Shakespearean Tragedy

As flies to wanton boys are we to th' gods, They kill us for their sport. - King Lear

What did Aristotle say?

, , , , ', ' . which means Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is admirable, complete (composed of an introduction, a middle part and an ending), and possesses magnitude; in language made pleasurable, each of its species separated in different parts; performed by actors, not through narration; effecting through pity and fear the purification of such emotions.

Six parts of Tragedy

Mythos = plot

Opsis = spectacle

Ethos = character

Tragedy

Melos = melody /song Lexis = diction/ Speech

Dianoia = thought

Tragic Hero as per Aristotle & Shakespeare

Aristotle defined the tragic hero as a character of noble stature and has greatness. This should be readily evident in the play. The character must occupy a "high" status position but must ALSO embody nobility and virtue as part of his/her innate character. eg. King Lear is the king of England, Hamlet is the prince of Demark. Though the tragic hero is pre-eminently great, he/she is not perfect. The hero's downfall, therefore, is partially her/his own fault, the result of free choice, not of accident or villainy or some overriding, malignant fate. In fact, the tragedy is usually triggered by some error of judgment or some character flaw that contributes to the hero's lack of perfection noted above. This error of judgment is known as hamartia. Often the character's hamartia involves hubris (which is defined as a sort of arrogant pride or overconfidence). Eg. If extreme irrationality is the hubris of Lear, his hamartia is division of his kingdom and putting his faith in Goneril and Regan instead of Cordelia The hero's misfortunate is not wholly deserved. The punishment exceeds the crime. As Shakespeare puts it more sinned against than sinning. The fall (reversal of fortune = peripeteia) is not pure loss. There is some increase in awareness (anagnorisis), some gain in self-knowledge, some discovery on the part of the tragic hero. Remember Lear being more compassionate, sane and cognizant of his error when he says, I am a very foolish fond old man, Fourscore and upward, not an hour more nor less; And, to deal plainly, I fear I am not in my perfect mind.

The structure of Tragedy Freytags Pyramid

Three unities and Shakespeare

Suggested first by Aristotle in his poetics and later expanded by Italian critics like Lodovico Castelvetro and French dramatists like Racine and Moliere. The three unities included: 1. The unity of action: a play should have one main action that it follows, with no or few subplots. Shakespeare clearly flouted this. Wouldnt you agree that Gloucester sub-plot in king Lear adds to the grandeur of Lears story The unity of place: a play should cover a single physical space and should not attempt to compress geography, nor should the stage represent more than one place. In Antony and Cleopatra , the story takes us to Africa and Europe alternatively. The unity of time: the action in a play should take place over no more than 24 hours. Be it Macbeth, King Lear, Hamlet or Othello, we scarcely see Shakespeares conformation to this unity. His last play The Tempest, however show an impeccable compliance of the same. Samuel Johnson in his preface to Shakespeare, wrote Whether Shakespeare knew the unities, and rejected them by design, or deviated from them by happy ignorance, it is, I think, impossible to decide, and useless to inquire. We may reasonably suppose, that, when he rose to notice, he did not want the counsels and admonitions of scholars and critics, and that he at last deliberately persisted in a practice, which he might have begun by chance. As nothing is essential to the fable, but unity of action, and as the unities of time and place arise evidently from false assumptions, and, by circumscribing the extent of the drama, lessen its variety, I cannot think it much to be lamented, that they were not known by him, or not observed: Nor, if such another poet could arise, should I very vehemently reproach him, that his first act passed at Venice, and his next in Cyprus. Such violations of rules merely positive, become the comprehensive genius of Shakespeare

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Shakespearean tragedy and Elizabethan Stage

Famous Shakespearean Tragedies: King Lear

Protagonist = Lear Hubris = passion and irrationality Hamartia = unwise division of kingdom Theme = filial ingratitude Antagonist = Goneril and Regan Protagonists well wishers = Kent, Gloucester, Cordelia Subplot = Gloucesters lack of vision

Famous Shakespearean Tragedies: Macbeth

Protagonist = Macbeth Hubris= Inordinate ambition Hamartia = killing one person after another to assume power Protagonists chief aide = lady Macbeth People slain = Duncan, Banquo Macbeths Nemesis = Macduff Supernatural element = witches prophesizing

Heroines in Shakespearean Tragedy: In black and white

Unlike the witty and strong willed heroines of Shakespearean comedies, the heroines of his Tragedies are often painted in monochromes and uni-dimensional in characterization We find ourselves amidst sweet but ineffectual Cordelia and Desdemona; ambitious and unscrupulous lady Macbeth; seductive Cleopatra; noble but lovesick and perhaps starcrossed Ophelia and Juliet.

Other Elements in Shakespearean Tragedy

Abnormality Eg. Insanity, Sleepwalking

Other elements Elements of Chance and accident Supernatural Eg. Witches, ghosts

Film adaptations of Shakespearean tragedies.

Things to be done
Compare Shakespearean comedy with Aristotles concept of Tragedy. Where does he deviate from Aristotle? Think what makes Shakespeare occupy the foremost position in canon of English literature even today. Compare his tragic heroes with those of Marlowes. Watch the film adaptations based on Shakespeares plays and compare them with the stage performances. Make a collage of the book illustrations of various Shakespearean plays. Compare the language of Shakespearean characters. Do they all speak in the same way? If not, elucidate. Can you think of another playwright who made his characters use different languages or style. Try to think of the play from the point of view of the antagonist as in the case of Shylock or Iago Compare Shakespearean heroines like Portia and Rosalinde with Cordelia and Ophelia. Find important motifs, symbols and archetypes in his tragedies. Find more about Elizabethan audience and the changing tastes of the audience during Jacobean age. Find out more about variation in costumes, set designs, props used, theatricality in performances of his plays over years.