The ethical structure of three Shakespearean tragedies

Abstract

When one reads the great tragedies of Shakespeare one becomes instinctively aware of certain correspondences between them. These correspondences exist at such a 'deep' level, however, that although they do not escape our perception, it is not easy to be articulate about them even when our keenest analytical powers are at work. The fact that we call certain of Shakespeare's plays 'tragedies', for example, is the first indication that a similarity exists between these works, but so difficult is it to comprehend all that the word 'tragedy' encompasses that we find it hard to advance beyond that point. We may say that they all impart to an audience a range of emotions which are unlike those derived from witnessing works or productions which we call 'comedies', yet this is in itself insufficient, for it does not describe the emotions, nor does it point out their cause. Many critics have attempted to name these feelings and to ascribe causes to them, but for various reasons, none of them seems to have produced a hypothesis which is applicable to all those works which we instinctively feel to deserve the name of tragedy.