Tragedy In Romeo And Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, And Othello Analysis

Causes of Tragedy in Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, and Othello

A tragedy, as outlined in Aristotle’s Poetics, is a result of a chain of cause and effect that leads to the fall of a tragic hero from happiness and can be found in Shakespeare’s tragedies. This essay will focus on causes found in four of those tragedies: Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, and Othello, each of which includes the fall of aristocratic or royal heroes through external forces such as familial interference, friends, acquaintances, and supernatural interference from ghosts.

Familial interference in Romeo and Juliet is perhaps the largest influence in the young couple’s predicament as the feud between their two families, the Montagues and Capulets, causes them to take drastic measures that ultimately lead to their deaths. Because of this feud, Juliet is forced to keep her romance with and marriage to Romeo a secret from her family, which leads to their forcing her into a

King Hamlet’s ghost, despite dying before the beginning of the play, was the driving influence of the plot as it was he who told Hamlet “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murther” (1.5.24-5). Hamlet’s own grief, his mother’s betrayal, the appearance of his father’s ghost, and his discovering of his father’s murder all lend to Hamlet’s fall into madness, misery, and his role as a tragic hero. In Julius Caesar, Brutus was visited by the Ghost of Caesar in his tent the night before a battle (4.3.274). The Ghost of Caesar, when asked why he has appeared, says “To tell thee thou shalt see me at Philippi.” which leads Brutus to fear his prophesied death at Philippi (4.3.284). The appearance of Caesar’s ghost also brings back the memories and feelings of Brutus’s betrayal and role in Caesar’s death, thus pulling him further into misery as his past sins weigh on his