Tragedy: The Basics is an accessible and up-to-date introduction to dramatic tragedy. A comprehensive guide for anyone undertaking a study of the genre, it provides a chronological overview and history of tragic theory. Covering tragedy from the classics to the present day, it explains the contextual and theoretical issues which affect the interpretation of tragedy, examining popularly studied key plays in order to show historical change. Including a glossary of key terms and suggestions for further reading, Tragedy: The Basics is an ideal starting point for anyone studying tragedy in literature or theatre studies.
Introduction
1. Greeks and Romans: Classical Tragedy
Contexts: The Festival of Dionysus at Athens
Aeschylus, The Oresteia
Sophocles, Oedipus the King
Sophocles, Antigone
Euripides, Medea
Euripides, Bacchae
Contexts: Seneca and Roman Tragedy
Seneca, Phaedra
2. ‘When the bad bleed’ ? Early Modern English Tragedy
Contexts: Elizabethan Tragedy
Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy and Revenge Tragedy
Christopher Marlowe, Dr Faustus
William Shakespeare, Hamlet
Contexts: Jacobean Tragedy
William Shakespeare, Othello
William Shakespeare, King Lear
William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra
John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi
3. Neo-Classicism, Restoration Tragedy and Sentimentality
Contexts
Jean Racine, Phaedra
John Dryden, All for Love
Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv’d
4. ‘From Hero to Victim’: Romantic Tragedy and After
Contexts
Heinrich von Kleist, The Prince of Homburg
Georg Büchner, Woyzeck
Henrik Ibsen, Hedda Gabler
5. Modernism and Tragedy
Contexts
Anton Chekhov, The Cherry Orchard
Eugene O’Neill, Mourning Becomes Electra
Federico Garcia Lorca, Blood Wedding
Bertolt Brecht, Mother Courage and her Children
Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire
Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman
Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
6. The Survival of Tragedy
Contexts
Edward Bond, Lear
Howard Barker, Victory
Tony Kushner, Angels in America
Caryl Churchill, The Skriker
Sarah Kane, Blasted.
Conclusion
Glossary
References
Index
Biography
Sean McEvoy teaches Literature at Varndean Sixth Form College in Brighton and the University of Cambridge, UK.
