Historical Evolution Of English Tragedy Of Modern Tragedy

In the sixteenth century, British authors began to write under the influence of ancient Greek tragedy. At that time the British culture was suitable for the growth of tragedy, so tragedy started to develop after its birth. The most outstanding performances during this period were the tragedies of revenge, which represented by The High not Dark and Titus Andronicus. The seventeenth century was a time when writers talked about the education of tragedy, from Shapolan who commented on Cid in the early 17 th to Boileau who wrote Art of Poetry in the late 17 th. With an idea of “the tragedy should attach importance to the role of education”, the changes in British tragedy broadly divided into three areas, including ideological content, creative community and audience composition. White Magic and The King Not A King were two distinguished works in this century, which had a lot to discuss in ideological theme, creative type, and audience’s perspective.The changes of British tragedy in the eighteenth century and the nineteenth century were mainly on the types of creation, while they changed slowly from the pseudo-classical tragedy towards realism tragedy. A group of philosophers who were extremely sensitive over social issues under the turbulent and chaotic social situation, which nurtured the development of realistic drama. The biggest feature of realism was its the emphasis on the inner conflict of characters in comparison with previous types. The Cenci was one of Shelley’s works which illustrated the relationship between the art and time limitations.