Bradley+1-2

The calamities of tragedy proceed mainly from *actions. These actions lead by *sequence to a *catastrophe. The reader regards these equally as something which *which happens to the persons concerned and something which is caused by them. The hero must always *contribute to the disaster that leads to his death. Although the deeds are the predominant factor in a Shakespearean tragedy, these deeds are a result of the *character of the person. However, although Shakespeare focused on this aspect, he very rarely discusses the psychology of mankind unless it contributes to the *action. Shakespeare often includes three factors in addition to the “Characteristic *deeds ” and the “ sufferings and circumstances ” of the persons. a. abnormal *conditions of mind ; however these conditions are never introduced as the *origin of deeds of important drama. A person who suffers from these abnormalities ceases to be *tragic characters. b. *ghosts and witches who have *supernatural knowledge. These can never be explained as just an *illusion in the mind of the character. They give a confirmation to forces that are already *present and *exerting an influence on the character. The supernatural will never remove the character’s *capacity or *responsibility for dealing with his problem c. The influence of *chance. This is defined as * any occurrence (not supernatural, of course) which enters the dramatic sequence neither from the agency of a character, nor from the obvious surrounding circumstances. a. In __Hamlet,__ fate takes place with the * pirate ship attack (sacking of Hamlet’s ship). To say that chance or fate has any large part in the tragic sequence would weaken or destroy the connection between *character, *deed AND *catastrophe. <span style="font-family: 'Times','serif'; font-size: 18pt;">b. Most accidents of fate really have a connection with *character and usually happen when the action is *well advances. <span style="font-family: 'Times','serif'; font-size: 18pt;">Sometimes the conflict may be described as more fully between two persons or groups or the *passions or *ideas animating these *two persons or groups. <span style="font-family: 'Times','serif'; font-size: 18pt;">However the major conflict will always be the conflict that exists within the *hero’s soul. <span style="font-family: 'Times','serif'; font-size: 18pt;">Bradley describes the “spiritual force” as the forces that act in the *human spirit to drive a man’s soul. Sometimes these forces are in * conflict and create disturbances in the hero’s *soul.