Tragic Sharing

Abstract The effect of tragedy as a literary genre is understood to depend on people first experiencing the tragic as a form of human relationship, in which hurts are fully acknowledged and shared. After briefly discussing tragedy as tragic sharing, this final chapter seeks to enact an initiatory gesture of that sharing. To hear characters talking back to us, we must first learn to speak directly to them. The chapter comprises a series of letters, addressed to each of the major characters, speaking directly, to inviting their response, however that might come. Each letter expresses appreciation for what that character has brought to the reader; many letters acknowledge how both Shakespeare and the author may have used the character badly; and some letters ask how far companionship with that character can go. These letters initiate an unpredictable future of dialogue with that character who has become a companion.