The paper begins by looking at different forms of tragedy and at the
purpose of tragedy, as espoused by Plato. The basic
element of tragedy (the fall of a noble person due to their own inherent flaws) is discussed. The writer brings in examples of tragic art forms, such as Shakespeare's "Othello" and Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" and "The Crucible", to highlight variations of tragedy. It looks at Miller's seminal essay,"On Tragedy" and at the components of the modern tragic drama. It presents a
comparison between the themes of the Elizabethan "Hamlet" and the modern/absurdist "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead", two plays following the same tragedy from radically different angles. The paper concludes with a study of the key to writing a good tragedy.