Notes – Tragedy/Tragic Hero – IDENTITY UNIT

Mod.Humanities/Grad. Project

What is a TRAGEDY?

Defined – a tragedy is the imitation in dramatic form of an action that is serious and complete with incidents arousing pity and fear such as to cause a catharsis or purging of such emotions.

What are the ELEMENTS of a TRAGEDY?

  • Language used is pleasing and appropriate throughout to the situation in which it is used
  • Chief characters are noble persons (‘better than ourselves’)
  • Actions the characters perform are noble actions
  • Plot involves a change in the protagonist’s fortune, in which he usually but not always, falls from happiness to misery
  • Protagonist, though not perfect, is hardly a bad person; his misfortunes result not from a character deficiency but from what Aristotle called hamartia (a criminal act committed in ignorance of some material fact or even for the sake of a greater good)
  • Best Tragic Plots – involve a reversal (change from one state of things within the play to its opposite) or a discovery (a change from ignorance to knowledge) or both

What is a TRAGIC HERO?

KEY Characteristics:

  • Hero is a man of noble stature

-is good, though not perfect, and his fall results from committing ‘hamartia’ – a criminal act committed in ignorance of key information or for the greater good (to benefit others, society, etc.)

-Some critics connect the fall of the hero to some tragic flaw – some fault of character such as extreme ambition, quickness to anger, tendency to jealousy, excessive pride; or to some over-abundance of virtue – too honest, too innocent, too trusting – which makes him unable to live among ordinary people

  • Hero is personally responsible for his fall – it’s his own fault, a result of his free choice/will; not the result of pure accident or someone else’s evil/criminality or some evil Fate
  • Hero’s misfortune – not wholly deserved (KEY) – punishment or consequences of his actions seem to exceed the crime
  • Hero’s fall is NOT pure loss – tragic hero gains some self-knowledge before his downfall/death – a change from ignorance to knowledge, for which the hero can acknowledge the justness of it (‘LIGHTBULB MOMENT’) – dies a better person

**NOTE**

Tragedies inspire solemn (serious) emotions, but they do not leave the audience in a state of depression (MUST BE a catharsis – purging/release of these emotions through the act of watching/reading the play – a common, shared experience) – YOU LEARN BY WATCHING or READING and APPLY WHAT YOU LEARN…