The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare's Tragedies

Front Cover
Cambridge University Press, 2007 M03 8 - 169 pages
Macbeth clutches an imaginary dagger; Hamlet holds up Yorick's skull; Lear enters with Cordelia in his arms. Do these memorable and iconic moments have anything to tell us about the definition of Shakespearean tragedy? Is it in fact helpful to talk about 'Shakespearean tragedy' as a concept, or are there only Shakespearean tragedies? What kind of figure is the tragic hero? Is there always such a figure? What makes some plays more tragic than others? Beginning with a discussion of tragedy before Shakespeare and considering Shakespeare's tragedies chronologically one by one, this 2007 book seeks to investigate such questions in a way that highlights both the distinctiveness and shared concerns of each play within the broad trajectory of Shakespeare's developing exploration of tragic form.
 

Selected pages

Contents

Section 1
25
Section 2
26
Section 3
27
Section 4
33
Section 5
38
Section 6
40
Section 7
43
Section 8
46
Section 14
77
Section 15
84
Section 16
91
Section 17
103
Section 18
114
Section 19
115
Section 20
126
Section 21
127

Section 9
52
Section 10
55
Section 11
65
Section 12
66
Section 13
72
Section 22
134
Section 23
136
Section 24
140
Section 25
147
Section 26
150

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2007)

Janette Dillon is Professor of Drama at the School of English, University of Nottingham.

Bibliographic information