A tragedy is a form of drama in which death, heartbreak, or any type of human suffering is inevitable. The origins where tragedies occurred were Ancient Greece, Italy, and Britain. An example of a famous tragedy are Romeo & Juliet and Mac Beth by William Shakespeare. A Shakespearean tragedy usually includes elements which are, having a ‘tragic hero’ who is noble, dramatic irony, hamartia, hubris, pathos and a restoration of social order. Dramatic irony is an element used in a tragedy.
This element creates situations where the audience knows the characters thoughts, personality, or events that have occurred to a character before another character does. The author uses this element to instil fear, frustration, or suspense to the reader. An example of dramatic irony used in the Shakespearean tragedy ‘Othello’ in Act 3, scene III is in lines 170-175 in which lago says, ” Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock. The meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in bliss. Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger, but, oh, what damned minutes tells he o’er.
Who dotes, yet doubtssuspects, yet soundly loves! ” lago is portraying himself as honest, trustworthy and noble to Othello, when in reality he is trying to bring him down for his promotion. Othello, thinking that lago is the honest man he is, trusts him which leads to disaster. There are various types of elements in tragedies specifically to portray the characters also. An element used in the play is Harmartia. Authors manipulate this structural element of a narrative for a specific purpose. Hamartia is a fatal flaw which leads to a down fall of a tragic hero. Shakespeare used this element in almost all of his plays.
In the play, Othello’s hamartia is his nobility, his high power puts him in a belief that no one would ever be disloyal or untrue to him; which is why he puts his faith in lago and believes what he is telling him. In lines 420-436 is an example of this element. “IAGO: I lay with Cassio lately and, being troubled with a raging tooth, I could not sleep. There are a kind of men so loose of soul that in their sleeps will mutter their affairs. One of this kind is Cassio. In sleep I heard him say “Sweet Desdemona, let us be wary, let us hide our loves. ”
And then, sir, would he gripe and wring my hand, cry “O sweet creature! and then kiss me hard, as if he plucked up kisses by the roots that grew upon my lips, lay his leg over my thigh, and sigh, and kiss, and then cry “Cursed fate that gave thee to the Moor! ” Othello than says that the situation is “monstrous”, showing that he is believing him although the audience knows he is lying. This element contributes to the nature to the tragedy of the play as his trust and faith in lago leads him to his undoing. To create a tragedy, you must need a specific structure, characterisation and theme. The third main element of tragedy is the themes covered. Authors choose themes for a specific purpose.
An important theme of the text was jealousy is the root of all evil. An example of Othello’s jealousy in the play is in which he says, “Oh, that the slave had forty thousand lives! One is too poor, too weak for my revenge. Now do I see ’tis true. Look here, lago, all my fond love thus do I blow to heaven. ‘Tis gone. Arise, black vengeance, from the hollow hell! Yield up, O love, thy crown and hearted throne to tyrannous hate! Swell, bosom, with thy fraught, For ’tis of aspics’ tongues! ” In this scene lago is telling Othello his thoughts about Cassio and Desdemona, and that he ‘thinks’ they are having an affair.
At first Othello didn’t believe him until lago had proof but when he did Othello raged and stated in the quote that even killing Cassio for ‘what he has done’ is not enough revenge. This element also occurs elsewhere in the play. The theme of the play contributes to the overall effect of the tragedy, the downfall of the hero who ‘loses it all In conclusion, tragedies are created by the ‘sum’ of a range of elements. These elements are components to the structure, characterisation, and theme which are all manipulated by the author to suit their purpose and the purpose of the play was to be a tragedy.