Henry Fielding, The Tragedy of Tragedies; or, The Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great

Thomas R. Cleary (University of British Columbia)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1731

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Farce
Parody
Play
Tragedy

Resources

The Tragedy of Tragedies; or, The Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great, which began a successful run at the Haymarket and was published on 24 March 1731, is the third and most fully developed, three-act version of Fielding's farcical, parodic travesty mocking the absurdities of bad – and even good – English tragedies. Two slighter, two-act versions had enjoyed considerable successes and been published in April and May 1730. As one reading of its main title implies, the play is a continual, hilariously reductive, utterly unserious pastiche or near-cento of parodies of earlier plays, ranging from relatively obscure works to Hamlet: a mock “tragedy [made out] of tragedies.”

Its action centers around a …

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729 words

Citation: Cleary, Thomas R.. "The Tragedy of Tragedies; or, The Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 December 2003 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8397, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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