Tragedy: The Basics

Sean McEvoy teaches Literature at Varndean Sixth Form College in Brighton and the University of Cambridge, UK.

• 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 AfterContexts 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