George R. R Martin: The Evolution Of Tragedy

The Evolution of Tragedy Throughout history, a handful of authors have established character tropes and story elements that have filtered down throughout literature. To this day, the writings of Chaucer, Homer, Faulkner, and others remain influential and are often reflected in modern works. However, no writer can claim more influence on media than William Shakespeare. His dramatic and comedic plays brought literature to the common man, and through his work, he changed the way society has viewed storytelling. George R.R. Martin, arguably the leading fantasy writer since the days of Tolkien, implements Shakespearean elements into his ubiquitous saga Game of Thrones. Employing themes of revenge and delay, along with deft visual storytelling,
He fully intends on upholding his promise, until he meets a medic named Talissa and shortly thereafter falls in love with her. Having been in a relationship with Talissa for a few weeks, Stark impregnates and marries her, breaking his promise of marrying one of Frey’s daughters. During their wedding, Stark recites “Father, smith, warrior, mother, maiden, crone, stranger. I am hers and she is mine, from this day, until the end of my days” (Martin 3.612). The original agreement of marrying Frey’s daughter for assured passage was in Stark’s best interest, as his hope of avenging his father would not have been possible without it. Consequently, this marriage made out of love instead of duty paves the way for Stark’s demise. As opposed to Hamlet, Martin employs Stark’s inability to forego love as his hamartia, which leads the reader to sympathize with Robb and find him relatable. The reader’s relationship with Stark enables Martin’s Game of Thrones to captivate the reader to a greater extent than Hamlet, which does not as efficiently distinguish and give credit to Shakespeare’s work as the paramount