シェイクスピア悲劇を通じ、「悲劇」の意味するところを探ります。シェイクスピア作品にエリザベス朝の悲劇の概念はどう作用したかや、セネカ（紀元前1年頃-65年）から受けた影響も検討します。シェイクスピア自身は戯曲における悲劇というジャンルをどのように認識して「悲劇」という言葉を使用したのか。女性役を少年俳優が演じた当時の慣習や、劇場の構造上の制約が作品にどんな影響を及ぼしたのか。代表的な九つの作品について分析しながら、エンターテイメントに悲劇が欠かせない理由について探ります。
 

• Analyses nine of Shakespeare's most famous tragedies, including Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, and Antony and Cleopatra
• Considers Shakespeare's tragedies in the context of their own time, exploring the influence of contemporary literary and dramatic conventions, and also audience expectations
• Discusses why grief, pain, misery, and suffering should be regarded as fit subjects for entertainment, and for presentation in playhouses to which people go to enjoy themselves

Tragedy, including grief, pain and suffering, is a common theme in Shakespeare's plays, often leading to the death of at least one character, if not several. Yet such themes can also be found in Shakespearian plays which are classed as comedies, or histories. What is it which makes a Shakespearian tragedy, and what dramatic themes and conventions did the bard draw upon when writing them?

In this Very Short Introduction Stanley Wells considers what is meant by the word 'tragedy', and discusses nine of Shakespeare's iconic tragic plays. He explores how the early definitions and theoretical discussions of the concept of tragedy in Shakespeare's time would have influenced these plays, along with the literary influence of Seneca. Wells also considers Shakespeare's uses of the word 'tragedy' itself, analysing whether he had any overall concept of the genre in relation to the drama, and looking at the ways in which the theatrical conventions of his time shaped his plays, such as the use of boy players in women's roles and the physical structures of the playhouses. Offering a critical analysis of each of the nine plays in turn, Wells concludes by discussing why tragedy is regarded as fit subject for entertainment, and what it is about tragic plays that audiences find so enjoyable.