We explain what tragedy is, how it originated and what its characteristics are. We also explain the types that exist, their structure and examples.
Tragedy was a highly cultivated genre in Greco-Roman antiquity.
What is Tragedy?
It is called tragedy to one of the literary genres of Antiquityprecursor of modern drama (theater). It was a highly cultivated genre in Greco-Roman antiquity and many of its fundamental pieces are still preserved and form a central part of the literary history of the West.
Tragedy is characterized by to represent illustrious figures through solemn language (“men better than they really are”, according to Aristotle), who are faced with an inevitable destiny (the fate latin or ananke Greek) because of a fault or a condition of his character (pride or hubris in Greek tragedy). The consequence of this is always fatal and the heroes are punished by the gods, usually with madness or death.
Given their sad and fatal outcomesthe term “tragedy” became popular as a synonym for a sad and inevitable event, or a situation involving great suffering and sorrow.
Etymology: The Greek voice Tragedy where the current term comes fromliterally meant “song of the goat”, since its origin dates back to the celebrations in honor of the god Dionysus, to whom a goat was offered and publicly slaughtered.
See also: Play
Origin of the tragedy
Euripides, Sophocles and Aeschylus were great authors of Greek tragedies.
The first recorded tragedies (of which only fragments survive) were of Greek origin and its authors were Thespis and Phrynicus. It is thought that the rite of its representation was initiated in ancient Greece and Anatolia and that it had its peak around the 5th century BC, with the emergence of the great Greek authors: Euripides, Sophocles and Aeschylus.
However, The origin of tragedy is a mystery not solved by classical philologyalthough it is linked, following the origin of its name, to ritual and religious elements carried out to ask for a good harvest, good hunting or during annual celebrations such as equinoxes, solstices, etc.
It may help you: Greek Theater
classic tragedy
classical tragedy is the one cultivated by the people of Greco-Roman antiquity: Ancient Greece and later the Latin people (early Roman Empire).
The greatest exponents of the first were Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocleswho rescued mythological motifs and Homeric stories to represent before the cop the most problematic episodes of its epic heroes and the great historical motifs, such as the aftermath of the Trojan War, or long cycles of revenge and family feuds among the Greek nobility.
The main Latin exponents, on the other hand, were Livius Andronicus, Ennius, Pacuvius and Actius, and later Seneca. They composed pieces that took up motifs from Hellenic culture and were of great influence on the later dramaturgy of the Renaissance and the European Baroque.
Modern tragedy
Victorian drama gave rise to famous playwrights such as Shakespeare.
After the Middle Ages, tragedy reappears in the Renaissance, when European culture reconciles with its pagan tradition. There were great exponents of the genre in each European country, who used the tragedy format to confront their own culture and society. They stand out among them:
- The Spanish Baroque. Also known as the “Golden Age”, it saw the appearance of dramatic works (and comedies too) by the three greats: Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina and Calderón de la Barca, among many others.
- Victorian dramaturgy. Playwrights of universal importance also emerged in England: Shakespeare, Marlowe, Ben Jonson, Otway.
- German pre-romanticism. Writers such as Goethe, Schiller, Grillparzer, who would later serve as inspiration for Romanticism.
- The French. Racine, Corneille, Voltaire, Lemercier, in many cases a prelude to the French Enlightenment.
Elements of tragedy
Women had no place in the theater of antiquity.
Classical tragedy consisted of the following elements:
- Chorus. The chorus played a fundamental role in tragedies, as it represented the voice of the people: it advised, explained the dilemmas, gave information and made the moral dilemma clear, etc. Its interventions were structured based on three moments: stanza, antistrophe and parodo.
- Chorus. The conductor of the chorus, who could leave the chorus and have his own voice to rebuke the coreutas (choir members) or the other characters.
- Characters. The different characters, heroes or antagonists played their role in the work. They were all represented by male actors, regardless of their sex, since women had no place in the theater of antiquity.
Structure of tragedy
Classical tragedy was governed by a fairly rigid model, composed of three moments:
- Foreword. The part that precedes the entrance of the chorus, usually through a maximum of three characters, and serves to inform the audience of the context of the work, where it takes place, who it is about, and what past events need to be addressed. For many, it is not actually part of the work, but rather its preface or introduction.
- Parodos. The choir enters the work, through lyrical songs and dances of advance and retreat. The atmosphere of tragedy is created and the entrances of the protagonists are anticipated.
- Episodes. There could be up to five episodes during which the philosophical or thought content of the work is expressed, in a dialogue between the characters or between the characters and the chorus. Often these moral, ethical or philosophical pronouncements took place in the mouths of the chorus, in sub-episodes called we are.
- Exodus. Final part of the piece, with lyrical and dramatic songs. Here the hero has his revelation, recognizes his mistakes and is punished by the gods, giving rise to moral teaching.
Importance of tragedy
Through fictional suffering, the audience was subjected to catharsis.
Classical tragedy was the poetic genre par excellence at its time and constituted the key piece of all Western literature to come. Its way of conceiving dramatic action, its structures and even its social importance are the prelude to what the West would give to its literature much later.
On the other hand, the citizens of antiquity They were formed morally, ethically and civically through representations of tragedy.
Through the fictional suffering of the piece, the public was subjected to catharsis, the purging of the lower emotions of the human being. Thus, according to the ancient Greeks, citizens left the theater being better people.
Differences between tragedy and comedy
According to Aristotle, a Greek philosopher who studied theatrical art in depth in his Poeticsthe fundamental difference between tragedy and comedy is that The first represents men better than they are and makes his fall from grace something much more shocking and mobilizing; while comedy represents them worse than they are, allowing the audience to laugh at them, desacralize them and feel much closer to them.
Nowadays, these terms are used in a less rigorous way. It can be said that tragedy is solemn and has a sad or catastrophic ending for the hero, while comedy is based on entanglement and ridiculous situations and it has a conciliatory ending.
The tragedy today
Today’s tragedy is freer from the rigid classifications of its origin.
Although tragedy is no longer cultivated as a literary genre, it is considered that gave rise to the appearance of modern theater and dramaturgy as we understand it today, free from the most rigid classifications of its origins.
However, the great tragedies, classical and modern, are still performed today in thousands of theatres around the world.
Examples of tragedy
Some examples of classical tragedy are:
- Aeschylus. The supplicants, Agamemnon, The Seven Against Thebes, Prometheus Bound.
- Sophocles. Antigone, Electra, King Oedipus, Ajax.
- Euripides. Medea, Helena, The Trojan Women, Heracles.
Examples of modern tragedy are:
- Calderon de la Barca. The life is dream, The mayor of Zalamea, Absalom’s hair, The physician of his honor.
- Shakespeare. Titus Andronicus, Romeo and Juliet, Otello,
- Voltaire. Brutus, Zaire, Muhammad or fanaticism, Merope.