, Research Paper
The Characteristics of a Tragedy Play
Shakespeare was a well known playwright.Some of his most famous plays were tragedies.A tragedy involves the decent of a great man like a king or warrior from the most fortunate success to the to total defeat and death.The plays Hamlet and Macbeth have many of the characteristics of a tragedy.The characters Hamlet and Macbeth are the tragic heros in the plays.Hamlet and Macbeth are well known tragedies and the main character in each play is a tragic hero.
Before discussing the plays Hamlet and Macbeth, one must know the characteristics of a tragedy.Two types of tragedy plays are:a major tragedy, and a minor tragedy.The major tragedy usually effects everyone,and the minor tragedy effects a small part of the people. The tragic hero must be a great and admirable man in both his powers and opportunities.He should be a person in society whose actions involve the well-being of its members.The plot of the play should show him working to achieve some goal very dear to him.This action will involve him in choices.There will be a web of circumstances and this will set off a chain of events that could not have been foreseen or stopped.The hostility of his destiny may be the result of circumstances,of the activities of his enemies,or some supernatural force hostile to him personally or to all humanity such as fate,the gods, or Satan.When it is too late to escape the victim comes to realize what has happened to him,and dies bitter,burnt-out,and desperate.The audience will know more about what is going on before the hero does,and sees his evil destiny at work long before he does. This sets up ironical tension,and is a powerful instrument for gaining the sympathy of the audience.The hero’s death at the end usually releases him from life’s burden,and the audience from its tension,but it also releases the hero’s society from the disorder his downfall had caused.
The plays Hamlet and Macbeth have many of the characteristics of a tragedy.The two tragedies are major tragedies,they effect everyone that is around Hamlet and Macbeth.Macbeth and Hamlet were both working toward a goal.Hamlet is trying to get revenge for is dead father,and throughout the play he hurt many people along the way. Macbeth’s goal is to become king and after he claims the thrown he worries for the rest of the play about who is trying to kill him. Throughout the plays Macbeth and Hamlet hurt many people that they had once cared strongly for.The reason for all of the pain that Macbeth and Hamlet caused,was of a supernatural force.In Hamlet it was is father asking him to avenge his death.In Macbeth it was the three witches telling him that he would be king.The audience felt sorry for the two tragic heros,because they knew before the hero what was happening to them and how it was leading to their downfall.
Hamlet and Macbeth were defiantly tragic heros.They were both in high places in the society.Hamlet was a kings son and effected many peoples lives.Macbeth was the Thaine of Glamis and later he becomes Thaine of Cawdor and eventually king.He defiantly effected many peoples lives.The heros in both plays stared out very good men however as the plays progressed they became worse.Macbeth was heartless when he had Lady Macduff and her children killed.He had reached his lowest point.Finally,in the end Macbeth and Hamlet realized what they had done and knew it was wrong,however,it was too late to change any of it.
Shakespeare was a great writer.He created strong tragic characters.His plays were able to pull many emotions from the audience.The tragedies that he wrote were very good they were major tragedies.Macbeth and Hamlet were very popular tragedies,and still are today,their maine characters Macbeth and Hamlet were very strong tragic heros.