Tragedy is a form of drama which can be traced as far back as the Greek theatre. The word is derived from the Greek language, and the original meaning is "goat-song", though it is not known how this applies to the dramatic form with which we are familiar. It probably dates back to the rites and dramatic enactment of tales of the gods in the early Greek religion and mythology.
The hallmarks of a tragedy are:
- that the play's denouement is catastrophic
- that the play's denouement is inevitable
- the hero's suffering is disproportionate to his guilt
- the hero's anguish appears to the audience as unjust and unfair
- the hero's pain appears to be beyond human endurance
- the hero's pain is to some extent redemptive
Greek literature boasts three great writers of tragedy: Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus. The Roman theatre does not appear to have had the same tradition of tragedy writing, but Seneca was one of those who adapted Greek stories, such as Phaedra, into Latin for the Roman stage.
One of the greatest specialist writers of tragedy in modern times was Racine, who towered over his greatest rival, Corneille, in terms of talent, and brought a new face to the genre. When his play, Berenice, was criticised for not containing any deaths, Racine disputed the conventional view of tragedy.
In the English language most famous and most successful are the tragedies of William Shakespeare:
- Anthony and Cleopatra
- Coriolanus
- Hamlet
- Julius Caesar
- King Lear
- Macbeth
- Othello
- Romeo and Juliet
- Timon of Athens
- Titus Andronicus
A contemporary of Shakespeare, William Marlowe, also wrote examples of tragedy in English, notably:
Webster (1580?-1635?), also wrote famous plays of the genre:
- The Duchess of Malfi
- The White Devil
A Doll House (1879) by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen is an example of a more contemporary tragedy. It has been translated into English and has enjoyed great popularity on the English and American stage.
The rarity of tragedy in the American theater is probably due to the American ideal, that man is captain of his fate and that justice inevitably rules the affairs of men. However, Arthur Miller stands out as a successful writer of tragic plays. Among them:
See also Greek tragedy