A Theory of Tragedy

Theories of tragedy are out of style, with most recent work focusing on narrower questions, like why we seek out the negative emotions associated with tragedy. But what makes something a tragedy rather than just another sad story? A theory of tragedy should answer this question and explain why it is not trivial. It should also explain why the tragic is not a purely aesthetic category—wars, poverty, and divorce can all be tragic, or not. I offer a theory of tragedy based on the paradoxical overlay of necessity and contingency leading to disaster. In a tragedy your fate seems inevitable yet is strictly avoidable. This account fits both fiction like Agamemnon, and situations and events, like the Prisoner’s Dilemma or World War I.