Revolution as Tragedy

Abstract

This chapter frames revolutions as sites of tragedy, within which liberal moderates find themselves caught in the midst of a highly volatile political situation. Here, revolutions are defined as being inspired by ideals that call for the building of a better society by deliberately and quickly changing, at a minimum, key political rules, and institutions. From there, the chapter describes four “acts” or stages, similar to the dramatic progression of classic tragedy, which can play out during revolutions. Not all revolutions follow all four of these stages, but some do, and all experience at least two or three of them. Furthermore, the chapter describes an important figure present in many of these revolutions—the liberal moderate—whose misfortune it is to be caught between intransigent resistance to reform by the king and royal court and equally uncompromising revolutionary radicalism.