1. Isn’t it tragic?
Well, maybe not…

2. Ancient Greece Drama was part of a religious celebration.
Plays—inspired by the muses, like Melpomeme, the muse of tragedy—were performed for the Festival of Dionysus, the Dionysia.

3. Aristotle
A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in appropriate and pleasurable language…in a dramatic rather than narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish a catharsis of these emotions.”
He didn’t write drama; he studied it.

4. Three unities
Unity of space
Unity of time
Unity of action

5. Plot
That “unity of action” is one of the most important characteristics of plot, which Aristotle thought was the most important element of tragedy. (Character was 2nd.)
A key element of the plot for tragedy was peripety, the change “from one state to another” or the reversal

6. character
A Classical Tragedy revolved around the fall of a great figure.
To be tragic, though, the fall could not be random or bad luck. It had to be the result of hamartia, a tragic flaw in the hero himself, such as excessive pride or hubris.
Aristotle thought Oedipus was the best exemplar of these characteristics of Classical Tragedy.

7. Shakespeare
Though Shakespeare never studied Aristotle, many see similar patterns in his tragic heroes, with Othello’s jealousy or Macbeth’s ambition being described as their tragic flaws.
He certainly didn’t follow Aristotle’s unities, with action taking place over long period of time, over different locations, and with subplots (sometimes for comic relief).

8. Shakespeare
Still, his tragedies revolve around the fall of great figures with commoners relegated to lesser roles.

9. Arthur miller Jump to Modernist playwright Arthur Miller.
Modern Tragedy widens the scope with 20th century playwrights finding their tragic heroes among ordinary people, such as Miller’s salesman Willy Loman.
These Modern Tragedies reflect the other concerns and motifs of Modernism while carrying the “magnitude” of Aristotelean tragedy including its interest in catharsis.