Tragedy

From the earliest times drama has been divided into two kinds, tragedy and comedy. Tragedy deals with
the dark side of life. Tragedy aims at inspiring us with pity and awe. In tragedy the characters are
impelled towards an unhappy fate. Tragedy, in Greek drama, deals with the fate of characters of high
birth, station, kings, princes and their households. The tragic actor put on thick soled and high heeled
boot called the buskin or cothurnus, to make him appear tall and majestic. The fall of a king or the ruin
of a great family is bound to be more impressive to the spectator than the fate of nonentity. In later
literature, there were many tragedies of lowly life and comedies of high society. Domestic tragedy arose
during the time of 18th century. George Lillo’s London Merchant is a famous example. These type of
plays were written in prose, and not in verse.

Tragic atmosphere:

The atmosphere of tragedy is somber and serious .Aristotle says tragedy ‘purges the emotions through
pity and terror’ .in pure tragedy, there is no element of comedy mingled with the tragedy. In English
literature, both are frequently found intermingled. Shakespeare’s tragedy starts happily and ends
unhappily.

Aim:

Tragedy aims at giving pleasure. Pleasure can be found in the spectacle of a human being’s sufferings
and unhappy fate. For the Greeks, the purpose of a tragedy was to effect a Catharsis or a purgation of
the emotions. Tragedy purified the feelings and raised the audience spiritually and morally. Tragedy was
supposed to fulfill on the Athenian stage .moral is conveyed at the end of the play by one of the
characters. In most of the tragic drama, the wrong doesn’t triumph. Tragedy and comedy used verse as
a medium. Shakespeare’s comedies are written in blank verse. Verse came to be reversed for tragedy.
The general change of medium has necessarily meant a heavy loss in splendor of language.

Types of tragedy:

Tragedy can be classified in two ways: with reference to its form or structure and with reference to its
matter or theme. From the earliest times, tragedy has two forms: classical and romantic. Classical is
based on Greek conventions and romantic obeys its own standards. The main features of the classical
type are the three unities-time, place and action and the employment of the device of the chorus. The
Unity of time means the time over which the plot is spread be the or approximately the same. The unity
of action should either be purely tragic or purely comic but not the mixture of the two. The unity of
place is a natural corollary of the unity of time. The chorus is the other noteworthy element in Greek
tragedy. It consisted of a body of actors whose aim was to report what happened off the stage and to
make moral comments from time to time. . Romantic tragedy is not written to a set pattern but in
whatever form the writer finds best suited to his dramatic purpose. Romantic tragedy is not
circumscribed by the three unities and it doesn’t employ the chorus
Divisions of tragedy:

The horror tragedy of Webster and ford specializes in scenes of violence and cruelty. The heroic tragedy
of Dryden and Otway deals with the exploits of a sublime hero and sometimes in rhyme. The she-
tragedy of Rowe derives its title from a central female figure, who dominates the action. The domestic
tragedy portrays the middle class life.

English drama:

English drama became famous when T.W.Robertson’s caste showed the merits of natural speech and
subjects. English drama had a setback when the plays of fashionable society ,artificial issues and
emotions held the stage. It had a vigorous revival when great changes in the structure and outlook of
English social life.