SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDY AND

GREEK TRAGEDY : A COMPARISON

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 .

During the festival of Dionysus,

tragedies were staged as part of competition. Choruses were dressed in loin skin of goat. A goat was the prize given for the best tragedy.

PLAYWRIGHTS Aeschylus, his plays include Agamemnon,

The Libation, The Furies.

Sophocles : Antigone, Oedipus the King, The

Women of Trachis

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.

Both the Greek tragedy and

Shakespearean tragedy shows the fall of the protagonist who holds a high position in society, from glory to wretchedness. There should be a central character and the plot should be revolving round the central character.

PLOT A plot is the ordering of events in a

logical manner. According to Aristotle it is the soul and life blood of a tragedy.

Greek tragedies had a good beginning, middle an end. The beginning is self explanatory. The plot moves in a linear way.

Shakespearean tragedies never starts from

the very beginning. Something has already happened before the play begins. The plot moves in a complex manner.

Greeks had a theocentric vision. Ancient Greek tragedy is basically modelled upon an essentially

religious base. It shows a divine power that controls and destroys human life.

In Greek tragedy ‘destiny is character’. The fate cannot

be changed. The utter helplessness of the characters in the struggle against their fate is shown.

e.g: Oedipus in ‘Oedipus Tyrannous’ Elizabethans believed in the anthropocentric universe. In

Shakespearean tragedy ‘character is destiny’. The entire emphasis is laid upon the individual in bringing about his ruin.

eg: The vaulting ambition of Macbeth leads to his doom.

TRAGIC HERO At the centre of the tragedy is its hero,

the protagonist. Both the Greek and Shakespearean tragedies have same kind of tragic hero. The tragic hero is a towering personality in his state, hails from the high stratum of society and holds high position. The heroes fall due to some flaw in their character. His wrong judgment lead him to face his death. In Greek tragedy fate also plays an important role in the fall of hero.

eg: Hamlet, prince of Denmark, was intellectual and

learned. Oedipus in Oedipus the King

Greek tragedy had only three actors and they wore masks.

Shakespearean tragedy never had such restrictions.

They concentrated in their costumes.

In both the tragedies women were not allowed to act on the stage.

Women characters were played by males.

CHORUS The Greeks used chorus as a dramatic device. Chorus was a group of characters (consisting fifteen members) who remained aloof from the action and comments upon the scenes by singing and dancing. There is a complete absence of chorus in Shakespearean tragedy. There is no need of a chorus because every action takes place on the stage.

In a Greek tragedy chorus provided time gap between two tragic scenes. Chorus was replaced by a comic scene in Shakespearean tragedy. A comic scene between

tragic actions provide a relief to the audience. Eg: Porter scene in ‘Macbeth’ Greek tragedies were never a blend of emotions. They never included comedy in a tragic play. Shakespearean tragedies had space for comic elements too.

Greek tragedies never staged any scenes of violence.

Such scenes were described by the chorus.

Shakespearean tragedies staged every scene that is there in the play.

Both the Greek and the Shakespearean tragedy ends with a catastrophe, a disastrous conclusion that usually involves multiple deaths. If the tragic hero

does not die he suffers complete ruin.

THREE UNITIES Unity of action, time and place. Unity of action: the unity of action implies that the action represented in the play should be one single whole without any sub plots. Unity of time: the unity of time implies that the time presented in the play should be limited to two or three hours it takes to act the play or at most a single day of either twelve or twenty four hours. Unity of place: the tragic action portrayed in the play should be limited to a single location.

The Greeks clearly obeyed the three unities in

their tragedies. These unities were observed in

order to create a feeling of reality among the

audience. Shakespearean tragedy completely disobeys

this unities. His tragedies have multi plots and locations.

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