Introduction
Cards (9)
- Introducing TragedyThe drama texts in AQA’s Aspects of Tragedy component can be said to fall into two main categories; classical tragedy and modern tragedy.
- Classical tragedy
- Originally written by Ancient Greek dramatists such as Sophocles and later revived and reinvented by playwrights such as Shakespeare.
- Classical tragedy tends to focus on the suffering and downfall of powerful figures such as Kings.
- Modern tragedy
- Modern tragedy (or domestic tragedy), pioneered by late 19th Century dramatists such as Henrik Ibsen, inspiring American dramatists of the mid-20th Century such as Miller, Tennessee Williams and Edward Albee.
- Comparison
- Modern tragedies are ‘smaller scale’ when compared to Classical tragedy.
- The protagonists of modern tragedy are often lowly figures and the action tends to be confined to domestic settings such as the family home, rather than affecting an entire nation or state.
- However, modern tragedy still offers powerful storylines revolving around themes such as pain, failure and death.
- Introducing Key Tragic ConceptsTragedy is an ancient genre, the oldest surviving discussion of the genre being by Aristotle.
- History of tragedy
- Tragedy is an ancient genre, originating over two and a half thousand years ago in 5th Century BCE Athens and its surrounding areas.
- Aristotle
- The philosopher, Aristotle (384 BCE-322 BCE), wrote the oldest surviving discussion of the genre in his Poetics.
- Aristotle examined how the tragedies of his time shared particular features and tried to assess its appeal to audiences.
- Tragic concepts
- Aristotle's ideas are still widely used today and we will look more closely at the following:
- The tragic hero (protagonist).
- The hero’s downfall, caused by a tragic flaw (hamartia or hubris).
- A moment of discovery or recognition (anagnorisis).
- Emotional release at the end of the play (catharsis).
- Other concepts
- Other useful concepts to explore include:
- Chaos and Disorder.
- Revenge.
- Inevitability.