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Tragedy
Being A (Very) Brief Outline of
the Characteristics of
Aristotelian and Elizabethan Tragedy
Aristotle's Poetics
“A tragedy, then, is the imitation of an action that is serious and
also as having magnitude, complete within itself; in language with
pleasurable accessories, each kind brought in separately in the parts
of the work; in dramatic, not in a narrative form; with incidents
arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such
emotions. (BC 172173)”
Ben Jonson
(1572-1637)
"I know of nothing that can conduce more to letters than to examine
the writing of the ancients, and not to rest in their sole authority, or to
take all in trust from them ... It is true, they opened the gates, and
made the way, that went before us; but as guides, not commanders."
A tragedy…
•is the imitation of an action that is serious and also has
magnitude;
•is complete within itself;
•is written in pleasurable language;
•is in dramatic, not narrative, form;
•has incidents arousing pity and fear, whereby to accomplish
its catharsis of such emotions. (BC 172-173)
The Six Elements of Tragedy
•Plot
•Character
•Thought
•Diction
•Music
•Spectacle
Some Rules about Tragedy
•a tragedy has unity--a beginning, a middle, and an end
•each tragedy contains a change or reversal (peripety) which
reveals the state of things to be the opposite from what they
seemed to be, or simply shows a change from good to bad
fortune.
•the tragedy also contains a discovery –a change from
ignorance to knowledge, love to hate, or the path where by the
character moves from good fortune to bad
•a tragedy arouses the feelings of pity and fear and results in a
catharsis, or purging of emotions
•the tragedy concerns a person of high degree who because of
his own shortcomings brings about his own downfall—a tragic
flaw or a hamartia
•the best tragedies concern family conflict;
a tragic hero can
never be a woman (although he admits that conceivably it
might be a male slave)
There are conditions that are not tragic:
 a good man passing from happiness to misery
 an extremely bad man going from misery to happiness
 an extremely bad man falling from happiness into misery
Senecan Tragedy (4 BC-65 AD)
 Senecan tragedy had several elements that appealed to
Elizabethans:
 Ornate rhetoric
 The theme of revenge
 Appearance of ghosts and other supernatural beings
 Ultimate blood and destruction
Elizabethan Tragedy
 Elizabethan tragedy differs from Aristotelian tragedy in that it
originally was didactic (instructional) a warning against the
dangers of tyranny, usurpation, and political unrest. (BC 162)
Revenge Tragedy
In Elizabethan revenge tragedy, someone (usually the hero)
attempts to right a wrong, and in the attempt, brings about his
own bloody downfall as well as downfall of the wrong-doer.
The desire for revenge often caused the character's madness
and/or death since revenge is rightly the province of God
rather than humans.
According to Phillip Sydney (1554-1586)
[Tragedy] maketh kings fear to be tyrants, and tyrants
manifest their tyrannical humors; that will stirring the affects
of admiration and commiseration teacheth the uncertainty of
this world, and upon how weak foundations gilden roofs are
builded; that maketh us know, [as Seneca says] "The savage
tyrant who sways his scepter with a heavy hand fears the
subjects that fear him, and fear returns upon its creator"
According to John Dryden (1631-1700)
 Tragedy requires the death of the protagonists

Tragedy should show the workings of Christian morality and
divine providence.
Histories
 In Shakespeare's time, the history was more a moral lesson
than a reporting of the facts of a reign.
 Histories were meant to bring order to experience:
o "Providentialists" wanted to make God's purpose clear.
o Chronologists wanted to bring the sense of a pattern to
history
o Monarchs wanted to justify their actions and their
successions.
 The sources of material for the histories were usually moral
tales rather than historic documents
 If it served a dramatic or didactic purpose, both characters
and events would be adjusted to meet the author's intentions
 Authors carefully held up mirrors for monarchs-showing them
the proper way to rule.