The classic tragedy is an emotional journey so complete and so gut-wrenchingly sad, audience members are forced to participate with their very souls and often come out of the show nearly as changed as the main characters. It is one of the oldest genres in theater, and one of the most formulaic. Over the years, it has strayed from the strict and philosophically based formula, but many plays from the Renaissance to today keep the basic structure: a plot where a character makes a fatal mistake—known as the tragic flaw—often as a result of the character’s hubris (pride), wherein much misery ensues.

A tragedy is a very tight and tidy plot and always involves strong characters that the audience can become intensely, and sometimes uncomfortably, invested in. Sympathy for the tragic hero is a key component to the success of the script, and it is attained by using universal themes, and a careful construct, to show how the tragic hero comes to be trapped in their situation. Creating this sympathy is a pretty hard feat considering that most tragic heroes are egomaniacs, but it helps that many of them have little to no control over their situations that are controlled by forces beyond their control. It also helps when the play ends in the typical tragic way, where the main character literally loses everything. In the end, the tragic protagonist’s suffering is much greater than their offense, and you’d have to lack a beating heart not to share some of the crushing pain the protagonist must feel as they lose everyone and everything in their life.