The Construction of Shakespeare's Tragedies.

Any tragedy conceived as a conflict which terminates in a catastrophe may roughly be divided into three parts: 1. The first part expounds the situation i.e. it is the Exposition. 2. The second part deals with the definite beginning, the growth and the vicissitudes of the Conflict. 3. The third part shows the issue of the conflict in a Catastrophe. 1. The main business of the Exposition is to usher us into the world of the characters, show …

…suits a plot based on intrigue. It may produce intense suspense. In may stir the most powerful tragic feeling of pity and fear. But it is apt to be less favorable to the exhibition of character, to show less clearly how an act returns upon the agent, and to produce less strongly the impression of an inexorable order working with the passions and actions of men, and laboring through their agony and waste towards good.