Greek Tragedy
Greek Tragedy
AMRUTHA T H
M A ENGLISH
ST MARY’S COLLEGE, MANARCAUD
DEFINITION OF TRAGEDY
A Tragedy, according to Aristotle is an
imitation of an action that is serious, complete and
of a certain magnitude in a language embellished
with a certain kind of artistic ornaments with
several being separated at the end of each part of
the play which is in the form of action not of
narrative, involving incidents arousing pity and
fear where with to accomplish the catharsis of such
emotions.
GREEK TRAGEDY
Greek Tragedy was a popular and influential
form of drama performed in theatres across ancient
Greece. The term ‘Tragedy’ derived from the words
‘tragos’ meaning goat and ‘oide’ meaning song .
Euripides : Medeia
Greek tragedies were of great influence for all
the play wrights of the world. Inspiring from the Greek
tragedies many wrote plays. Among these the one
which is considered to be influencing the whole world
even after centuries of its publication is the
‘Shakespearean Tragedy’ .
Shakespearean tragedy was unique, born out
of the pen of William Shakespeare, who never
followed the Aristotelian unities of time, place and
action.
SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDY
“ He was not of an age, but for all time”,
the famous phrase included by Ben Jonson in his poem
entitled ‘To the Memory of My Beloved, the Author,
Mr William Shakespeare’.
Shakespeare was not only a man of his own age
but he lived through out the ages and will continue to
live the coming ages, because he has attained a kind of
immortality through his writings.
TRAGEDIES
Titus Andronicus
R0meo and Juliet
Coriolanus
Timon of Athens
Macbeth
Hamlet
Antony and Cleopatra
Julius Caesar
King Lear
Othello
COMPARISON
Even if Shakespeare never followed the
Aristotelian unities ,the influence of Greek drama
could be seen in his tragedies. There are some
similarities as well as differences between the two.