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The Definitive Tragedies From some of our earliest literature, a style of writing has come forth that has been used throughout history, known as the tragedy. From these classical and definitive texts, including Oedipus Rex, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet, the literati of our society have selected certain characteristics, which we use to form a working definition of tragedy. This definition, which explains that a tragedy must include social or moral elevation of the tragic …

…aw, and the hero’s recognition of his or her own failures are what make Tess of the D’Urbervilles and The Mayor of Casterbridge modern tragedies. Though the interpretation of these basic characteristics has changed with the times, these tragedies evoke the same feelings of sympathy, fear, and pity in the reader, bridging a gap between the times of the great philosophers, and a world struggling with revolutions of all kinds.