Shakespearean tragedy

2025-09-27T10:03:56Z

2A00:23C7:5A06:FB01:0:4FE0:49E4:8631: /* Further reading */

{{Short description|Tragedies written by William Shakespeare}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Reynolds, Sir Joshua - Mrs Siddons as the Tragic Muse - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''[[Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse]]'', [[Joshua Reynolds]] (1784). [[Sarah Siddons]] (1755–1831) was an esteemed performer of Shakespearean tragedy.]]
'''Shakespearean tragedy''' is the designation given to most [[Tragedy|tragedies]] written by [[William Shakespeare]]. Many of [[Shakespeare's history plays|his history plays]] share the qualifiers of a Shakespearean tragedy, but because they are based on real figures throughout the [[history of England]], they were classified as "histories" in the [[First Folio]]. The Roman tragedies—''[[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]'', ''[[Antony and Cleopatra]]'' and ''[[Coriolanus]]''—are also based on [[historical figure]]s, but because their sources were foreign and ancient, they are almost always classified as tragedies rather than histories. [[Shakespeare's late romances|Shakespeare's romances]] ([[Tragicomedy|tragicomic plays]]) were written late in his career and published originally as either tragedy or [[comedy]]. They share some elements of tragedy, insofar as they feature a high-status central character, but they end happily like [[Shakespearean comedies]]. Almost three centuries after Shakespeare's death, English scholar [[Frederick S. Boas]] also coined a fifth category, the "[[Shakespearean problem play|problem play]]," for plays that do not fit neatly into a single classification because of their subject matter, setting, or ending.{{sfn|Dunton-Downer|Riding|2004}}{{sfn|Boas|1910|pp=344–408}} Scholars continue to disagree on how to categorize some Shakespearean plays.

==Chronology==
[[File:Edwin Austin Abbey King Lear, Act I, Scene I The Metropolitan Museum of Art.jpg|thumbnail|300px|[[Edwin Austin Abbey]] (1852–1911) ''[[King Lear]]'', Cordelia's Farewell ]]
Below is the list of Shakespeare's plays listed as [[tragedies]] in the [[First Folio]], along with the date range in which each play is believed to have been written.{{sfn|Dunton-Downer|Riding|2004}}{{sfn|Brockett|Hildy|2007|p=109}}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! scope=col rowspan=2 | Play
! scope=colgroup colspan=2 | ''[[Terminus post quem|Terminus]]''
|-
! scope=col | ''post quem''
! scope=col | ''ante quem''
|-
|''[[Titus Andronicus]]''||1591||1593
|-
|''[[Romeo and Juliet]]''||1594||1595
|-
|''[[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]''||1599||1600
|-
|''[[Hamlet]]''||1600||1601
|-
|''[[Troilus and Cressida]]''{{efn|''Troilus and Cressida'' was listed as a [[Comedy (drama)|comedy]] in the [[First Folio]], but is now classified as a [[tragedy]].}}||1601||1602
|-
|''[[Othello]]''||1604||1605
|-
|''[[King Lear]]''||1605||1606
|-
|''[[Macbeth]]''||1605||1606
|-
|''[[Timon of Athens]]''||1605||1608
|-
|''[[Antony and Cleopatra]]''||1606||1607
|-
|''[[Coriolanus]]''||1607||1608
|}

==Influences and sources==
[[File:Faustus Manuscript in the Huntingdon Library.jpg|thumb|''[[Doctor Faustus (play)|The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus]]'' by [[Christopher Marlowe]], in the [[Huntington Library]], [[San Marino, California]]]]
The [[English Renaissance]], when Shakespeare was writing, was fueled by a renewed interest in Roman and Greek classics and neighboring [[renaissance]] literature written years earlier in Italy, France, and Spain.{{sfn|Dunton-Downer|Riding|2004}} Shakespeare wrote the majority of his tragedies under the rule of [[James VI and I|James I]], and their darker contents may reflect the general mood of the country following the death of [[Elizabeth I]], as well as James's theatrical preferences.{{sfn|Dunton-Downer|Riding|2004}} Shakespeare, as was customary for other playwrights in his day, used history, other plays, and non-dramatic literature as sources for his plays. Additionally, tragedy was a new and exciting theatrical phenomenon in the late 16th century, rather than an established and self-evident dramatic form; because of this, Shakespeare and his contemporaries' plays did not necessary fit into a single genre.<ref>Hodge, Rachael. ''[http://turing.library.northwestern.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/before-genre-tragedy-patches-early-english/docview/2773990139/se-2 Before Genre : Tragedy in Patches in the Early English Playhouses]'', University of Oxford (United Kingdom), England, 2022''.''</ref> In [[Elizabethan England]] there was no [[copyright]] law or protections against [[plagiarism]], so characters, plots, and even whole phrases of poetry were considered common property.{{sfn|Bryson|2007|p=99}} The majority of Shakespeare's tragedies are based on historical figures, with the exception of ''[[Measure for Measure]]'' and ''[[Othello]]'', which are based on narrative fictions by [[Giraldi Cintio]].{{sfn|Dunton-Downer|Riding|2004}} The historical basis for Shakespeare's Roman plays comes from ''The Lives of Noble Grecians and Romans'' by [[Plutarch]],{{sfn|Mowat|Werstine|2013}} whereas the source of Shakespeare's Britain-based plays and ''[[Hamlet]]'' (based on the Danish Prince Amleth){{sfn|Hoy|1992}} derive from ''[[Holinshed's Chronicles]]''.{{sfn|Dunton-Downer|Riding|2004}} Furthermore, the French author [[François de Belleforest|Belleforest]] published ''The Hystorie of Hamblet, Prince of Denmarke'' in 1582, which includes specifics from how the prince pretended madness, to how the prince stabbed and killed the King's counsellor who was eavesdropping on Hamlet and his mother behind the arras in the Queen's chamber.{{sfn|Hoy|1992}} The story of Lear appears in [[Geoffrey of Monmouth|Geoffrey of Monmouth's]] ''Historia regium Britanniae'' {{Circa|1135}}, and then in [[John Higgins (poet)|John Higgins]]' poem ''[[The Mirror for Magistrates]]'' in 1574, as well as appearing in Holinshed's ''Chronicles'' in 1587.{{sfn|Foakes|1997}} Some events that happen in Shakespeare's ''[[King Lear]]'' were inspired by various episodes of [[Philip Sidney]]'s ''[[Astrophel and Stella|Arcadia]]'' from 1590, while the nonsensical musings of Edgar's "poor Tom" heavily reference [[Samuel Harsnett|Samuel Harsnett's]] 1603 book, ''A Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures''.{{sfn|Foakes|1997}}

==Contemporary tragedy==
[[File:Hamlet and his Father's Ghost, William Blake, 1806.jpg|thumb|''Hamlet and his Father's Ghost'', [[William Blake]] (1806)]]
Tragedies from these eras traced their philosophical essence back to the [[Senecan tragedy]],{{sfn|Dunton-Downer|Riding|2004}} grounded in nobles who have a tragic flaw or commit a grave error (''[[hamartia]]'') which leads to their reversal of fortune (''[[peripeteia]]''). (However, some critics have argued that the "pseudo-Aristotelian" concept of the tragic flaw does not apply to Shakespeare's tragic figures.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jsu.edu/depart/english/gates/shtragcv.htm|title=Shakespeare and the Tragic Virtue|website=www.jsu.edu|access-date=2018-05-03|archive-date=21 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180521174050/http://www.jsu.edu/depart/english/gates/shtragcv.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>) [[Revenge tragedy]] was another increasingly popular genre in this age; Shakespeare's ''[[Hamlet]]'' is one example of this.{{sfn|Boas|1910|pp=344–408}}{{sfn|Brockett|Hildy|2007|p=109}} Plays of this age were also decidedly secular,{{sfn|Dunton-Downer|Riding|2004}} in contrast to the religious [[morality plays]] which, by this time, were outlawed by [[Elizabeth I]]. One marked difference between English renaissance tragedies and the classics that inspired them was the use and popularity of violence and murder on stage.{{sfn|Dunton-Downer|Riding|2004}}

Select exemplary (non-Shakespearean) Elizabethan and Jacobean tragedies:{{sfn|Hoy|1992}}
* ''[[The Spanish Tragedy]]'' by [[Thomas Kyd]]
* ''[[The Jew of Malta]]'' by [[Christopher Marlowe]]
* ''[[Tamburlaine]]'' by Christopher Marlowe
* ''[[Doctor Faustus (play)|Doctor Faustus]]'' by Christopher Marlowe
* ''[[Antonio's Revenge]]'' by [[John Marston (playwright)|John Marston]]
* ''[[The Revenger's Tragedy]]'' by [[Thomas Middleton]]
* ''[['Tis Pity She's a Whore]]'' by [[John Ford (dramatist)|John Ford]]

==Notes and references==

===Notes===
{{Notelist}}

===References===
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
{{div col|colwidth=45em}}
* {{cite book
|title = Shakespere and his Predecessors
|series = University manuals
|last = Boas
|first = Frederick S.
|author-link = Frederick S. Boas
|publisher = [[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]
|year = 1910
|oclc = 939680633
|url = https://archive.org/details/shakespearehispr00boasuoft
}}
* {{cite book
|title = History of Theatre
|last1 = Brockett
|first1 = Oscar G.
|last2 = Hildy
|first2 = Franklin J.
|year = 2007
|publisher = [[Pearson Education]]
|location = Boston
|edition = 9th
|isbn = 978-0205358786
}}
* {{cite book
|title = Shakespeare: The World as Stage
|last = Bryson
|first = Bill|author-link=Bill Bryson
|year = 2007
|publisher = [[HarperCollins]]
|location = New York
|series = [[Eminent Lives]]
|isbn = 978-0-06-074022-1
|oclc = 136782567
|title-link = Shakespeare: The World as Stage
}}
* {{cite book
|title = Essential Shakespeare Handbook
|last1 = Dunton-Downer
|first1 = Leslie
|last2 = Riding
|first2 = Alan
|year = 2004
|publisher = [[Dorling Kindersley]]
|location = New York
|isbn = 978-0789493330
}}
* {{cite book
|title = King Lear
|editor-last = Foakes
|editor-first = R. A.
|editor-link = R. A. Foakes
|last = Shakespeare
|first = William
|author-link = William Shakespeare
|display-authors = 0
|series = [[Arden Shakespeare]], third series
|year = 1997
|publisher = [[Cengage Learning]]
|isbn = 1903436591
|ref = {{harvid|Foakes|1997}}
|url-access = registration
|url = https://archive.org/details/kinglearardensha00will
}}
* {{cite book
|title = Hamlet
|series = Norton critical editions
|editor-last = Hoy
|editor-first = Cyrus
|editor-link = Cyrus Hoy
|last = Shakespeare
|first = William
|author-link = William Shakespeare
|display-authors = 0
|year = 1992
|publisher = [[W. W. Norton & Company]]
|location = New York
|isbn = 978-0-393-31642-1
|ref = {{harvid|Hoy|1992}}
|url-access = registration
|url = https://archive.org/details/hamlet100shak
}}
* {{cite book
|title = The Tragedy of Julius Caesar
|editor-last1 = Mowat
|editor-first1 = Barbara A.
|editor-link1 = Barbara A. Mowat
|editor-last2 = Werstine
|editor-first2 = Paul
|last = Shakespeare
|first = William
|author-link = William Shakespeare
|display-authors = 0
|year = 2013
|publisher = [[Folger Shakespeare Library]]
|location = New York
|isbn = 978-1-4391-9671-7
|ref = {{harvid|Mowat|Werstine|2013}}
}}
{{Div col end}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book
|title = Shakespeare A to Z
|last = Boyce
|first = Charles
|year = 1990
|publisher = Roundtable Press
|location = New York
|isbn = 0-440-50429-5|ref=none
}}
* {{cite book
|title = Shakespearean Tragedy
|last = Bradley
|first = A.C.
|year = 1904
|publisher = Penguin
|location = London
|isbn = 978-0140530193|ref=none
}}
* {{cite book
|editor-last = Greenblatt
|editor-first = Stephen
|editor-link = Stephen Greenblatt
|last = Shakespeare
|first = William
|author-link = William Shakespeare
|display-authors = 0
|title = The Norton Shakespeare
|url = https://archive.org/details/nortonshakespear00shak
|url-access = registration
|year = 1997
|edition = 2nd
|publisher = [[W. W. Norton & Company]]
|location = New York
|isbn = 978-0-393-92991-1|ref=none
}}
* {{cite web
|title = Shakespeare Tragedies
|last = Jamieson
|first = Lee
|date = 1 May 2015
|website = [[About.com]]
|url = http://shakespeare.about.com/od/thetragedies/a/Shakespeare_Tragedies.htm
|access-date = 4 April 2014|ref=none
}}
* {{cite book
|title = Shakespeare's Tragic Art
|last = Lewis
|first = Rhodri
|year = 2024
|publisher = Princeton UP
|location = New York
|isbn = 978-0691246697|ref=none
}}
* {{cite book
|title = The Cambridge Companion to Shakespearean Tragedy
|series = Cambridge Companions to Literature
|editor-last = McEachern
|editor-first = Claire
|year = 2013
|publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]
|location = Cambridge
|isbn = 978-0511999314
|doi = 10.1017/CCOL0521790093|url = http://www.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam033/2002067262.html
|ref=none
}}

==External links==
* [http://www.bl.uk/shakespeare/themes/tragedies ''Shakespearean tragedies''] at the [[British Library]]

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[[Category:Shakespearean tragedies| ]]
[[Category:Plays by William Shakespeare|Tragedies]]
[[Category:Tragedy]]

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Shakespearean tragedy