Common Themes of the Shakespearean Tragedies
Uploaded by spootyhead on Apr 18, 2007
Common Themes of the Shakespearean Tragedies
William Shakespeare’s tragedies are often gripping plays with bloody endings that leave the audiences and readers breathless. Set in places like Rome, Venice, and even Denmark; these tragedies tend to end with all the cards lying on the table, or in other words, all the main characters are dead. Not all tragedies however, have to necessarily be self-contained tragic plays; in fact, many plays on Romance and Fantasy also have tragic characters, as we shall see in the upcoming examples. William Shakespeare not only creates tragedies within plays, but he creates tragic events within characters’ lives, which inevitably draws the audience in. Shakespeare uses tragedies to reveal the consequences of a leader’s actions and emotions.
A.C. Bradley, who wrote Shakespearean Tragedy sums up the plot of a true tragedy in perhaps one of the best ways. First, he suggests that there is a “circle of events”(www.clicknotes.com) to all Shakespearean tragedies that “lead up to, and include, the death of the hero”. Secondly, there has to be a fall of the conspicuous person (such as Iago and Aaron), and third, the tragic character/hero must be a great man. Shakespeare definitely follows these rules, or more importantly, he created them, and in the meantime, set the standard for the modern day tragic hero as well.
Perhaps one of the best know Shakespeare plays is Hamlet, where the premise is focused on a young Prince who has lost his father through the devious actions of his Uncle, who has also become his new stepfather. Readers can see many examples of a leader or a character in a leadership role fall from grace because of the way the characters all seem to go through role changes.
The critic Michael Mangan has many insights into the character of Hamlet in his book A Preface to Shakespeare’s Tragedies by revealing the “role-playing”(139) aspect of the character. This ties-in nicely to the idea that Shakespeare creates a character that will inevitably fall due to his own actions, as it is the preempted acting that drives Hamlet’s family and friends to change his life for him.
The death of King Hamlet left a somber setting to the introduction of Hamlet, and the young Prince is left to his own devices after learning of the true reasons for his father’s death. We...