, and Melody," of which character and plot are the most important. According to Aristotle, tragedies depict "an action that is serious, complete, and possessing magnitude" and arouses emotions of "pity and fear." The "tragic hero" is typically of high stature and encounters a reversal of fortune through a fault of character or an uncontrollable accident. Happy at the outset, a tragic hero experiences a succession of hardships resulting from his or her //hamartia// or "tragic flaw." The narrative movement plunges from an elevated state of happiness to one of sadness and misery, and the impact on the audience is a //catharsis//, a purgation that releases individuals from the grip of a powerful emotion. Tragedies of the present day more or less still meet Aristotle's criteria, though the term may be loosely applied to any story that ends unhappily. The revenge tragedy developed in England in the mid-to-late 1500s and was heavily influenced by the works of the Roman playwright Seneca. Besides the revenge theme, these tragedies contain lurid, ritualistic action and have ornate and bombastic dialogue, multiple plotlines (both serious and comic), and vengeful ghosts. Unlike conventional tragic heroes, the hero of the revenge tragedy begins as, rather than developing into, a malcontent. Thomas Kyd's //The Spanish Tragedy // functioned as a model for subsequent revenge tragedies. Tragedies have always worked best on the stage, and some of the greatest examples are Aeschylus's //Oresteia//, Christopher Marlowe's //Dr. Faustus//, William Shakespeare's //Macbeth//, Jean Racine's //Andromaque//, Pedro Calderón de la Barca's //The Painter of His Own Dishonour//, Tirso de Molina's //The Seducer of Seville//, and Lope de Vega's //The Knight from Olmeda//.
 * From:** //Encyclopedia of World Writers, 14th through 18th Centuries//.

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 * Works of Tragedy **

//Classical Tragedy //. Edited by Robert Corrigan. New York: Applause Books, 1991.

//Four Revenge Tragedies//. Edited by Katharine Maus. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Shakespeare, William. //The Tragedies//. New York: Modern Library, 1994.

Sophocles. //The Complete Greek Tragedies//. Edited by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.


 * Works about Tragedy **

Frye, Prosser H. //Romance and Tragedy //. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980.

Kitto, H. D. F. //Greek Tragedy : A Literary Study//. New York: Routledge, 2002.

Spencer, Theodore. //Death and Elizabethan Tragedy //. St. Clair Shores, Mich.: Scholarly Press, 1985.



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 * Text Citation:** Boucquey, Thierry, gen. ed. "tragedy." //Encyclopedia of World Writers, 14th through 18th Centuries//. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. //Bloom's Literary Reference Online//. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= GEWWII0287&SingleRecord=True (accessed September 4, 2009).

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