Aspects of dramatic tragedy. A comparative essay based upon Aristotle's Poetics, John Dryden's An Essay of Dramatick Poesy, and Arthur Miller's "Tragedy and the Common Man

Includes bibliographical references (pages 61-63)The rise and decline of tragedy in drama in at least two periods of Western society allows the possibility that this form of art will flourish again. The question may be asked whether tragedy should survive as an ideal, having perfected its form, or as an idea, allowing for further development. As it is possible that there is a development and continuity in the idea of tragedy which extends to and includes the present rather than being limited to the two great periods of tragedy, this thesis seeks to determine whether the critical theory and writing of dramatic art of one period has relevance to subsequent periods and other countries. Therefore, this essay compares the approaches to tragedy in fifth-century Greece, sixteenth and seventeenth-century England and France, and twentieth-century America, using Aristotle's poetics, Dryden's An Essay of Dramatick Poesy, and Miller's "Tragedy and the Common Man as bases for a discussion of selected plays in each of the periods. It is apparent from the diversity of tragic forms which this essay considers that an application of rules to tragedy (either Aristotle's or those based upon modern writing or theory), rather than limiting by rigidly defining, should help to distinguish apparent tragic value from real tragic value. As Aristotle seems to allow the possibility of new development in tragedy and as great tragedy was written in the Elizabethan Age in a form different from Aristotle's criteria for the best kind of tragedy, the possibility of new development should include the present. This essay concludes that the idea of tragedy exists in the drama written today, and that tragedy, to a greater or lesser degree, is vested in the representative of this age, the "common man" to whom Miller refers. While this paper does not suggest that Aristotle's rules are the only criteria which should be applied to dramatic tragedy, it does suggest that an application may be made of the wisdom derived from a study of Aristotle's Poetics to modern drama