Answer:
What is Tragedy and Why is Macbeth a Shakespearean Tragedy.
Tragedy is a very ancient form of literature. It is the imitation of an action which is serious and complete. The aim of a tragedy is to rouse the emotions of sympathy and fear in the soul of it's spectator. Tragedy should have literary decorations like poetry, philosophy and humour. It should be in the form of action, and not be narrative. It should also have the appropriate length to be acted on a stage. These definitions and prescriptions for tragedy were framed by none other than Aristotle, the philosopher of Greece where Tragedy ascended the peaks.
Tragedy has a high educative value. It makes man 'sadder and wise' as Coleridge in The Rhyme Of The Ancient Mariner has phrased. The combined effect of the emotions of pity and fear through which the spectator's mind goes through purges and purifies his mind, which process, in Greek, is denoted by the word Catharsis. Modern medicine has borrowed this word to mean discharge of emotions as a pressure valve.
The source of Shakespeare's Macbeth is Holinshed's Chronicles. The time of action covered in the play is the seventeen years from 1040 to 1057 of the Eleventh Century. 1040 was the year of the King of Scotland Duncan's death and 1057 the year of his General, Macbeth's death in real history. When Scotland was threatened with a civil war and foreign attacks, King Duncan deputed his Generals Macbeth and Banquo to suppress the enemies. Both fought very bravely till their enemies were either slaughtered or they surrendered. Macbeth began to be considered as a hero and a saviour by the King as well as by his subjects. But under the spell of three witches and also tempted by his wicked wife, Macbeth sought the very Kingship of Scotland for him. This spell and temptation was so strong and irresistible to him that eventually Macbeth assassinated Duncan when the King paid him the honour of visiting him and staying in his castle. A series of assassinations took place one after the other, all done by him or his spies. The sum total of all these murders are spread in 5 Acts and 29 Scenes in the play. It may be said that Macbeth was written in blood by Shakespeare.