Greek Tragedy and the Modern World

First published in 1964, Greek Tragedy and the Modern World begins with the question what is Tragedy? Most discussion assumes some essence of Tragedy in certain plays at certain periods, and discussion today centres on whether it is possible, or desirable, for contemporary plays to attend to this essence. There is considerable agreement about what this essence of Tragedy is. But when we examine closely the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides we find that none of the important aspects of