The tragedy, which arose in Greece, is one form of drama. Aristotle's Poetics is criminalized various forms of literature that flourished in Athens during the V century BC According to this thinker, the tragedy should provoke in the viewer's called catharsis (purification), by which it incorporates knowledge about life and death. The tragedy came closely linked to poetic composition called dithyramb, which was sung in honor of Dionysus or Dionysos, one of the deities of Olympus, during harvest. Initially, I just took part is this kind the choir, but Thespis introduced an actor who gave the reply, and Aeschylus added a second actor. The characters of Aeschylus, the father of Greek tragedy, fighting against fate, to whose dictates must submit themselves to the gods. Popular Sophocles and Euripides the tragic genre finally considered with skepticism to the gods.
Aeschylus, who lived in the Golden Age of Athens, are conserved seven major tragedies.
Among the highlights Greek tragedies Agamemnon, by Aeschylus, Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, and Medea, by Euripides. The greatest Elizabethan tragedies are those of Shakespeare, among which excel Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Henry V and Richard III.
In addition to the Greeks Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides may be mentioned the tragic Elizabethan English, as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, and the French classics, including highlights John Racine and Pierre Corneille.