Shakespearian Tragedy
Classical Tragedy:
Aristotle's Poetics
• a protagonist of high estate ("better than we")
• Falls from prosperity to misery
• Reversals and discoveries ="tragic flaw"
– error caused by human frailty
• Basically a good person
• The action (or fable) generally involves revolution (unanticipated reversals
of what is expected to occur)
+ Discovery (in which the protagonists and audience learn
something that had been hidden)
• The third part of the fable = disasters : includes all destructive actions,
deaths, etc.
• Tragedy evokes pity and fear in the audience, leading finally to catharsis
(the purgation of these passions)
Medieval Tragedy:
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A narrative (not a play)
falls from high to low estate
The Goddess Fortune spins her wheel
In the middle ages = no "tragic" theater per se
Primarily liturgical drama (religious)
– teaching scripture to the illiterate (mystery plays)
– reminding them to be prepared for death and God's Judgment
(morality plays)
Renaissance Tragedy
• Mix of both medieval tragedy (which randomly occurs as Fortune spins her
wheel) and from the Aristotelian notion of the tragic flaw, a moral
weakness or human error that causes the protagonist's downfall
• Unlike classical tragedy, however, it tends to include subplots and comic
relief
• Early Renaissance = "violent and bloody plots, resounding rhetorical
speeches, the frequent use of ghosts . . . and sometimes the five-act
structure"
– (Norton Anthology of English Literature, 6th ed., vol. I, p. 410)
• In his greatest tragedies (e.g. Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth),
Shakespeare transcends the conventions of Renaissance tragedy, imbuing
his plays with a timeless universality
Great Chain of Being
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Shakespeare's Time
Believed in the Great Chain of
Being
Determined natural order of
events
Series of hierarchical links
– God on top
Each level had own hierarchy
Disruption of hierarchy = disrupt
the laws of nature
– Causes bizarre events to
occur
Great Chain of Being
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The Great Chain of Being has six levels
Starting with the highest level, God,
who is all spirit and no matter to the
bottom level which is inanimate objects
that have all matter and no spirit.
Each level is subdivided into stations
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God
Angels
Humans
• Kings/Queens
• Duke/Duchess/Thanes
• Bishops
• Earls/Local Clericals
• Priests/Monks
• Managers
• Merchants/Shopkeepers
• Tradesmen
• Farmers
• Soldiers/Town Watch
• Household Servants
• Beggars
• Actors
• Thieves/Pirates
• Gypsies
Animals
Vegetables
Minerals
Great Chain of Being
Great Chain of Being
Two Important Points
1. Divine Right of Kings: basically certain people are Kings
because God specifically wanted them to be King.
• Note the proximity of Kings to God
2. You cannot move from your station.
– For example, if you are born poor you remain poor.
– King Lear disturbed the
Great Chain of Being
– He removed the ‘God
chosen King’ and replaced
him with himself
– Shakespeare, through King
Lear, uses this point to
demonstrate part of the
conflict/theme
• his ambition dominating
over human nature
• It goes against human
nature to disrupt the
chain
Great Chain of Being
Great Chain of Being
• Shakespeare Plays = when the chain was disturbed then the
flow of nature was disturbed
– when people move out of their rightful place on the Chain
of Being, the whole of Nature is upset and in turmoil –
– This is the theme of so many of his plays-when the rightful
king is displaced Nature cannot function properly until
things are put right
• It helps to explain why strange things were happening during
the murder
Element 1
The Tragic Hero
Tragic Hero?
Act III
Act IV
Act II
Act I
Act V
Only One Tragic Hero
#1: Man of High Estate
– a king, prince, general, etc.
– we will hear about him from
others before he makes an
entrance in the play
Man of High Estate
His fate affects the welfare of a whole nation or
empire
• Powerlessness of man
• Omnipotence of Fate or Fortune
THEY ARE EXCEPTIONAL BEINGS
• Being of high estate is not everything
• Hero's nature is exceptional
– raises him in some respect much above the
average level of humanity
– intensification
• Fatal gift = touch of greatness =Virtue
– Fierce determination, fixed ideas
– Mixed with nobility of mind, or genius, or
immense force
• Stirs not only sympathy and pity, but
admiration, terror, and awe.
#2 Tragic Flaw/Virtue
• A ‘Flaw’ in Character
• Virtue:
– Two sides of one coin
– That which is BEST
quality turns into his
WORST/FATAL quality
– Misapplied
TRAGIC Virtue
• Obsession – driving force
• Virtue = Driving force within the hero
• The flaw often takes the form of obsession
– this tragic trait, which is also his greatness, is fatal to him
• He errs by action or omission
• Inner torment as he follows his obsession
• His error + other causes = his ruin/downfall
#3 Intrusion of Time and a Sense of
Urgency
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Inner / outer conflicts intensify
Time becomes more and more important
A sense of urgency (haste) develops
Plot / conflict creates tension
– steamrolling inevitability effect
– Downfall of hero's
– He has put into motion himself
# 4 Misreading and Rationalizations
– Contributing to, and furthering the obsession and
the control of the tragic flaw/virtue are
misreadings, supernatural suggestion, and
accident or chance
– Things happen a split second too late
• the hero operates on what he believes to be the case
• rather than what he actually knows to be the case
• Soon they are one and the same thing to him
# 5 Murder, Exile, Alienation of Enemies and
Allies
• Conflicts arise
• death or alienation of all of the
hero's former friends, allies,
and/or mentor
• Removing all forms of support for
the hero
• He must face things alone
#6 Gradual Isolation of the Tragic Hero
• Soon the hero is isolated
• Brings on new problems:
– Sleeplessness
– Rage
– Confusion
– Hallucination
– violence
# 7 Mobilization of the Opposition
• At some point, the opposing forces must
mobilize against the hero in order to bring the
tragedy to its conclusion.
# 8 Tragic Recognition of the Flaw by the Tragic Hero:
Too Late
• Tragic hero must realize the error/mistake he
has made that is bringing about his fall
• He must accept that he alone is to blame for
his downfall
• However, this tragic recognition always comes
to late to save the life of the hero
#9 Last, Courageous Attempt to Restore Lost
Honor/Greatness
• While the hero's life is forfeit, he does, after
Tragic Recognition, receive some chance to
redeem himself - at least a little
– A display of courage
– Nobility of the heart
– Self-sacrifice
• Something to show us that while he was
someone who needed to be defeated, brought
down, or even a monster, he had good in him
# 10 Audience Recognizes Potential for
Greatness
• This is inevitably tied to the hero's attempt to
restore his greatness - # 9
• The audience must recognize what a tragic
waste the death of the hero is
– What kind of person he could have been had it
not been for his mistakes and downfall
# 11 Death of the Tragic Hero
• It is a tragedy after all
# 12 Restoration of Order
• The natural order of The Great Chain of Being is
restored
Aristotle Hero
Aristotle once said that "A man doesn't become a hero until he
can see the root of his own downfall."
An Aristotelian tragic hero must have four characteristics:
1. Nobility: (of a noble birth) or wisdom (by virtue of birth).
2. Hamartia: (translated as flaw, mistake, or error)
3. Peripetia: A reversal of fortune (peripetia) brought about because
of the hero's Hamartia (or tragic virtue).
4. Anagnorisis: The discovery or recognition that the reversal was
brought about by the hero's own actions (anagnorisis).
TRAGEDY, HUMAN FLAWS, & RESPONSIBILITY
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Proairesis- The freedom of choice at the end; the degree to
which the Tragic Hero is “free” to choose – rational decision
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The calamities of tragedy do not simply happen, nor are they
sent =
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The calamities of tragedy proceed mainly from actions, and those, the
actions of men
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Shakespeare's tragic heroes are responsible for the
catastrophe of their falls.
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The hero always contributes in some measure to the disaster
in which he perishes