Shakespeare (1564-1616) is the greatest Elizabethan dramatist. He wrote tragedies and comedies of great height. In his hands, the romantic dramas reached its peak. John Dryden called him the Homer or the father of the poets. Aristotle, the great literary figure, is known as a law giver and his work ‘The Poetics’ is the evident of it. Shakespeare follows him, but in some cases, he is very different. The law of three unities is completely violated by him. Over all, he goes on the track of Aristotle. His master piece work is Hamlet, and we discuss his concept of tragedy with reference to Hamlet and other popular tragedies.

Tragedy is a tale of exceptional suffering. According to A.C Bradley, Shakespearean tragedy is the story of suffering and calamity leading to the death of hero. This suffering or death is not usual as natural death or old age death, but it is an exceptional death leading to the death of hero. It is an unusual death which arouses tragic feelings. In case of natural death, pity and fear do not arouse. Apart from it, it fails to elevate the personality of hero. Such exceptional suffering does not take place at the beginning, but it starts when the hero commits a sin or a serious mistake. The hero commits such sin or serious mistake but he is unknown to it. If he had known it in the beginning; the drama would have ended before the start.

If we talk about the hero, our eyes focus on the type of the hero. Shakespearean tragedies are concerned with a person of great eminence. His hero may be a king, a prince, a general or a very high official. Such selection of hero responds to Aristotle’s law of tragic hero. Aristotle points out that the ideal tragic hero must be intermediate kind of a person. It means a tragic hero should not be perfectly virtuous or utterly villain because misfortune falls on him not by vice or depravity but by some error of judgment. Now it is clear that a tragic hero should be raised above the ordinary level and heightened power of intellect. He keeps common humanity, and on account of it, he wins sympathy and interest of the audience. Hamlet is a prince of Denmark. He is a well educated figure, and he is not empty from the spirit of otherness. He is morally a good person and has friends. The nation likes him, but he is not a saint or perfect man. He can not be called a villain, because he does not perform any deed that may prove him an utter villain. He has a great love for his parents. He is an intermediate person and commits errors which are unknown to him. Othello is a General of The Republic, and Macbeth and Brutus are nobles. Apart from it, Lear, King Richard II and Julius Caesar are kings. All heroes are of great eminence. Such selection of hero is necessary, and I think it is a great point because it increases the personality and popularity of the writer. Still now, this law is mostly practiced by most dramatists.

Tragedy is the story of suffering and calamity leading to the death of hero. It happens due to tragic flaw or hamartia. Aristotle has elucidated it in his work ‘The Poetics’. The tragic hero is not perfect and misfortune falls on him by some fault of his own. Aristotle uses the Greek word, ‘Hamartia’. Its root meaning is,’ missing the mark’. A.C Bradley translates it, ‘tragic flaw’. Aristotle uses it, ‘error of judgment’. Hamartia is not moral imperfection but it is an error of judgment, whether it is arising from ignorance of some material fact or from rashness and impulsiveness of temper or from some passion. The hero commits various errors in series which seem unknown to him. It is an absolute fact that Shakespearean tragic is good, but he is not perfect. His certain flaw of character results in suffering and death. His master piece work is ‘Hamlet’. Hamlet is a tragic hero, and his flaw is lack of decision that causes of delay of action. At last, the situation turns against him and leads him to death. Othello’s tragedy happens due to his credulity or light temperedness. Macbeth is ambitious and King Richard II loves sycophancy and misusing power. King Richard II is under the effect of sycophancy. His lack of wisdom becomes the cause of his tragedy.

‘Character is Destiny’ is a dictum ascribed to Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher of the 16th century B.C. ‘King Oedipus’ follows this dictum. Here man is helpless before destiny. King Oedipus tries a lot to escape from the fate, foretold by the Oracles, but he fails and becomes prey of dangerous tragedy. If we think about Shakespearean heroes, they seem different from ancient tragedies or fate. His heroes are good but not perfect. There is a flaw that results suffering and death of the hero. Indeed, Shakespearean tragic heroes are inventors of their own tragic fate. As Hamlet is prey of indecision, although he gets chance, he misses it deliberately and makes delay. His making delay lies on him and in result, the circumstance becomes opposite to it, and the hero falls to death. Macbeth is ambitious, Othello is credulous and light tempered, and King Richard II and King Lear are prey of sycophancy. They all are responsible for their tragedies.

We, the learners, find confusion whether Shakespearean tragedies are based on Renaissance theory of responsibility or the Greek conception of death. There are many Shakespearean critics who think his tragedies are based on the conception of fate, but A.C Bradley is different, and he calls Shakespearean heroes the architects of their tragic fate. In his idea ‘character is destiny’ is used for tragic fate that is formed by them. It means that they are themselves responsible for it. Such discussions are unending. As far as my opinion is concerned, Shakespearean tragedies answer the both theories. This dictum is fit for the theory of responsibility and the Greek conception of fate. If we talk about the theory of responsibility, our hero is a man of Renaissance. Simultaneously, one can not get rid of one’s suffering or fate.

In Shakespearean tragedies, some other factors beyond fatal flaws are found to be responsible. They are named the contributing factors. The writer introduces the supernatural beings and chance or accident to sharpen tragedy because they become responsible for suffering and death of the hero. In Hamlet, the writer introduces a ghost. Its entry is supposed omen that is imminent in the kingdom. The ghost comes into the form of the late king, the murdered king and the father of prince Hamlet. The ghost discloses the secret that his father’s death is not natural, but he is murdered by his brother Claudius. His death happened by putting poison into his ear. So, Claudius is the dirty and merciless murderer of his brother. The ghost encourages Hamlet to murder his uncle in order to avenge his father’s death. The prince Hamlet is not hasty or light tempered as that he may take action without any deliberation. Hamlet knows that the entry of the supernatural element is supposed bad. He, first of all, wants to verify the truth and for it, he makes plan by staging a drama. The tragedy falls on him due to the entry of the supernatural being. It motivated him to take avenge of his father. In Macbeth, the writer introduces three witches, and these witches did not pursue him to murder the king but they revived the ambitious spirit that was already existed in his character. Under it, he commits tragic flaw, causing of his tragedy. In Shakespearean dramas, the supernatural beings don’t interfere into human beings’ positive activities as is found in Greek tragedies.

Shakespeare introduces chance or accident. It is found in King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and Othello. In Romeo and Juliet, the messenger fails to convey Friar’s message about the potion and his plan, simultaneously, heroine awakes from her long sleep after the death of the hero, and she kills herself with the same knife. Chance plays very dangerous role and makes tragedy sure. This element is very definite in Hamlet because his ship was attacked by the pirates and he was sent back to Denmark. This element makes the tragedy of Hamlet sure; otherwise he could be saved. In Othello, the handkerchief of Desdemona, by chance, drops and it makes the plan of enemy successful and in result Othello chokes her to death. In King Lear, Edger could reach the prison earlier than the sentence of Cordelia. All are the accidents that make the tragedy sure. This element takes the rein of time into its grip and enjoys their calamities.

Shakespeare introduces two kinds of conflict – internal conflict and external conflict. It is conflict that moves the drama to end; otherwise without conflict, there is no drama. Inner conflict means tussle between hero and his mind or conscience, and the external conflict means a tussle between hero and villain or between two parties or groups. His master piece tragedy Hamlet has both conflicts. All his soliloquies show his internal conflict that’s why delay happens and he faces his tragedy. His external conflict is with Claudius, the villain. Apart from it, at the end, there is fight between hamlet and Laerates. It is also external conflict. In Othello, Shakespeare introduces inner or internal conflict. Othello is suspicious about her wife’s relation with his friend. He mostly remains in mental conflict, and when he finds the missing of handkerchief, he kills her. In Romeo and Juliet, there is external conflict between two families. This conflict becomes the cause of tragedy. In Macbeth, both types of conflicts are found. His internal conflict is between him and his mind for gaining power because his spirit of voracity for gaining power was revived by three witches. Afterward, his external conflict is found with the son of late king who is fighting for the restoration of kingdom.

Simultaneously, King Lear responds to both conflicts. In King Richard II, Shakespeare introduces external conflict. There is conflict between Richard and Mowbray or his relatives, and it leads him to calamity or death.

Poetic justice means reward and punishment distributed according to the merit of the characters or agents. If any character is good and noble, his calamity should be avoided. So suffering should be fallen on the bad person. Shakespeare does not follow it. It is a contradictory to fact, but he follows impartial or universal rule. It means that hero dies on account of some flaw in his character but with him some innocent or guiltless die. In Hamlet, there is no fault of Ophelia, she suffers and dies. In this tragedy, there is the death of hero, villain, Gertrude and Laerates. Hamlet is a hero and he suffers on account of his tragic flaw and it is sense of waste. Laerates suffers, although there is no fault of this one. In fighting, he proves himself a good person. In Othello, Desdemona is killed, although she is innocent, guiltless and honest. In King Lear, Cordelia dies. One can understand from it that Shakespearean villains have great destructive power and under their power, heroes and innocents die, but it must be appreciated that Shakespeare never leaves them without punishment because same destructions falls on them.

Shakespearean conception of tragedy is very strange and stately because his heroes are predominated by pains from beginning, and such suffering is quite effective over their personalities. Despite it, his heroes move and prove themselves good and intermediate. Such pains and sufferings uplift them from the terror of death or calamity, and in such condition, all the tragic deeds seem to be trivial. Hamlet is found in great suffering because his mother married to his uncle and the appearance of Ghost discloses the secret of his father’s death. In such suffering, his mind works, and he stages drama. He commits tragic errors under such sufferings but they are unknown to them. The circumstance brings him on such place where the death seems him noble and favourable. The villain tries to save himself by playing some tricks because after his death no one will remember him earnestly, but the hero wins such feelings, and these feelings arouse pity and fear.

The contribution of such elements to tragedy really makes Shakespeare a great mastermind and playwright. He has not left any thing that may be introduced by his later or current dramatist. They mostly follow him. He is a genius of his age, and his work has made his name immortal in the field of literature.