8-5Tragedies

**Shakespeare’s Tragedies //Answer prepared by Austin R.// **

Out of the four different categories of plays written in the //First Folio// by William Shakespeare (the //Comedies//, the //Histories//, the //Tragedies//, and the //Late Romances//), the //Tragedies// are by far the most famous. The //Tragedies//, (//Antony and Cleopatra//, //Coriolanus//, //Hamlet//, //Julius Caesar//, //King// //Lear//, //Macbeth//, //Othello//, //Romeo and Juliet//, //Timon of Athens//, and //Titus Andronicus//) are thought to be Shakespeare’s greatest successes as a playwright. As said by the book //World of Shakespeare//, the //Tragedies// “contain his best known characters… and his most famous quotations.” Within the //Tragedies//, there was a group of plays that were called the //Great Tragedies// (//Hamlet, Othello, King Lear,// and //Macbeth//) because, as said by //World of Shakespeare//, “they were written at the height of Shakespeare’s career.” First off, a tragedy is a “drama dealing with a noble protagonist placed in a highly stressful situation that leads to a disastrous, usually fatal conclusion.” In all of Shakespeare’s tragedies, there is a tragic hero (usually one of high rank such as a king or prince), who creates a difficult situation that he must resolve, and a combination of bad luck and bad choices leads to his death. In the earlier tragedies, characters were not responsible for their fates or destiny, while in the later tragedies, characters had more control over their destinies.

In one of the //Great Tragedies, Othello//, Othello, the protagonist, suspects that is wife is having an affair with his best friend, and he get’s more furious until he kills her; //Othello// is the only Shakespearean play that has an African American hero. In //Hamlet//, Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, wants to take revenge on Claudius who killed Hamlet’s father. At the end of the play, the Queen is killed by poison intended for Hamlet, and Hamlet is fatally wounded in a duel but finally kills Claudius before he dies. In //King Lear//, the King decides to divide up his kingdom between his three daughters according to how much they love him. Cordelia, the youngest, refuses to take part and is banished; and the King’s two other daughters are fighting over a boy, so in the end, his family and kingdom are destroyed. In //Macbeth//, Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy, Macbeth, a Scottish lord, kills King Duncan in order to become king; and he also kills his friend, Banquo, in his quest for power. Macbeth become overcome with guilt and becomes a miserable tyrant.

The //Roman Tragedies// (//Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra,// and //Coriolanus//) are another group of Shakespeare’s tragedies that deal with political power. Often, tragedy results in a failure to meet their responsibilities, and they contain some of Shakespeare’s most famous speeches. The tragedies are set mainly in ancient Rome and Shakespeare developed plots on stories of real Roman heroes, and he changed them to make them more exciting. The plays show how hard it is to be a political leader; “Their heroes have power, but also weaknesses which make them vulnerable to being attacked or overthrown,” according to //World of Shakespeare//. In Shakespeare’s Roman Tragedies, characters often have to make difficult decisions between their emotions and responsibilities. Shakespeare’s tragedies contain some of his greatest works. The morale’s and lessons learned from them changed the lives of so many people. As 4th-century Roman critic, Aelius Donatus once said, ‘The moral of tragedy is that life should be rejected.’

Boyce, Charles. __Shakespeare A to Z__. New York, New York: Dell Publishing, 1991. Hylton, Jeremy. "Tragedy." __The Complete Works of William Shakespeare__. The Tech. 8 Mar 2009 . N.A N.A., N.A.. "First Folio." __The First Folio and Early Quartos of William Shakespeare__. Oxford Text Archive. 8 Mar 2009 .
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