John Drakakis is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Stirling. His publications include Shakespeare's Resources (2022), Alternative Shakespeares, Second Edition (2002), and Tragedy (co-edited with Naomi Conn Liebler 1998).

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1. Introduction

Myth and tragedy

Tragedy, myth and ritual

Tragedy and pleasure

Chapter 2. Histories, archaeologies and genealogies

Aristotle's Poetics

Fate, fortune and providence

Chapter 3. Ontology and dramaturgy

Radical tragedy

Tragedy after the Renaissance

Chapter 4. The philosophy of tragedy

The sublime

Schiller on tragedy

Hegel on tragedy

Bradley on Hegel

Nietzsche on tragedy

Beyond Nietzsche

Chapter 5. From action to character

Freud, Oedipus and Hamlet

Tragedy and the linguistic turn

Chapter 6. Tragedy: gender, politics and aesthetics

Tragedy and violence

Aesthetics

Chapter 7. Rethinking the tradition

Dismantling tragedy

Brecht against Aristotle

Saint Joan of the Stockyards. Mother Courage and Gallileo

Chapter 8. Tragedy, the post-modern and the post-human

Anti-humanism and post-humanism

Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot

Sarah Kane: Phaedra's Love (1996)

Twenty-first century tragedy: Tom Stoppard's Leopoldstadt

Chapter 9. Conclusion

Glossary

Bibliography

Index