Tragedy has much deeper roots than I first assumed. Tragedies started in the ancient Greek theaters. From there, the genre grew immensely. The Romans adapted it, then the British. Each culture that adopted tragedy influenced it in different ways. Many different people have written tragedies, including Shakespeare and Muller. Philosophers through the years have speculated on tragedy such as Aristotle and G.W.F. Hegel. As people have analyzed, criticized, and created tragedies, it has allowed the genre to evolve into what it is today. Tragedies were created around the 6th century BC in ancient Greece and began to gain momentum through the years. It soon became an important part of ancient Greek theater. Athenian tragedies were presented in the early spring months in honor of Dionysus. Performed in groups of three, this type of tragedy became a state religious festival, showing how significant this genre became to the Greeks. When the Roman Republic took over, they learned of Greek tragedy. Roman tragedies were created and became some of the first crucial pieces of Roman literature. As the Romans gained more influence, tragedy spread throughout Europe. Tragedy was forgotten by the 16th century in Europe. Then more and more writers began to creating tragedies and it took off once more. In England, Shakespeare and Marlowe wrote many famous tragedies known today such as Macbeth and Tamburlaine the Great. As a result of a genre created in ancient Greek times, many important works known today were created. Tragedy has influenced literature in many cultures and continues to do so today. Many philosophers have analyzed and criticized tragedies, dating back to Plato and Aristotle. When Aristotle wrote about tragedy, he said "tragedy is characterized by seriousness and involves a great person who experiences a reversal of fortune." (Tragedy - Wikipedia, 28). He also descried tragedy as a work that evokes fear and pity in the spectators. Those statements have helped created a description of what tragedy is. A more recent philosopher, G.W.F. Hegel also discussed tragedy. He reasoned that tragedy is more complicated than what was first assumed, and noted differences between Greek tragedy and Shakespeare's. Both of these philosopher's theories noted key points of tragedies that has helped people notice the characteristics of tragedy in literature. When the Greeks first started making tragedies, were day long dance-dramas. However, it has since become much more, all made possible through the combined efforts many different authors and philosophers through the ages. However, even though tragedy has grown from a dance-drama into literature, it still has the same core it did thousands of years ago, "a form of drama based on human suffering." (Tragedy - Wikipedia, 1).
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