Tragedy
A drama genre invoking catharsis through human suffering.
Tragedy is a dramatic genre centered on human suffering, where a protagonist or group endures devastating or sorrowful events. Its traditional goal is to produce catharsis in the audience—a "pain [that] awakens pleasure." Although many cultures have created forms that trigger this contradictory emotional response, the word "tragedy" most often points to a particular dramatic tradition that has been central to how Western civilization has defined itself. This tradition is neither single nor continuous; as Raymond Williams notes, it has been used to invoke a powerful sense of cultural identity and historical continuity, linking "the Greeks and the Elizabethans, in one cultural form; Hellenes and Christians, in a common activity."
The tradition began in ancient Greek theatre about 2,500 years ago. Only a fraction of the works by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides survive, along with fragments from other poets and later Roman tragedies by Seneca. It found singular expression in the plays of Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, Jean Racine, and Friedrich Schiller, then in the naturalistic tragedies of Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, and later in Nurul Momen's *Nemesis' tragic vengeance*, Samuel Beckett's modernist meditations on death and loss, and Heiner Müller's postmodernist reworkings of the tragic canon. Throughout, tragedy has remained a key arena for cultural experimentation, negotiation, struggle, and change. A long line of philosophers—including Plato, Aristotle, Saint Augustine, Voltaire, Hume, Diderot, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Freud, Benjamin, Camus, Lacan, and Deleuze—have analyzed, speculated on, and criticized the genre.
Since Aristotle's *Poetics* (335 BCE), tragedy has been used to make genre distinctions. At the scale of poetry, it is set against epic and lyric; within drama, it is opposed to comedy. In the modern era, tragedy has also been defined against drama, melodrama, the tragicomic, and epic theatre. This has led some Greek tragedies to appear as tragicomedies or melodramas. Drama in the narrow sense cuts across the traditional comedy-tragedy divide, an anti- or a-generic shift that began in the mid-19th century. Both Bertolt Brecht and Augusto Boal define their epic theatre projects—non-Aristotelian drama and Theatre of the Oppressed—against models of tragedy. However, Taxidou reads epic theatre as incorporating tragic fu
- Origin
- Ancient Greece, 6th century BCE
- Earliest extant work
- The Persians by Aeschylus
- Key ancient playwrights
- Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides
- Key later figures
- Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, Jean Racine, Friedrich Schiller, Henrik Ibsen, August Strindberg, Samuel Beckett, Heiner Müller
- Etymology
- From Ancient Greek τραγῳδία 'goat song'
- Defining philosopher
- Aristotle (Poetics, 335 BCE)
Lore & Background
Athenian tragedy, the oldest surviving form, emerged during the 6th century BCE and flowered in the 5th century BCE. It was performed at an annual state religious festival in honor of Dionysus, in late March/early April, as a contest between three playwrights. Each offered a tetralogy of three tragedies and a satyr play. Only 32 of over a thousand 5th-century tragedies survive, including complete texts by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Aeschylus' The Persians is the earliest extant Greek tragedy. Performances were in an open-air theatre, probably holding around 12,000 people, and all actors were male wearing masks. The chorus danced and sang, and the plays used devices like the ekkyklêma (a platform to display aftermath of offstage violence) and the mechane (a crane for flying gods, giving rise to 'deus ex machina').
Reader's Guide
Tragedy has been central to Western cultural identity, with a tradition that is multiple and discontinuous yet often used to invoke cultural continuity. Aristotle's Poetics (335 BCE) provides the earliest surviving explanation of tragedy's origin from dithyrambic improvisations and defines it as an enactment of an important, complete deed that through pity and fear effects catharsis. The genre has been used to make distinctions against comedy, epic, melodrama, and epic theatre. Philosophers from Plato to Deleuze have analyzed it. In the modern era, tragedy has been defined against drama, melodrama, the tragicomic, and epic theatre, with some Greek tragedies now appearing as tragicomedies or melodramas. Bertolt Brecht and Augusto Boal defined their epic theatre projects against models of tragedy, though Taxidou reads epic theatre as incorporating tragic functions. The etymology is debated, with 'goat song' from a prize goat or chorus of satyrs, and an alternative from 'trygodia' (grape harvest song).
Did You Know?
- The word 'tragedy' derives from Ancient Greek τραγῳδία meaning 'goat song', possibly from a goat being a prize or a chorus dancing around a goat before sacrifice.
- Only 32 of over a thousand tragedies performed in 5th-century BCE Athens survive, with complete texts by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
- The ekkyklêma was a theatrical device used to display the aftermath of offstage violence, such as Agamemnon's butchered body in Aeschylus' Oresteia.
- Aristotle's Poetics (335 BCE) is the earliest surviving explanation of tragedy's origin, arguing it developed from improvisations of the leader of choral dithyrambs.
More in Ancient inventions 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record