Bourgeois Tragedy (Bürgerliches Trauerspiel) is a form of Tragedy is one of the oldest forms of drama. Its origins are obscure, but it is certainly derived from the rich poetic and religious traditions of ancient Greece. Its roots may be traced more specifically to the dithyrambs, the chants and dances honoring the Greek god Dionysus, later known to... tragedy, which developed in (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. Historians will sometimes specifically refer to the 18th century as 1715-1789, denoting the period of time between the death... 18th century Europe. It was a fruit of the For the period in European history, The Age of Enlightenment For the corresponding movement in the European Jewish community, see Haskalah. For the Hindu religious concept of enlightenment, see moksha For the Buddhist religious concept, see enlightenment (Buddhism) For analysis of the philosphical concept, see Enlightenment (concept) For the 1990... enlightenment and the emergence of the bourgeois class and its ideals. It is characterized by the fact that its protagonists are ordinary citizens.

The prohibition against ordinary citizens as tragic heroes

While ordinary people had always been the subject of Comedy is the use of humour in the performing arts. It also means a performance that relies heavily on humor. The term originally comes from theater, where it simply referred to a play with a happy ending, in contrast to a tragedy. The humor, once an incidental device used to... comedies it was long thought unsuitable to have commoners appear as tragic heroes. The root of this belief can be found in This article needs cleanup. Please edit this article to conform to a higher standard of article quality. Aristotle (sculpture) Aristotle (Greek Αριστοτέλης Aristotelēs) (384 BC – March 7, 322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher. Along with Plato... Aristotle's ars poetica and in later antique writings on drama and poetics. Based on these old writings, 16th and 17th century theoreticians like the inflkuential German Martin Opitz von Boberfeld (December 23, 1597 - August 20, 1639), German poet, was born at Bunzlau/Boleslawiec in Silesia, the son of a prosperous citizen. He received his early education at the Gymnasium of his native town, of which his uncle was rector, and in 1617 attended the high school... Martin Opitz developed the theory that only members of the higher classes were capable of suffering harm serious enough to deserve dramatic reenactment. This rule was followed throughout Europe for a long time: Only princes and members of the nobility like Andreas Gryphius (October 11, 1616_ July 16, 1664) was a German lyric poet and dramatist. Gryphius was born in Grossglogau in Silesia (Currently Glogow, Poland), where his father was a clergyman. The family name was Greif, latinized, according to the prevailing fashion, as Gryphius. Left early an orphan and driven... Andreas Gryphius' Carolus Stuardus, Jean Racine (December 22, 1639 - April 21, 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the big three of 17th century France (along with Molière and Corneille). Racine was primarily a tragedian, though he did write one comedy. Born in La Ferte-Milan, Racine was orphaned in his youth and... Jean Racine's Phèdre or Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. Start the William-Shakespeare article Search for William-Shakespeare in other articles Look for William-Shakespeare in Wiktionary, our sister dictionary project. Look for William-Shakespeare in the Commons, our repository for free images, music, sound, and video. If... William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tragedy by William Shakespeare and one of his most well-known and oft-quoted plays. Written between 1598 and the summer of 1602, this masterpiece of Elizabethan theatre first appeared in print in 1603 in a version known as the Bad... Hamlet were allowed to meet their fate on stage.

Bourgeois tragedies in England and France

There are a few examples of tragic plays with non noble protagonists from 17th century England, but only in the 18th century the general attitude changed. The first true bourgeois tragedy was an English play: George Lillo (1693 - 1739) was a British playwright and tragedian. Very little is known of his biography, except that he was a jeweler in London as well as a dramatist. His family may have come from Flanders originally. His most famous play was The London Merchant, or the History of... George Lillo's The London Merchant; or, the History of George Barnwell, which was first perfomed in 1731. In France, the first tragédie bourgeoise was Sylvie by Paul Landois, which came out in 1755. Only a few years later came two plays by Denis Diderot Denis Diderot ( October 5, 1713 - July 31, 1784) was a French writer and philosopher. Born in Langres, Champagne, France in 1713, he was a prominent figure in what became known as the Enlightenment, and was the editor-in-chief of the famous Encyclopédie. Diderot also contributed... Denis Diderot: Le fils naturel was first staged in 1757 and Le père de famille in the following year.

German Bürgerliches Trauerspiel

In Germany, where the new genre was called Bürgerliches Trauerspiel, it was especially successfull. Usually, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (January 22, 1729 - February 15, 1781), writer, philosopher, publicist, and art thinker, is the most outstanding German representative of the Enlightenment era. With his plays and his theoretical writings he substantially influenced the development of German literature. Life Lessing was born in Kamenz, a little town in... Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's play Miss Sara Sampson, which was first produced in 1755, is said to be the earliest Bürgerliches Trauerspiel in Germany. However, Christian Leberecht Martini's drama Rhynsolt und Sapphira is slightly older. Lessing's Emilia Galotti of 1771 is a classic example of the German Bürgerliches Trauerspiel. Lessing also offered a thorough theoretic justification for his disregard of the old rules in his Hamburgische Dramaturgie. Other important examples of German Bürgerliche Trauerspiele are Die Soldaten by Johann Michael Reinhold Lenz (1776) and Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (November 10, 1759 - May 9, 1805), usually known as Friedrich Schiller, was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and dramatist. Friedrich Schiller He was born in Marbach (located in Germanys Stuttgart Region), the son of the military doctor, J. C. Schiller. His childhood and youth... Friedrich Schiller's Kabale und Liebe (1784).

General characteristics of Bourgeois Tragedies

Bourgeois tragedies tend to propagate the values of the bourgeois class to which their heroes belong. Their ideal is the virtuous citizen, who is excluded from state affairs and whose intentions are focused on his private life and the life of his family. Values like virtue, humanity, individuality and true feelings are cherished in bourgeois tragedies.