Genres

Tragedy

Also Known As Tragoidia

Citation Formats

General Reference

Literature Atlas. "Tragedy." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://literature.interactiveatlas.org/genres/tragedy.

APA Style

Literature Atlas. (n.d.). Tragedy. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://literature.interactiveatlas.org/genres/tragedy

BibTeX

@misc{literatureatlas-tragedy,
  author = {Literature Atlas},
  title = {Tragedy},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://literature.interactiveatlas.org/genres/tragedy},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

A dramatic form depicting the downfall of a protagonist through a combination of character, circumstance and, in many traditions, forces beyond human control, arousing pity and fear in an audience. The form is first theorized systematically in Aristotle's Poetics, which analyzes Athenian tragedy's structure of plot, character and catharsis. Renaissance and early modern tragedy, Shakespeare's foremost among it in English, reworked the form for the public stage, and tragedy in some form persists as a live dramatic mode into the modern theater, from Ibsen to Arthur Miller.

Facts

Place of Origin

The theatre of ancient Greece roughly 2500 years ago; only a fraction of the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides survive. 1

Notable Example

Aeschylus's The Persians, recognized as the earliest extant Greek tragedy and doubly unique among the surviving ancient dramas. 1

Defining Trait

A genre of drama based on human suffering, specifically the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character or cast of characters. 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Drama

Tragedy is one of classical Athenian drama's three formally competed genres.

Source Drama (Wikipedia)

Tragicomedy

Source Encyclopaedia Britannica

Encompasses Form

Blank Verse

Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Features Author

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Source Wikipedia: The Great Gatsby

Hamlet

Source The Norton Anthology of World Literature

The Great Gatsby

Source Wikipedia: The Great Gatsby

William Shakespeare

Source The Norton Anthology of World Literature

Sources

1. Tragedy (Wikipedia)

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A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering, specifically by way of terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character or cast of characters. Originating in the theatre of ancient Greece 2500 years ago, where only a fraction of the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides survive.

View the Source

1. Tragedy (Wikipedia)

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