Write a note on Shakespearean tragedy.

Write a note on Shakespearean tragedy.

Ans. Shakespeare represents the first modern success in the projection of tragic view in literature. Shakespeare was living in the world which idealized self-realization, self-respect and boldness of thought and action. The tragic element is predominant in Shakespeare and in this context he compares and competes on equal terms with the greatest Greek tragedians. Shakespeare also represents the climax of the English Renaissance.

Elizabethan tragedy achieved perfection in the hand of Shakespeare.

Shakespeare's tragedies are the profound creations of an actively questioning genius engaged in the drama of conflicting forces liberated both in the inner world of characters and the practical world of give and take business. A tragedy is essentially a story of death and suffering. Shakespearean tragedies are also powerful tales of death and suffering, they are more than that. His tragedies are concerned with the ruin restoration of the soul and the life of the men. In other words, it is subjected to struggle to good and evil in the world.

Shakespeare has left behind a number of tragedies. The great tragedies are Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet. Among the Roman tragedies Coriolanus. Julius Ceaser, Antony and Cleopatra and Timon of Athens are quite remarkable.

Shakespearean tragedy is concerned with the fate of persons of 'high degree' often with kings or princes, and with leader in the state like Coriolanus, Brutus and Antony. Shakespeare was medieval in his conception of tragedy. In his tragedies, he made conspicuous persons suffer so that the tragedy may have powerful effect on the reader's mind.

Some salient features of Shakespearean tragedy:

i)       One man show: Though in Shakespearean tragedy, there are a number of persons, yet the tragedy is pre-eminently the story of one person, the hero, or of the two--the hero and the heroine. The story leads up to and includes the death of the hero.

ii)      Tragic flaw: The cause of tragedy in Shakespeare's plays is some fatal flaw in the character of the hero or the tragedy. Fate plays an important role in bringing about the tragedy, but Shakespeare makes man responsible for his own action and believes in the principle "character is destiny". In each of his tragedies the hero is presented in the grip Of some fatal flaw in his character, which in spite of external circumstances, leads him to his fatal doom.

iii)     Abnormal conditions of Mind: Shakespeare represents abnormal conditions of mind, such as insanity as in the case of Lear' hallucinations as in the case of Macbeth when he sees the air drawn dagger, somnambulism as the scene of sleep-walking in Macbeth' These abnormal states of the hero and the heroine deepen the gloom Of the tragedy.

iv)     Use of supernatural elements: Shakespeare uses some form 0.f supernatural elements such as ghosts and witches which are placed closest relation with the main character. The witches in Macbeth and the ghost in Hamlet mould the character of the hero to some extent and prepare bin for his tragedy.

v)      Chance or co-incidence: In the tragedies of Shakespeare, chance or coincidence plays its own vital role. In Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Hamlet and also in other plays chance plays a vital role.

vi) Struggle and Conflict: In Shakespearean tragedies conflict takes two forms. Firstly, conflict in the outer practical world that is filled with rapidly moving chain of events. And secondly, conflict in the inner world of ideas and emotions, feelings and sentiments, whose ebb and flow suck in the active energies of the character, i.e; the conflict is within the soul of hero or the heroine. Both the external and internal conflicts have their significance in bringing about the tragedy.

vii) Shakespearean Hero: Shakespeare's heroes are not common men, they are persons of high status, kings and princes possessing great dignity of character. Shakespeare's heroes are exceptional beings in whom there in an intensification of life. In almost all tragic heroes of Shakespeare, we observe a marked one-sidedness. The tragic hero l identifies himself with one interest, object, passion or habit of the mind.

viii) Poetic Justice: Dr. Johnson complains that Shakespeare has no poetic justice in his plays. In spite of the absence of poetic justice, Shakespeare has implicit faith in a moral order. Villains however prosperous at the beginning have to pay the penalty in the long run. Good men at times have no doubt to suffer, but that suffering is the outcome of the tragic flaw in their characters. It is this triumph of the moral order that is one of the secrets of Shakespeare's universal appeal.

In conclusion we can say that in the realm of tragedy Shakespeare is surely without a peer. As a Banquo, Cassio or Kent in Shakespearean tragedy has an independent individuality and stands impliedly as a foil to the central figure of the hero—Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello or Lear. This implied contrast makes the character of the hero more convincing and engaging and the tragic appeal to his fall becomes more penetrating.