Throughout time drama has changed from its early beginnings to modern theatre. Some of the Earliest plays written fall into the category of a Greek Tragedy. A Greek Tragedy "is a self-contained piece of heroic myth, poetically elaborated in a high style for performance by a chorus of Athenian citizens and two or at the most three actors and intended as a part of the public festival in the sanctuary of Dionysus" (dictionary.com, 1). There are 8 basic qualities that make up a Greek Tragedy. The plays Antigone, Hamlet, and A Streetcar Named Desire use at least some of these qualities. .
The first quality is that the play is written in poetic form. In the plays Antigone and Hamlet we see this quality. All the characters speak in poetic form. One example is from the play Antigone, Creon says, " Come tell me now, will you, too, say you bore a hand in the burial or will you swear that you know nothing of it?" (Sophocles, 1633) The other example is from the play Hamlet, Laertes says, "O, heat dry up my brains! Tears seven times salt, Burn out the sense and Virtue of mine eye- (Shakespeare, 1352) Since the play A Streetcar Named Desire is in modern verse, it is not in poetic form.
The second quality of a Greek Tragedy is that all the characters are royalty. In both the plays Antigone and Hamlet most characters are royalty. One example is in Antigone; there is King Creon who is a main character. His two nieces, Antigone and Ismene, are princess and are main characters in the play. The other example is in the play Hamlet. Hamlet is a prince and his mother is the Queen. Hamlet's mother marries Hamlet's uncle, which makes him the King. The King, Queen, and Hamlet are all main characters in the play. In the play, A Streetcar Named Desire, there are no characters of royalty.
The third quality for a Greek Tragedy is there is no violence on stage. This quality is only present in the play Antigone.