“The story depicts also the troubled part of the hero's life which precedes and leads up to his death; and an instantaneous death occurring by 'accident' in the midst of prosperity would not suffice for it. It is, in fact, essentially a tale of suffering and calamity conducting to death.” FactsStoriesSufferingHeroProsperityAccidentsTalesMidstCalamityConductingInstantaneous Book:Shakespearean Tragedy Source: Shakespearean Tragedy
“A total reverse of fortune, coming unawares upon a man who 'stood in high degree,' happy and apparently secure,-such was the tragic fact to the mediaeval mind. It appealed strongly to common human sympathy and pity; it startled also another feeling, that of fear. It frightened men and awed them. It made them feel that man is blind and helpless, the plaything of an inscrutable power, called by the name of Fortune or some other name,-a power which appears to smile on him for a little, and then on a sudden strikes him down in his pride.” MenFeelsMindHumansLittlesMadeFactsFeelingsNamesCommonPrideDegreesBlindFortuneStrikesPitySecureTragicFrightenedReverseHelplessInscrutable Author:A. C. Bradley