The Tragedy of Tragedies

The Tragedy of Tragedies, also known as The Tragedy of Tragedies; or, The Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great, is a play by Henry Fielding. It is an expanded and reworked version of one of his earlier plays, Tom Thumb, and tells the story of a character who is small in stature and status, yet is granted the hand of a princess in marriage; the infuriated queen and another member of the court subsequently attempt to destroy the marriage.

In adapting his earlier work Fielding incorporated significant plot changes; he also made the play more focused, and unified the type of satire by narrowing its critique of the abuses of language. Additionally, in a reaction to the view that Tom Thumb was a burlesque, Fielding replaced some of the humor in favor of biting satire. The play was first performed at Haymarket on 24 March 1731, with the companion piece The Letter Writers. Critics enjoyed the play, but pointed out that it was originally designed as a companion piece to The Author's Farce.