What Unites Shakespeares Tragedies
Separating qualities common to one set or type of Shakespeares plays which are not common to the plays as a whole is a difficult task: it would no doubt be possible to find evidence of any feature uniting the Tragedies within any of Shakespeares plays, if one looked hard enough. This is not surprising if one considers that the one thing above all others that unites Shakespeares plays is that they portray human life, and the nature of human life does not change. ... This is in no way a shortcoming in Shakespeares talent or something which detracts from his plays, for Shakespeare was not interested in simply telling stories: he wanted to put the very nature of human life on the stage. ... Thus rather than having a distinct set of uniting features, certain features are more prominent in the tragedies than in other plays. The tragedies are, more than any other of Shakespeares plays, detailed studies of the psychology of one character, the tragic hero. ... That is not to say that the tragedies are unconcerned with society many of the tragic heroes are rulers or become rulers during the play, and we see that their situation affects the working of the entire kingdom, for example the storms in Macbeth and King Lear which symbolise the disruption of the natural order when a king is deposed unlawfully. ... Each of Shakespeares tragic heroes is blinded in some way by a character flaw which affects their judgement and causes them to react differently in the heat of the moment from the way in which they might otherwise. ... 27), an ambition that he cannot prevent himself from pursuing, even though he knows the dreadful consequences which will befall him, and the mental anguish which it will cause: Macbeth is perhaps the most purely psychological of the tragedies, showing as it does the inner turmoil of Macbeth and his wife, and their gradual descent into madness. ... Romeo and Juliet does not follow the general trend of most of the tragedies in that it has two main protagonists, neither of whom conforms to the exact definition of the tragic hero as someone who brings about their own downfall by a failing of character. ... This duality of innocence is a common feature in many of the tragedies often the tragic heros fault is linked to, or actually is, that trait which makes us like them in the first place. ... " Shakespeare does not give an answer to this problem of the morality of innocence, though he examines it in many of the tragedies. We can conclude, however, that the practical man is far from the peak of human success in Shakespeares eyes. ... Inevitability is important in Shakespeares tragedies, both as a dramatic device and as a tool in conveying the plays message. ... One of the greatest tragedies in the play, and there are many, is that Lear dies without finding an answer to his question, "Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life, / And thou no breath at all? ... This cyclical nature is another common feature of the tragedies: too often nobody has learnt anything from the events of the play and thus there is no reason why they should not repeat themselves.