(B) THE TRAGEDY ~ Literary Hunt

(B) The Tragedy

According to Aristotle, "Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narration; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions.". Thus, tragedy is the highest, noblest and most sublime form of all literary compositions. It is the tragic story of a good and great man who meets his doom and death on account of à tragic flaw in his character.

According to Aristotle, their constituent parts of a tragedy.

(a) Plot
(b) Character
(c) Thóught
(d) Diction
(e) Song
(f) Spectacle

According to Aristotle, 'Plot' is the most important part since it involves 'action' so he says, 'a tragedy is an 'imitation of an action' not of men or characters'. Tragedies can be classified into two main categories. (i) The classical tragedy (ii) The Romantic Tragedy. The tragedies can further be divided as (A). Horror Tragedies which specialize in scenes of violence, cruelty, and murders and blood. (B) Heroic Tragedies which deal with the heroic deeds and exploits of great warriors heroes. (C) She-Tragedies of Rowe, where the central figure is the heroine who dominates the plot. (D) The Domestic Tragedie, it portrayed the hard and tragic life of middle-class families.

The hero of a tragedy is either a king, a prince or a great general. He is at the same time good also but he has a slight flaw in his character, and this slight flaw, in the special circumstances in which he is placed, becomes the cause of his emotional and spiritual crisis and death. The sufferings and death of a great man of his status give the impression of a universal tragedy.

Some Important Terms Relating to
the Tragedy

(a) Catharsis: It is the effect of tragedy on the human heart. The death of a tragic hero cleans the harder passions by arousing the feelings of pity and fear and leaves the reader or the spectator in a state of 'calm of mind, all passions spent'.

(b) Hamartia: It is 'tragic flaw' or 'tragic trait' in the character of the hero. The tragic hero is not a villain. He is not only a great but basically a good man. But he has a slight weakness (not evil or vice) which, under the special circumstances under which he is placed, becomes the cause of his fall, doom, and death. Thus, 'Hamartia' is the 'fatal flaw' in the character of the hero.

(c) Peripeteia: It means a sudden change in the fortune of the hero from good to bad or from high to low because of 'Hamartia' or 'fatal flaw' in his characters. It produces the feeling of pity or fear in the hearts of the readers or the spectators.

(d) Catastrophe: The end of the tragedy is called a catastrophe. The hero or heroine or both meet their tragic death at this point and then, the curtain falls.

(e) Recognitions: When a Tragic hero remains in a state of deception or illusion for long, it is called Recognition. The hero gradually emerges from this state of illusion, but by that time, the unhappy developments and situations have gone beyond his powers and he can not rectify them. This realization of his folly, or the realization of truth and reality as technically called 'Recognition'.

(f) Poetic Justice: It means giving of reward or punishment exactly in proportion to one's virtuous or vicious deeds. Evil cannot escape punishment. Similarly, virtue does not go unrewarded.

(g) Soliloquy: It is a dramatic device that means 'talking to one's own self !' It may be called 'loud thinking!" The secret thoughts or schemes in the mind of a character are known to the audience through a soliloquy but the other characters present on the stage are not supposed to hear him.

(h) Aside: It may be defined as a very short soliloquy. In Aside a brief passing thought or feeling is expressed so loudly that the audience can hear it.

(i) Dramatic Unities: It consists of the unity of Time, unity of Place and Unity of Action. These unities were prescribed and practiced by the Greek dramatists. Under the unity of time, it was recommended that the action should not exceed twenty-four hours of the natural day of real life. Under the unity of place. It was recommended that some action should be confined, as fas as possible, one place only. The scene should not be frequently shifted to distant places. Under the unity of Action, it was recommended that the entire plot should revolve around one action only, whether it is a tragic action or a comic action.

SOME IMPORTANT TRAGEDY

sn.no	Title of the Tragedy	Name of the Dramatist
1	Gorboduc	Thomas Sackville & Thomas Norton
2	Dr. Faustus; The Jew of Malta; The Tragedy of Dido	Thornton
3	The Spanish Tragedy	Thomas Kyd
4	The Wounds of Civil War	Thomas Lodge
5	Jocasta	George Gascoigne
6	Sejanus His Fall	Ben Jonson
7	The Maid's Tragedy	John Fletcher
8	The Duchess of Malfi; The White Devil	the Bird
9	The Broken Heart	John Ford
10	A king and No King	Francis Beaumont
11	Revenge	George Chapman
12	Alaham Mustapha	F.Greville
13	The Honest Whore	Thomas Middleton
14	Hamlet; Othello; Macbeth; King Lear; Romeo And Juliet; Julius Caesar; Antony and Cleopatra; HenryIII; Henry VII; Richard III; King John	William Shakespeare
15	The Maid's Revenge; The Traitor	James Shirley
16	All For Love; Aurengzeb; The Indian Emperor; Love Triumphant	Dryden
17	Cato	Joseph Addison
18	Justice; Strife	John Galsworthy
19	Murder in the Cathedral	T.S.Eliot

(B) THE TRAGEDY

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