The story depicts also the troubled part of the hero's life which precedes and leads up to his death; and an instantaneous death occurring by 'accident' in the midst of prosperity would not suffice for it. It is, in fact, essentially a tale of suffering and calamity conducting to death.

Shakespearean Tragedy: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth; [lectures]. (ed. 1955)