A PROJECT

ON
ENGLISH

“TRAGEDY”

[SUBMITTED AS A PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR

B.A. LL. B (HONS) 5 YEAR INTEGRATED COURSE]

SESSION: 2019-2020

SUBMITTED ON: 09TH AUGUST 2019

SUBMITTED BY: SUBMITTED TO:

MR. SYED SAFAN ALI DR. PRIYANKA KHETAN
ROLL NO- 12 FACULTY- ENGLISH
CLASS: I SEMESTER (B)

DECLARATION
I, Syed safan ali, hereby declare that this project titled “TRAGEDY” is based on the original
research work carried out by me under the guidance and supervision of Dr. Priyanka Khetan

The interpretations put forth are based on my reading and understanding of the original texts.
The books, articles and websites etc. which have been relied upon by me have been duly
acknowledged at the respective places in the text.

For the present project which I am submitting to the university, no degree or diploma has been
conferred on me before, either in this or in any other university.

DATE: 09TH APRIL 2019 SYED SAFAN ALI

ROLL NO. 12

SEMESTER IST (B)

 CERTIFICATE
Dr. Priyanka Khetan

Faculty

University five-year law college

University of Rajasthan, Jaipur

This is to certify that syed safan ali, student of semester I of university five-year law college,
university of Rajasthan, Jaipur has carried out the project entitled THE TRAGEDY

Under my supervision and guidance. It is an investigation report of a minor project. the

student has completed research in my stipulated time and according to the norms prescribed
for the purpose.

SUPERVISOR
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I have written this project, “TRAGEDY” under the supervision of Dr. Priyanka Khetan Faculty,
University Five Year Law College, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur. Her valuable suggestions
herein have not only helped me immensely in making this work but also in developing an
analytical approach this work.

I found no words to express my sense of gratitude for Director Dr. Sanjula Thanvi, and Dy.
Director Mr. Manoj Meena and Mr. Abhishek Tiwari constant encouragement at every step.

I am extremely grateful to librarian and library staff of the college for the support and
cooperation extended by them from time to time.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page

Title …………………………………………………………………………….. I

Declaration of Originality …………………………………………………….. II

Acknowledgement …………………………………………………………….. IV

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………… V

CHAPTER – 1…………………………………………………………………….. V

CHAPTER - 2……………...……………………………………………………… VI

CHAPTER –3…………...………………………………………………………… VII

CHAPTER – 4……………………………………………………………………. XI

CHAPTER-5………………………………………………………………………. XII

CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………. XIII

Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………… XV
 INTRODUCTION
Tragedy is branch of drama that treats in a serious and dignified style
the sorrowful or terrible events encountered or caused by a heroic
individual. By extension the term may be applied to other literary works,
such as the novel.

Tragedy is a form of drama based on human suffering that

invokes an accompanying catharsis or pleasure in audiences. While
many cultures have developed forms that provoke
this paradoxical response, the term tragedy often refers to a
specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role
historically in the self-definition of western civilization That tradition has
been multiple and discontinuous, yet the term has often been used to
invoke a powerful effect of cultural identity and historical continuity—
"the greeks and the elizabethans, in one cultural
form; Hellenes and Christians, in a common activity," as Raymond
Williams puts it.

CHAPTER I (ORIGIN)
The questions of how and why tragedy came into being and of the
bearing of its origins on its development in subsequent ages and
cultures have been investigated by historians, philologists,
archaeologists, and anthropologists with results that are suggestive but
conjectural. Even the etymology of the word tragedy is far from
established. The most generally accepted source is the Greek tragōidia,
or “goat-song,” from tragos (“goat”) and aeidein (“to sing”). The word
could have referred either to the prize, a goat, that was awarded to the
dramatists whose plays won the earliest competitions or to the dress
(goat skins) of the performers, or to the goat that was sacrificed in the
rituals from which tragedy developed.

CHAPTER II (HISTORY OF THE

WORD “TRAGEDY”)
Historically, tragedy of a high order has been created in only four periods
and locales: Attica, in Greece, in the 5th century BCE; England in the
reigns of Elizabeth I and James I, from 1558 to 1625; 17th-century
France; and Europe and America during the second half of the 19th
century and the first half of the 20th. Each period saw the development
of a special orientation and emphasis, a characteristic style of theatre. In
the modern period, roughly from the middle of the 19th century, the idea
of tragedy found embodiment in the collateral form of the novel.

The Greeks of Attica, the ancient state whose chief city was Athens, first
used the word in the 5th century BCE to describe a specific kind of play,
which was presented at festivals in Greece. Sponsored by the local
governments, these plays were attended by the entire community, a
small admission fee being provided by the state for those who could not
afford it themselves. The atmosphere surrounding the performances was
more like that of a religious ceremony than entertainment. There were
altars to the gods, with priests in attendance, and the subjects of the
tragedies were the misfortunes of the heroes of legend, religious myth,
and history. Most of the material was derived from the works of Homer
and was common knowledge in the Greek communities. So powerful
were the achievements of the three greatest Greek dramatists—
Aeschylus (525–456 BCE), Sophocles (c. 496–406 BCE), and Euripides
(c. 480–406 BCE)—that the word they first used for their plays survived
and came to describe a literary genre that, in spite of many
transformations and lapses, has proved its viability through 25 centuries.
 CHAPTER III (TYPES OF
TRAGEDIES)

CLASSICAL TRAGEDY
1.tragedies in classical time were usually limited to one to three people
and were in one setting. It has tragic plot and the plays usually are one
day long

2.one play, one day, one setting, one-three characters with a chorus.

3.religious norms usually consist of stories of their worshipped people.

For example, Oedipus is a classical play because it is a play that takes
place over the course of one day and it tells an ironic story of the king of
the town that everyone thought was god like. a political norm in classical
tragedies often reflect problems, political leaders, and political issues in
the time of the writing

4. some major character traits of classical tragedies are that they are
usually quick, difficult to understand and usually have a huge reflection
of the issues in the country at that time.

5.an example of a classical tragedy is Oedipus the king because it is

written in the Greek classical times. This was when theatre was new to
the people. Each day took place over the course of one day. Oedipus
was also a very respected god like figure to the Greeks and the problem
was that he married his mother and killed his father. Over the course of
one day, he finds out that he is the father to his mother children, and he
killed his father and id in denial then finally exiles himself and gouges his
eyes out
 SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDIES
1.Shakespeare’s plays were seen as art to the people. Each one of his
plays contains a major flaw in at least one of his characters for the
audience to see.

2.the key elements of Shakespeare’s plays were that the characters

have a fatal flaw and the flaw aids to hero’s downfall along with another
outside influence.

3.some social patterns in Shakespeare tragedies were that the families

had to accept of the women choice in men. For example, Romeo and
Juliet, Juliet’s parents didn’t approve of Romeo. A political issue
presented in his tragedies were that some of the elite families had their
disputes. (Romeo and Juliet). A religious belief was that was shown in
Shakespeare plays that they got married in church

4.some of the character traits of Shakespeare tragedies are that there is

an outside influence that always gets in the way that aids to the main
characters downfall. Also, the language used in these tragedies are
harder to understand and you have to see the plays or read more in
depth to understand the deeper meanings of the plays

5.an example of a Shakespearean tragedy is Romeo and Juliet Romeo

were forbidden to stay away from Juliet. He doesn’t follow the rules and
sees her anyway. But, in the end because he saw her and the parents
didn’t approve it caused both Romeo and Juliet to die
 MODERN TRAGEDY
1. A modern tragedy has a lot of twists and turns. The authors make
sure that the story isn’t too predictable for the reader. They usually
involve an unexpected death or life-threatening injury.
2. The key elements of a modern tragedy are there are many
characters there’s usually a lot of problems
3. A sociological issue that could be conveyed in a modern tragedy
could be death, family problems, or just teenage issues. A political
present in a modern tragedy could be the lack of something in this
world. for example, lack of cures of diseases
4. A major characteristic of modern tragedies is that they are intense
with lot going on at once. They usually focus on a main issue in the
world at that time.
5. An example of modern tragedy could be the fault in our stars
because the story has major plot twist with Augustus going from
being perfectly fine and cancer free to dying. The plot twist in this
book is that hazel was in the more worse condition in her cancer
and most would probably believe she was going to die first. The
tragedy was Augustus dying and having to see hazel go through
the pain of having the guy she loves died.
 FAMOUS TRAGEDIES

(CHAPTER VI)
1.WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA

 CORIOLANUS
 HAMLET
 JULIUS CAESAR
 KING LEAR
 MACBETH
 OTHELLO
 ROMEO AND JULIET
 TIMON OF ATHENS
 TITUS ANDRONICUS
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA

CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE

 THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF DOCTOR FAUSTUS

 TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT

JOHN WEBSTER

 THE DUCHESS OF MALFI

 THE WHITE DEVIL
MODERN DEVELOPMENT

IN TRAGEDY

(CHAPTER V)
In modernist literature, the definition of tragedy has become less precise.
The most fundamental change has been the rejection of Aristotle's
dictum that true tragedy can only depict those with power and high
status. Arthur Miller's essay "Tragedy and the Common Man" (1949)
argues that tragedy may also depict ordinary people in domestic
surroundings thus defining Domestic tragedies. British
playwright Howard Barker has argued strenuously for the rebirth of
tragedy in the contemporary theatre, most notably in his
volume Arguments for a Theatre. "You emerge from tragedy equipped
against lies. After the musical, you're anybody's fool," he insists.
Critics such as George Steiner have even been prepared to argue that
tragedy may no longer exist in comparison with its former manifestations
in classical antiquity. In the Death of Tragedy (1961) George Steiner
outlined the characteristics of Greek tragedy and the traditions that
developed from that period. In the Foreword (1980) to a new edition of
his book Steiner concluded that ‘the dramas of Shakespeare are not a
renascence of or a humanistic variant of the absolute tragic model. They
are, rather, a rejection of this model in the light of tragi-comic and
“realistic” criteria.’ In part, this feature of Shakespeare’s mind is
explained by his bent of mind or imagination which was ‘so
encompassing, so receptive to the plurality of diverse orders of
experience.’ When compared to the drama of Greek antiquity and
French classicism Shakespeare’s forms are ‘richer but hybrid'.
 CONCLUSION

(Aristotle)
In the Poetics, Aristotle's famous study of Greek dramatic art, Aristotle
(384-322 B.C.) compares tragedy to such other metrical forms as
comedy and epic. He determines that tragedy, like all poetry, is a kind of
imitation (mimesis), but adds that it has a serious purpose and uses
direct action rather than narrative to achieve its ends. He says that
poetic mimesis is imitation of things as they could be, not as they are —
for example, of universals and ideals — thus poetry is a more
philosophical and exalted medium than history, which merely records
what has actually happened.

The aim of tragedy, Aristotle writes, is to bring about a "catharsis" of the

spectators — to arouse in them sensations of pity and fear, and to purge
them of these emotions so that they leave the theatre feeling cleansed
and uplifted, with a heightened understanding of the ways of gods and
men. This catharsis is brought about by witnessing some disastrous and
moving change in the fortunes of the drama's protagonist (Aristotle
recognized that the change might not be disastrous, but felt this was the
kind shown in the best tragedies — Oedipus at Colonus, for example,
was considered a tragedy by the Greeks but does not have an unhappy
ending).

According to Aristotle, tragedy has six main elements: plot, character,

diction, thought, spectacle (scenic effect), and song (music), of which the
first two are primary. Most of the Poetics is devoted to analysis of the
scope and proper use of these elements, with illustrative examples
selected from many tragic dramas, especially those of Sophocles,
although Aeschylus, Euripides, and some playwrights whose works no
longer survive are also cited.
Several of Aristotle's main points are of great value for an understanding
of Greek tragic drama. Particularly significant is his statement that the
plot is the most important element of tragedy:

Tragedy is an imitation, not of men, but of action and life, of happiness

and misery. And life consists of action, and its end is a mode of activity,
not a quality. Now character determines men's qualities, but it is their
action that makes them happy or wretched. The purpose of action in the
tragedy, therefore, is not the representation of character: character
comes in as contributing to the action. Hence the incidents and the plot
are the end of the tragedy; and the end is the chief thing of all. Without
action there cannot be a tragedy; there may be one without character. .
.. The plot, then, is the first principle, and, as it were, the soul of a
tragedy: character holds the second place.

Aristotle goes on to discuss the structure of the ideal tragic plot and
spends several chapters on its requirements. He says that the plot must
be a complete whole — with a definite beginning, middle, and end —
and its length should be such that the spectators can comprehend
without difficulty both its separate parts and its overall unity. Moreover,
the plot requires a single central theme in which all the elements are
logically related to demonstrate the change in the protagonist's fortunes,
with emphasis on the dramatic causation and probability of the events.

Aristotle has relatively less to say about the tragic hero because the
incidents of tragedy are often beyond the hero's control or not closely
related to his personality. The plot is intended to illustrate matters of
cosmic rather than individual significance, and the protagonist is viewed
primarily as the character who experiences the changes that take place.
This stress placed by the Greek tragedians on the development of plot
and action at the expense of character, and their general lack of interest
in exploring psychological motivation, is one of the major differences
between ancient and modern drama.

Since the aim of a tragedy is to arouse pity and fear through an

alteration in the status of the central character, he must be a figure with
whom the audience can identify and whose fate can trigger these
emotions. Aristotle says that "pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune,
fear by the misfortune of a man like ourselves." He surveys various
possible types of characters on the basis of these premises, then
defines the ideal protagonist as
. . . a man who is highly renowned and prosperous, but one who is not
pre-eminently virtuous and just, whose misfortune, however, is brought
upon him not by vice or depravity but by some error of judgment or
frailty; a personage like Oedipus.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.WIKIPEDIA.COM

2.QOURA

3.SLIDESHARE.NET
4CLIFFSNOTES.IN

5.BLOGSPOT