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tragedy

Form of drama based on human suffering that invokes an accompanying catharsis or pleasure in audiences

Also known as tragedies

Instance of: theatrical genre
Subclass of: theatre
, drama

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering, specifically by way of terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsis, or a "pain [that] awakens pleasure," for the audience. While many cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, the term tragedy often refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of Western civilization. That tradition has been multiple and discontinuous, yet the term has often been used to invoke a powerful effect of cultural identity and historical continuity—"the Greeks and the Elizabethans, in one cultural form; Hellenes and Christians, in a common activity," as Raymond Williams puts it.

Overview

All data

70 statements · 16% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Different from: tragicomedy
tragedy
Depicted by: La Tragedia

On other databases

58 identifiers linking tragedy across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

16%

externally sourced

Source last edited October 6, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). tragedy (Q80930). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/tragedy-Q80930