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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