The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare's TragediesMacbeth clutches an imaginary dagger; Hamlet holds up Yorick's skull; Lear enters with Cordelia in his arms. Do these memorable and iconic moments have anything to tell us about the definition of Shakespearean tragedy? Is it in fact helpful to talk about 'Shakespearean tragedy' as a concept, or are there only Shakespearean tragedies? What kind of figure is the tragic hero? Is there always such a figure? What makes some plays more tragic than others? Beginning with a discussion of tragedy before Shakespeare and considering Shakespeare's tragedies chronologically one by one, this 2007 book seeks to investigate such questions in a way that highlights both the distinctiveness and shared concerns of each play within the broad trajectory of Shakespeare's developing exploration of tragic form. |
From inside the book
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Page 8
... classical dramatic form.3 It was really from about the 1530s that 'comedy' and 'tragedy' began to be used more widely as terms descriptive of dramatic genre, though 'comedy' could still be used to mean simply 'play' for some time after ...
... classical dramatic form.3 It was really from about the 1530s that 'comedy' and 'tragedy' began to be used more widely as terms descriptive of dramatic genre, though 'comedy' could still be used to mean simply 'play' for some time after ...
Page 9
... classical tragedy was ' the widespread attempt to Christianize classical tragedy - or , rather , to classicize Christian drama ' , resulting in drama on biblical subjects with ' Seneca's florid diction , five - act structure , and ...
... classical tragedy was ' the widespread attempt to Christianize classical tragedy - or , rather , to classicize Christian drama ' , resulting in drama on biblical subjects with ' Seneca's florid diction , five - act structure , and ...
Page 11
... classical practice , had a slightly more nuanced understanding of what constituted tragedy than these remarks would suggest . Even if the ' poem ' ( under which name Johnson includes poetic drama ) was not of itself necessarily elevated ...
... classical practice , had a slightly more nuanced understanding of what constituted tragedy than these remarks would suggest . Even if the ' poem ' ( under which name Johnson includes poetic drama ) was not of itself necessarily elevated ...
Page 13
... classical style and the second representing a native tradition of ver- nacular drama . It is notable too that just prior to 1560 , two printing events both conducive to the emergence of English tragedy sprang from these two separate ...
... classical style and the second representing a native tradition of ver- nacular drama . It is notable too that just prior to 1560 , two printing events both conducive to the emergence of English tragedy sprang from these two separate ...
Page 14
... classical as well as classical ways . Its use of dumb - shows before each act , for example , developed an exist- ing visual and emblematic quality in English drama in a new and influential way , and it was the first English drama to ...
... classical as well as classical ways . Its use of dumb - shows before each act , for example , developed an exist- ing visual and emblematic quality in English drama in a new and influential way , and it was the first English drama to ...
Contents
Section 1 | 25 |
Section 2 | 26 |
Section 3 | 27 |
Section 4 | 33 |
Section 5 | 38 |
Section 6 | 40 |
Section 7 | 43 |
Section 8 | 46 |
Section 14 | 77 |
Section 15 | 84 |
Section 16 | 91 |
Section 17 | 103 |
Section 18 | 114 |
Section 19 | 115 |
Section 20 | 126 |
Section 21 | 127 |
Section 9 | 52 |
Section 10 | 55 |
Section 11 | 65 |
Section 12 | 66 |
Section 13 | 72 |
Section 22 | 134 |
Section 23 | 136 |
Section 24 | 140 |
Section 25 | 147 |
Section 26 | 150 |
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Common terms and phrases
action actor Antony and Cleopatra Antony's Apemantus Aristotle audience Aufidius become blood bond Brutus Capulet Cassius chorus classical close clown comedy comic contemporary contrast Cordelia Core scene Coriolanus death Desdemona drama earlier Elizabethan emblematic Emilia excess Faustus fear feel figure Folio friends Ghost Gloucester Gorboduc Hamlet handkerchief honour human Iago Iago's Julius Caesar kill kind King kneeling Lady Macbeth Lavinia Lear Lear's lovers Macduff manhood Marcus mark antony Martius masculinity moral murder opening scene Ophelia Othello parallel performance perspective play play's Plutarch political Portia protagonist question recalls recognise represented response revenge tragedy rhetoric ritual Roman Rome Romeo and Juliet Saturninus scripts seems Seneca sequence Shakespeare Shakespearean tragedy shows soliloquy Spanish Tragedy speak speech stage direction story suggest Tamora theatre thee thing thou Timon of Athens Titus Andronicus tragic hero villain violence virtue wife women words
Popular passages
Page 112 - I'll kneel down, And ask of thee forgiveness. So we'll live, And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues Talk of court news ; and we'll talk with them too, Who loses,- and who wins ; who's in, who's out ; And take upon's the mystery of things, As if we were God's spies...
Page 42 - A glooming peace this morning with it brings : The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head...
Page 71 - Imperious Caesar, dead and turn'd to clay, Might stop a hole to keep the wind away : O, that that earth, which kept the world in awe, Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw ! But soft ! but soft ! aside : here comes the king.
Page 63 - Cowards die many times before their deaths ; The valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, It seems to me most strange that men should fear ; Seeing that death, a necessary end, Will come, when it will come.
Page 125 - I have lived long enough : my way of life Is fall'n into the sear, the yellow leaf ; And that which should accompany old age, As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, I must not look to have...
Page 138 - tis most certain, Iras. Saucy lictors Will catch at us, like strumpets ; and scald rhymers Ballad us out o' tune : the quick comedians Extemporally will stage us, and present Our Alexandrian revels : Antony Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness I
Page 139 - Take up her bed; And bear her women from the monument. She shall be buried by her Antony: No grave upon the earth shall clip in it A pair so famous. High events as these Strike those that make them; and their story is No less in pity than his glory which Brought them to be lamented.
Page 57 - Between the acting of a dreadful thing And the first motion, all the interim is Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream: The genius, and the mortal instruments, Are then in council; and the state of man, Like to a little kingdom, suffers then The nature of an insurrection.
Page 73 - What's Hecuba to him or he to Hecuba That he should weep for her? What would he do Had he the motive and the cue for passion That I have?