To speak about tragedy is no easy matter because the term can be vague and broad or very personal. However, to speak of it as a form of English drama in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries begins to narrow the focus to certain expectations, patterns, and assumptions. Shakespeare's tragedies, we might suggest, usually include a central hero, develop some form of conflict, perhaps involving ambition, revenge, or family strife, and unfold the drastic consequences of choices that lead to suffering and loss, most often culminating in death. These general observations describe the bare structure of a tragic plot and even provide the basic outline of Othello. But knowing more about the theories and elements contributing to this dramatic form allows for more meaningful discussion about the way Shakespeare combines and works them into the particular story of Othello's fall from greatness as it involves and affects characters around him.
Greek philosopher Aristotle's definition of tragedy (c. 330 B.C.) became influential among Renaissance dramatists and literary critics and has continued to guide and shape an understanding of tragedy as a literary form. His theory concentrates on dramatic structure: (1) identifying plot as the most important element, (2) describing the central character as one who is neither wholly good nor wholly evil and whose fall results from an error in judgment, (3) suggesting that the hero eventually realizes his error and its consequences when it is too late to change, and (4) indicating that the audience responds with a combination of fear and pity to a story about a character who elicits their sympathy. (Joan Lord Hall, 1999).
Shakespeare did not simply adopt Aristotle's ancient principles as a rigid formula for his tragedies.
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