19 h 26 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Why does Shakespeare’s darkest suffering leave us with wonder as well as pain?
In Shakespearean Tragedy, A. C. Bradley takes you deep into Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth. He begins with plain questions: what makes a tragedy, and how does Shakespeare build one? His lectures trace the shape of the plays while keeping their people in view: their choices, their moods, and the conflicts that lead them toward disaster.
Why does Hamlet delay? What makes Othello vulnerable to Iago? How do Lear’s suffering and Macbeth’s imagination shape their tragedies? Bradley reads scene by scene, treating characters as people whose motives deserve careful thought. His account connects the tragic hero’s inner life with the movement of the play, giving you a way to examine both character and dramatic structure.
What you’ll discover
- The shape of tragedy Explore Bradley’s account of a great person’s fall, and the questions that disaster leaves behind.
- Hamlet’s troubled delay Consider why Bradley places melancholy, rather than thought itself, at the heart of Hamlet’s difficulty.
- Othello and Iago Follow Bradley’s reading of an open nature exposed to a villain’s craving for power.
- Lear among the storms Enter a world of kings and wild heaths, where suffering reveals what Lear misses.
- Macbeth’s guilty imagination See how Bradley links Macbeth’s imagination with guilt and attends to the play’s atmosphere.
Who will love it
For readers who love Shakespeare and want a guide to the four great tragedies, and for students who enjoy exploring the ideas behind the plays, their characters’ motives and the choices that lead to ruin.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Tragedy is about a great person's fall
- Tragedy shows conflict, waste and a mystery
- Watch how each tragedy is built
- Hamlet's trouble is melancholy, not thinking
- Othello's goodness makes him easy prey
- Iago is a villain who craves power
- Lear's suffering teaches him what he missed
- Macbeth's imagination breeds his guilt
- Bradley's method has been challenged and has lasted
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- Hardcover
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La tragedia shakespeariana: lezioni su Amleto, Otello, Re Lear e Macbeth
by A. C. Bradley · 1904
Bradley explores how melancholy, trust, pride and imagination shape the choices of Shakespeare’s tragic heroes.
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In short
Shakespearean Tragedy is a book of literary criticism by Andrew Cecil Bradley, published in 1904. It grew out of lectures he gave while he taught at Liverpool, Glasgow and then Oxford, where he held the chair of poetry.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Tragedy is about a great person's fall
Bradley opens by describing the common substance of Shakespeare's tragedies. Each one, he says, is the story of a person of high standing who meets disaster. The hero is a king, a prince or a general, someone whose fate affects a whole country. This gives the story size, and it makes the fall matter to everyone around the hero.
Bradley adds that the story is not only about outward events. It is also about action, and the actions come from character. A man does something, and it brings terrible results that he did not foresee. Bradley stresses that the deeds flow from who the person is, more than from chance or from the plot alone.
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What is Shakespearean Tragedy by A. C. Bradley about?
It is a work of criticism that explains what a Shakespearean tragedy is and then studies four plays in detail: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth. Bradley focuses on character, motive and the way each play is built.
Why does Bradley say Hamlet delays?
Bradley argues that Hamlet is not a man who thinks too much. He suffers from deep melancholy after his father's death and his mother's quick remarriage, and this numbs his will and holds back his action.
When was Shakespearean Tragedy written?
It was published in 1904 and came out of lectures Bradley gave at universities, including Oxford. It is a work of criticism, not a story.
The author
A. C. Bradley
1851–1935 · British literary scholar
Andrew Cecil Bradley (1851–1935) was a British literary scholar born in Cheltenham, England. He taught at universities in Liverpool, Glasgow, and Oxford. He was Oxford’s professor of poetry from 1901 to 1906. His books include Shakespearean Tragedy, published in 1904, and Oxford Lectures on Poetry, published in 1909.
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