Blood Tragedies

Since no one seems to have covered it thus far:

Blood tragedies are a variation of the Revenge Tragedy that was popular during the Elizabethan era. These plays catered towards the more morbid infatuations of the populace, who were used to being entertained by such spectacles as bear baitings and public executions, and commonly showed the onstage 'deaths' and mutilations of obscene amounts of characters in order to satiate their audience (Little mentioned particular plays showing 200 people die during their course). Though Shakespeare had during one period written blood tragedies himself, a decent example being Titus Andronicus, King Lear can be seen as his attempt to break away from and possibly criticize that mold, as he pointedly fails to show to the audience the deaths of important characters such as Cordelia and her sisters, only to mention them after the fact.

Brian Dowler
Waldo Section 1A