The tragedy has been defined as ‘an imitation of an action that is a complete whole, and of a certain magnitude.’ In other words it is an imaginative reconstruction of life. Certain aspects of life are imitated and presented in a certain medium, which employs language, rhythm and melody.
As a play presents a conflict of wills, the objects of imitation are caught in action. They may be serious or frivolous persons. They may be of higher life in one case and lower in the other.
They may be represented as better than they are in their ordinary life or as worse. The writer of the epic or the tragedy adopts the former. The latter are adopted by the writer of the comedy.
According to Aristotle, the tragedy is the most representative of the arts. It is the grand type because the representation of action is dignified in it. It gives pleasure which is appropriate to it.
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Though the plot centers on an individual, it aims at the universal truth. It is concerned with ‘action of rational human beings, who think and will.’ The action ensues from the plot and character.
Plot is the ‘structure of the incidents, the arrangements of things done.’ It is the guiding principle of the tragedy. There is no plot without character. The characters are caught in it and tested.
They live in it in an interesting way. They may be confused or troubled by the situation, which brings out from them what is essentially human in them. The Greek playwrights, Aeschylus and Sophocles, were masters of such plots.
The plot has a beginning, middle and an end to unify the action. To make it a harmonious whole the three unities – action, place and time – are observed. The unity of action closely relates the actions to the purpose and holds the attention of the spectators. The unity of place restricts the scene of action to one place. The unity of time limits the duration of the action to one day.
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The end, which is inevitable in the tragedy, is present in the very beginning of a well-contrived plot. They are linked with a motive, which spurs the action. Every incident fits into the general plan of the plot and serves the dominant motive.
The character provides the motive to the plot. The hero of the tragedy is not wholly good or noble and comes to disaster for nothing. The character has a fault of its own. It may be some error or frailty, which a part of human nature. Vaulting ambition is the fatal weakness in Macbeth. There is too much contemplation and too little action in Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, and the opposite in Othello, the moor of Venice. Lear suffers from erotic indiscretion.
The hero is placed in a situation or circumstance, which demands his action. His action is guided by his tragic flaw. He acts and lands himself in a crisis, which creates suspense. The crisis is so uncontrollable that it leads him to his ruin. Indeed it is beyond his ability to come out of it unscathed. He is a man who is idealized in certain respects but essentially human. But he is confounded by the situation, which mauls him and brings disaster upon him.
The undeserved suffering and ruin of the hero touch the hearts of the spectators. Pity and fear are evoked in them. There is pity for him because he is a noble man. He suffers more than what he deserves and it causes fear. The tragic end of the hero is cathartic, as Aristotle would call it. The forces 6f nature is immense and they bring disaster to anyone who defies their laws.
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The importance of the moral character of a person is brought to limelight in tragedy. The tragic hero reveals in every word or gesture his character, which actuates him. Any human weakness, either minor or major, may be fatal. The tragic end of the hero demonstrates it, when he passes from prosperity to adversity. It drives the spectator to consider the importance of a moral value system for a meaningful life. This aspect of the tragedy affords pleasure while it provides Catharsis by moving the audience to pity and fear.
The chorus is an important part of classical tragedy. It plays the role of an ‘idealized spectator,’ which supplies the missing links in the action. Milton’s Samson Agonists is a classical tragedy.
English tragedy is essentially romantic. It dispenses with the chorus and the three unities. It does not hesitate to introduce physical action on the stage. It was popularized by Marlowe, but it was almost perfected by Shakespeare.
The Elizabethan period gave rise to horror tragedy, which dismissed the didactic element. Webster was its chief exponent. He presents scenes of violence and cruelty to create horror. There was the heroic tragedy in the eighteenth century, written by Dryden and Otway. It dealt with heroic exploits. Domestic tragedy was a post-Victorian product and it was written by Misfield and Galsworthy.