Elements of Tragedy

Mahnoor Tahir
Mahnoortahir.091@gmail.com

Tragedy is the branch of drama which has a serious subject. In tragedy main character
faces many problems as a result of tragic flaws or inability to deal with unfavorable situations.
According to Aristotle, tragedy is copy of an action that is serious, complete and of a
certain extend. There are many writers who wrote tragedies. Euripides was ancient Greek writer
of tragedy. Other famous writers of that time were Sophocles and Aeschylus. Shakespeare wrote
many tragedies. His famous tragedies comes from his second and third period. Romeo and Juliet
is an example of second period and tragedies like Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear and Othello are
from his third period.
Aristotle introduced six elements of tragedy. First and the most important element is
‘Plot’. It is how events and incidents are arranged in the story. It can be either complex or linear.
Various incidents in a plot show a relationship with each other. It is divided into five acts and
each act is further divided into many scenes. Second element is ‘Characters’. Characterization
provides base to plot. Characters are men and women who act. They must possess real human
traits. Most important character is protagonist. Third element is ‘Thoughts’. It is what characters
feel or think during their development in plot. It represents the intellectual element of drama.
Thought includes many themes stated in the whole tragedy which are expressed through speech.
Another element is ‘Diction’. Basically, diction is choice or selection of words or vocabulary
used by the writer to reveal thoughts and expressions of characters. Fifth element of tragedy is
‘Musicality’. It is used to embellish tragedies like chorus songs. They tell the audience about the
events that do not occur on the stage. Past events are explained and knowledge of further
possibilities is given through it. Sixth and last element is Stagecraft. It is important for
converting written script into scene. It enhances dramatic grip of the written words and add
relevance of an event.
According to Aristotle, spectators should feel both fear and pity when they see tragedy
because they feel same potentials for same reactions in themselves. The clarification or
purification of audience’s feelings when they see the dramatic action is called Catharsis,
specially the emotions of fear and pity. It is an emotional discharge. For the occurrence of
catharsis, the protagonist of the story should must be able to grab audience’s attention. Due to the
prominent position of protagonist, his tragic fall arouses more fear and sorrow in viewers. For
example, in the tragedy Remo and Juliet both lovers crossed their forbidden love by killing
themselves. The audiences feel catharsis when the two families bury their hatchet and become
friends.
According to Aristotle, the main character of the story has both evil and good qualities.
His personality is the mixture of both traits, he is neither all good nor all evil. Like others he also
possess some weaknesses that lead him to tragic fall called Hamartia and flaws like pride,
inability to deal with difficult situations and narrowness of vision. For example, in tragedy
Richard the third, Richard killed all those who came in his way to gain the throne. His immoral
acts eventually caused his death.
Irony is central feature of tragedy; it is the difference between appearance and reality.
Dramatic irony is the is when viewers knows more about the dramatic situation than the
characters like in Hamlet dramatic irony occurs when Polonius, Claudius, Ophelia all believed
that Hamlet is mad. Whereas, audience are aware that he is only putting an act. Cosmic irony
which is also called irony of fate occurs when God, fate or some larger force seems to deceive
characters.
In tragedy after climax somehow protagonist realizes his mistakes that became the
reasons of his downfall and this moment of recognition is called Catastrophe. Without it, there
would be no tragedy. Furthermore, Aristotle said that tragedy looks more like reality if it has
unity of actions. Later other critics added two other things one is unity of place and other unity of
time.
On the whole, we can conclude that all of the above mentioned elements and features make up an
effective Tragedy.