Definition and Characteristics Of Shakespearean Tragedy

According to Webster Dictionary, tragedy is a serious play or drama typically dealing with the problems of a central character, leading to an unhappy or disastrous ending brought on, as in ancient drama, by fate and a tragic flaw in this character, or, in modern drama, usually by moral weakness, psychological maladjustment, or social pressures.

Tragedy, as known in Western culture, has its foundation in ancient Greece about 2,500 years ago. It has evolved over the millennia and had an important role in many different cultures and eras, such as in the time of the Roman Republic, also in the Elizabethan age of England, and including up until the present day (Literary Devices.

) Owlcation has stated the origin of tragedy play that its word was derived from the Greek language “tragoidia” which means ‘the song of the goat’ considering in ancient Greece the theater performers used to wear goatskin costumes to represent satyrs. In the present day, a tragedy is a work that has an unhappy ending; the ending must include the main character's downfall.

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Also, the tragedy, as claimed by Aristotle, is a form of drama whose plot is centered on human suffering for the purpose of evoking feelings of pity and fear in the audience. This feeling he called “catharsis” helps the audience move beyond the feelings of pity and fear to find peace by the end of the play. However, more modern dramatists such as Arthur Miller has written that tragedy can also be written about the common person; in fact, the viewer may more easily relate to this type of tragedy and thus feel a greater sense of fear and pity.

Macbeth is the shortest and the most blood-soaked of Shakespeare’s play; however, it is so well-written as well as well-constructed play that can embody the essence of the tragedy play in many aspects whether it would be supernatural elements, internal conflicts, tragic hero, lack of poetic justice or a struggle between good and evil. Moreover, the significance of Macbeth is its avant-garde perspective that it can explore human psychology so profoundly. People may think that human ambition is the only timeless element in Macbeth; however, in Macbeth, Shakespeare has delved into human phycology deeper than that. He can understand and tell about human mind so modern as if he were a psychiatrist. “canst thou not minister to a mind diseased, pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow” (Macbeth 5.3.39-40); how the human mind is perceived in this play is very modern considering from how Macbeth suggests the solution to cure Lady Macbeth that it should be treated that way; it is so beyond the medical profession in those days. And for the essence of tragedy, it is embodied throughout the play. Firstly, the supernatural elements; for example, how Macbeth abuses the time and it turns to be unchronological; “I have not heard the clock, “and she goes down at twelve.” (Macbeth 2.1.2-3) Plus, everything seems to be unholy and chaotic; “a falcon tow’ring in her pride of place was by a mousing owl hawked at, and killed.” (Macbeth 2.4.10-18) The indispensably supernatural elements in Macbeth are witchcraft of the three witches such as the casting a charm scene “double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble.” (Macbeth 4.1.1-61) and how they can sense Macbeth’s coming “by the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes” (Macbeth 4.1.59-60) Secondly, there are the internal conflicts that occur throughout the play; to illustrate, how Macbeth is disturbed by the idea of murdering the king “my thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, shakes so my single state of man.” (1.3.140-143) Also, he struggles between good and evil such as the scene that he does not want to kill King Duncan “we will proceed no further in this business.” (Macbeth 1.7.31) Moreover, Hecate’s speech shows and emphasizes that Macbeth is not a purely evil guy “hath been but for a wayward son, spiteful and wrathful who, as others do, loves for his own ends, not for you.” (Macbeth 3.5.11-13) Importantly, because there is a lack of poetic justice whether Macbeth a good or evil person; readers can only sense but cannot pinpoint it, makes Macbeth a tragic hero in the ending scene “I throw my warlike shield: lay on Macduff, and damned be him that first cries ‘hold, enough!’” (Macbeth 5.7.50-60)

Since Shakespeare’s Macbeth deals with the timeless theme; human ambition, it is relevant to everyone from everywhere and in every time. However, its motivation in the original play; an ambition to be a king, maybe too outdated for the present day to grab the new generation audiences or readers’ attention. Moreover, it is too straightforward; audiences know the ending so they question what’s the point of watching the play when they know everything and what is going to happen next. It is cliché and not challenging. People usually prefer to watch something multi-genre. So, I decided that the original theme of Macbeth would stay but its plot has to be changed. Because, the achievement for the new Thai generation is to be accepted in their own way, not to become big like in the past anymore, the most important theme of Macbeth that I have brought for this adapted version for Thai audiences is the “ambition” of human in more modern aspect; the ambition for the individualism. Also, some comedy elements would be put into this tragedy and turn it into a dark joke to make it the “approachable tragedy” for the Thai contemporary audiences. And even if there is a plot-twisting in the ending, it still contains the tragedy element of the catastrophic ending of a protagonist.

The concept of tragedy in this adapted version is a protagonist with the tragic flaw, brought down by the over-ambition which leads to the bad ending that evokes audiences and readers’ sympathy toward the protagonist.There is a call to พุธทอล์ค พุธโทร, a famous Thai radio program, which allows its audiences who are suffering from their problems in life to call for a piece of advice or share their experiences as a specimen. It is Jean who is calling…

In the present day, what people want the most is being accepted in their own way; individualism (a theme of ambition). Jean, a sort-of-feminine man, whose tastes of sex are very singular; he is a masochist, in the nutshell, he gets sexual pressure from the suffering his partner gave. It is strange in a way that he is a man but loves to be violated by the woman (a theme of gender). In order to be free, he has an idea to get out of the control of his suppressive parents; meanwhile, he has an opportunity to explore things in Dark Twitter following the recommendation of his friend and find out that there are many people out there who have a dark taste as him…thus he thinks it is possible for him to express his taste. The only obstacle he has to get rid of is his parents! After having an idea of murdering his parents, he is afraid that his friend would tell others and he would be ashamed of that so, he decides to shut his friend’s month by ending his life. Consequently, he kills his parents and lives his life by expressing his passion freely. He cuts himself off from the society and starts to be addicted to the Dark Twitter where he is accepted the way he is. He uploads his sex tapes and earns money from that. However, one day he realizes how his extreme ambition of individualism destroys his humanity (a theme of guilty). So, while he is making love with his partner he asks her to assault him harder and harder, to make him forget about the murder of his parents until it is overrated and he accidentally dies. He thinks he dies; that what he wants actually. But things get worse, he is paralyzed. He cannot move which means he cannot respond to his partner’s desire anymore; no more Dark Twitter account and no one lefts. It is only him who has to live a pathetic and desperate life alone.

So, he calls to พุธทอล์ค พุธโทร to share his story while committing suicide and he successes. Finally, he dies. His story goes viral and becomes a controversial topic if he is a good and pathetic guy or he is only a bad person who deserves this ending. However, because of his story, people who have learned about this are afraid of the exaggerated ambition of humans. So, they start to question the balance of things and how to manage it.

For the theme of Macbeth that I have bought for the adaptation, as I have mentioned, the biggest one is the “human ambition;” however, in Jean, there are not only the theme of human ambition but also the theme of gender and guilty because the ambition, gender and guilty are the important distributions of humanity in every age and place. Also, as Thailand nowadays is developing in many terms such as gender matters and individualism, mentioning these topics may grab the Thai audience’s attention and help them to question and learn how to live and accept the differences.

Bibliography

1.“Tragedy.” Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tragedy.

2.Rafiq, Muhammad. “Definition and Characteristics of Shakespearean Tragedy.” Owlcation, 24 May 2017, https://owlcation.com/humanities/Shakespearean-Tragedy-Definition-and-Characteristics-of-Shakespearean-Tragedy.

3.Carroll, Heather. “Tragedy in Drama: Classical to Modern.” Study.com, https://study.com/academy/lesson/tragedy-in-drama-classical-to-modern.html.

4.Arthur Miller. “The Tragedy of the Common Man.” The New York Times, 1949.

5.Tragedy Examples and Definition.” Literary Devices, 31 Oct. 2015, http://www.literarydevices.com/tragedy/.