Shakespeare's Tragic Sequence

by Kenneth Muir

First published in 1972.The emphasis of this book is that each of Shakespeare's tragedies demanded its own individual form and that although certain themes run through most of the tragedies, nearly all critics refrain from the attempt to apply external rules to them. The plays are almost always concerned with one person; they end with the death of the hero; the suffering and calamity that befall him are exceptional; and the tragedies include the medieval idea of the reversal of fortune.

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Kenneth Arthur Muir was a literary scholar and author, prominent in the fields of Shakespeare studies and English Renaissance theatre. He served as King Alfred Professor of English Literature at Liverpool University from 1951 to 1974.

Reviews

[Michael P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps a bit dated now, this book by one of the great Shakespearean scholars of the last century is so full of insight and wisdom that Routledge brought it back into print a couple of years ago. This is one of those books that should be on the shelf of every Shakespeare scholar.