The Tragic Hero of the Post - Classical Renaissance

Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 2014

In this article, the analysis of Shakespearean tragedies is presented. It reveals that Shakespeare's plays are full of conflicting thoughts, and expression is so convincing that it is not possible to plan a system of philosophy out of them. Each character, from the king to the clown, from the most highly intellectual to the simpleton, judges life from his own point of view and says something that is so deep and appropriate at the playwright's versatility of genius. So is the case with the conception of tragedy.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2020

This study focused on the error of judgment of the characters in selected Shakespeare's major plays: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Othello, Antony and Cleopatra. It analyzed the tragic flaw found in the events, theme, setting, and characterization. The error of judgment of the characters as the cause of their downfall are identified by the use of the literary device Hamartia as outlined by Aristotle in his Poetics. This presented its implications in teaching literature. This is a qualitative descriptive-analytical anchored by textual analysis. It utilized analytical description in the concept of errors found in Shakespeare's tragic plays. The plays of Shakespeare are indisputably the greatest tragedian in the field of writing because of his overreaching protagonists which also are tragic heroes. It stipulates some flaws which led to their destruction. It was determined that the protagonists in the plays show some flaws in the events, how the plays change from happiness to misery because of errors; setting, the time and place in which the action of the tragedy occurred; theme, which represents the kind of tragedy and lastly the characterization, by pointing out the qualities and their deeds.

Global journal of arts, humanities and social sciences, 2022

Tragic drama since the Classical Greece has had some distinct changes in the course of its development. Since the time of Sophocles, tragedy has been shaped by different theatrical conventions and philosophies. It has experienced different kinds of change under various kinds of situations, pressures etc., which obviously came from the changing world about it. Each period sees the development of a special orientation and emphasis, a characteristic style of theatre. The framework of this paper falls on its search to draw a comparative analysis of the Classical, Renaissance and Modern tragedies. The tragic conception from the time of the Greeks to the present has undergone a metamorphosis in definitions and experience This paper therefore highlights the fundamental similarities and differences between the tragedies of the Classical, the Renaissance and the Modern ages. It discusses the overall significance of changes in convention which tragedy like every other genre has undergone from the ancient period. The paper concludes that it is obvious from the consideration of the three great periods of tragedy that no theatrical period ever repeats itself as there are differences among them as there must be since the theatre of any given period reflects the world in which it exists.

Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 2019

Efforts to describe Shakespeare’s tragedies and place them within the history of the genre have been long misled by dubious assumptions about Shakespeare’s secularism dating back to the influence of German Romanticism. The use of concepts drawn from Aristotle’s Poetics has been compromised, as well, by patterns of misinterpretation, reflecting the influence of Renaissance Protestants such as Melanchthon, who sought to reconcile classical tragedy with Christianity. As Aristotle uses the terms, hamartia does not mean sin, and anagnorisis does not mean repentance. Using these terms as euphemisms for these Christian concepts has allowed critics to avoid recognizing Shakespeare’s indebtedness to the moral vision of Christianity. Tragedy for Shakespeare, as in medieval biblical drama, is the failure of a sinner to repent. Shakespeare represents repentance as a process that requires engagement with other people: an intersubjective transformation Stanley Cavell describes as “acknowledgment.” .......... The Fortunes of Tragedy: Medieval and Early Modern. Special issue edited by David Aers and Sarah Beckwith. Volume 49, Number 1, January 2019. ......... "Go, litel bok, go, litel myn tragedye." So wrote Chaucer at the end of Troilus and Criseyde. But how compatible are the forms and ideas of tragedy with Christian tradition, its theology and liturgy? What are the relations between medieval and early modern discourses of tragedy? In The Tragic Imagination (2016), the distinguished Anglican theologian Rowan Williams presents a grand narrative maintaining the compatibility of "the tragic imagination" and Christianity. Yet the story neglects, without any comment, the entire Middle Ages. This special issue of JMEMS explores the fortunes of tragedy as a genre by investigating the sources and consequences of this missing middle of Williams's book. It also concerns what led generations of Christians to invent or reinvent tragic forms of drama and literature in the early modern period. .......... Articles are by Jason Crawford (Union University), Patrick Gray (Durham University), Eleanor Johnson (Columbia), Paul A. Kottman (New School for Social Research), Russ Leo (Princeton), and Giles Waller (University of Cambridge), with an article by Grace Hamman (Duke) and "New Books across the Disciplines."

Though the principles of the tragedy were first laid by Aristotle, they did not remain the same as the pens of Renaissance tragedians moved. The Greek model of tragedy has incorporated in itself some modifications over time, particularly in Renaissance, as it is possible to figure many startling differences between both. Nevertheless, there are some similarities which both models have in common. In spite of the presence of many tragedians on the literary road of Greek and Renaissance, the focus here will be on Sophocles and Christopher Marlowe and their works Oedipus Rex and Dr. Faustus.

Journal of Arts and Humanities, 2017

Rather than focusing on the obvious traditions of evaluating Shakespearean tragic heroes, this paper presents a groundbreaking approach to unfold the pattern William Shakespeare follows as he designed his unique characters. This pattern applies to most, if not all, Shakespearean tragic heroes. I argue that Shakespeare himself reveals a great portion of this pattern on the tongue of Lear as the latter disowns Goneril and Regan promising to have "such revenges on [them] both" in King Lear. Lear's threats bestow four unique aspects that apply not only to his character but they also apply to Shakespearean tragic heroes. Lear's speech tells us that he is determined to have an awful type of revenge on his daughters. However, the very same speech tells us that he seems uncertain about the method through which he should carry out this revenge. Lear does not express any type of remorse as he pursues his vengeful plans nor should he aim at amnesty. He also admits his own madness as he closes his revealing speech. This research develops these facts about Lear to unfold the unique pattern Shakespeare follows as he portrayed his major tragic figures. This pattern is examined, described and analyzed in King Lear, Othello, and Hamlet. We will find out that the pattern suggested in this study helps us better understand Shakespeare's tragedies and enables us to provide better explanations for some controversial scenes in the tragedies discussed.

" has been understood in a variety of conflicting ways over the centuries, and the term has been applied to a wide range of literary works. In this book, H. A. Kelly explores the various meanings given to tragedy, from Aristotle's most basic notion (any serious story, even with a happy ending), via Roman ideas and practices, to the Middle Ages, when Averroes considered tragedy to be the praise of virtue, but Albert the Great thought of it as the recitation of the foul deeds of degenerate men. Professor Kelly demonstrates the importance of finding out what writers like Horace, Ovid, Dante, and Chaucer meant by the term, and how they used it as a tool of interpretation and composition. Referring to a wealth of texts, he shows that many modern analyses of ancient and medieval concepts and works are oversimplified and often result in serious misinterpretations. The book ends with surveys of works designated as tragedies in England, France, Italy, and Spain. hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Global Regional Review, 2019

Thinking is ideas' banking and everyone wants the encashment of his/her thinking. Man desires to get godly powers through the encashment of his ideas. Some people get power through inheritance while others earn through hard work. The scholars are of the view that religion and fortune favor some men in committing crimes to reach the crowns, while others lose their lives. Human history is full of such incidents where sinners become saints through power. Religious and cultural accounts start preaching and teaching of their nobility. Shakespearean tragedies, in this regard, are highly important where different dramatic characters and historical figures reached to crowns through committing crimes and these characters can be seen in the present age. This research paper is an investigation that how has the act of crime in Shakespeare's Hamlet (2006), Macbeth (1990) and King Lear (1897) connected to the accession of crowns?

The Interiors, 2020

Tragedy is the least noticed and talked about in contemporary literature. Tragedy was born as a genre when Aristotle constructed the theoretical premises upon which Tragedy is based. Perhaps, as argued by some, the rise of novel marked the death of tragedy. However, it is found that tragedy did not die rather was re-born (Steiner, 45; Brockmann, 23) to suit the modern life. The paper traces the growth of the poetics of Tragedy from Plato to the contemporary period, and postulates that from Renaissance to the present day, the literature in English has shifted piecemeal and ultimately revolted against Aristotle's definition of tragedy.

Horizonte, 2017

We are accustomed to think that tragedy should end unhappily. We generally use the word «tragic» to describe an event that unexpectedly ends in sorrow and misery. The sad ending seems to be a rule of the tragic genre, or at least a part of its definition. However, many of the ancient tragedies we are still able to read have a happy ending and theorists proved that probably many of the tragedies that are now lost used to have a happy ending. 1Therefore, the idea that tragedy must end unhappily is relatively recent. I would like to analyse the origins of this idea and to reassess if early modern poetical treatises and commentaries of Aristotle’s Poetics also share this definition of the tragic ending. I will focus mainly on Italian theory of tragedy, but also briefly consider French and Spanish early modern theorisations of the genre. I hope thus to contribute to a better understanding of the reception of Aristotelian Poetics in early modern theory of tragedy.

2020

Different concepts of love and death in Shakespearian drama need a close study about this theme. This article tries to find relation of between love and deep meaning of death as a kind of devotion for real, selfish love that can lead to a kind of misunderstanding concept. These elements form postmodern criticism and deconstructive view is a kind of binary opposition that without each other, they will lose their meaning. Difficulty of Shakespearian plays and their themes for the students of English language and literature needs a new ways of analysis for a better understanding and interpreting of Shakespeare's plays.

International Journal of English Language and Literature Studies

This study sheds light on the dramatic devices and techniques which William Shakespeare used in constructing his play King Lear. It involves analyzing the structure and plot and main themes of the plays. Shakespeare used the Elizabethan fiveact structure, which is derived from the Greek form and remains an often starting point for contemporary plays. The major plot in this play deals with king Lear and the misfortunes that he has to face as a result of the ungratefulness of his two eldest daughters. The central argument focuses on critiquing the notion that Shakespeare's plays are not original in their genesis. Some scholars go even further to suggest that Shakespeare has borrowed so much from Latin and Greek sources, ascribing them to himself, without acknowledgment. However, the present paper aims at challenging such beliefs and showing thereby the originality of Shakespeare's oeuvre of drama. This play is chosen among other plays as it represents most of the tragedies written by Shakespeare. Contribution/ Originality: This study contributes in the existing literature to identifying the dramatic devices and techniques which William Shakespeare used in constructing his play King Lear. It involves analyzing the structure and plot and main themes of the play. Moreover, it shows thereby the originality of Shakespeare's oeuvre of drama.

There is a hiatus between the Neo-classical and the modern period in the sense that, there was a dearth of tragedy in Europe in the 18 th and 19 th centuries when comedy became the major dramatic form. The 20 th century was a time of immense anxiety in the world. This anxiety can be traced to the disorder in the modern life as a result of the breakdown in religious discipline. This paper therefore aims to look at the unique personal characteristics to present this new hero whose personal lack of order does not present a deviation from the system but confirms a dislocation in the system itself.

This dissertation examines the ways in which tragedy produces, and challenges, human subjectivity in three distinct periods of western theatrical production. It also tells a story of their ahistorical continuity based on tragic repetition. Readings of Aeschylus' Oresteia, Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannos, and Euripides' Bacchae ground this argument in the Greek original. Specific constructions of fate, agency and justice provide sites for understanding the evolution of a tragic consciousness. Charting a meta-narrative of tragic inheritance through Greek tragedy, Renaissance tragic drama, and the modern drama, I establish an alternative view of western theatre's past—one that embodies its own consciously adopted tragic form. Renaissance artists repressed the knowledge structures contained in the artifacts of a past consciousness in service of Christian morality and bourgeois rationality. By creating a hybrid moral tragedy rooted in contemporary ways of knowing, they valorized the human perspective in contradiction to the world-centered one that Greek tragedy staged. As a result, the dramatic tradition increasingly excluded that which could not self-disclose from its catalogue of the real. It secured the illusion of autonomous human agency, creating the conditions for its own literary and historical tragic reversal. Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, Shakespeare's Macbeth, Hamlet and Winter's Tale model this contradiction. Finally, I retheorize Szondi's “crisis of the drama” reading Strindberg's Miss Julie, Ibsen's Hedda Gabler and Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard as a final cycle of tragedy that stages historical transformation as the suicide of dramatic realism.