1. Aristotelian Tragedy in Shakespeare Structure and Conflict

2. What is Tragedy?
What’s the difference between a Tragedy and a Sad Story?

3. Origins of Tragedy
The Greek philosopher Aristotle first defined tragedy in his book Poetics written in about 330 BCE.
Tragedy is when bad stuff happens to good people – who kind of deserve it.

4. Elements of Tragedy A Tragic Hero Hamartia Peripeteia Anagnorisis
Catharsis
Restoration of Social Order

5. The Tragic Hero In what ways is Hamlet a tragic hero?
The tragic hero is someone we, as an audience, look up to—someone superior.
Must receive a fate greater than deserved.
Hero must be doomed from the start, but bears no responsibility for possessing his flaw.
The tragic hero is nearly perfect, and we identify with him/her
In what ways is Hamlet a tragic hero?

6. Hamartia What is Hamlet’s hamartia? How does he display it?
Although he is nearly perfect, the hero has one flaw or weakness
We call this the “tragic flaw,” “fatal flaw,” or hamartia.
The most common form of hamartia is hubris, or excessive pride.
What is Hamlet’s hamartia? How does he display it?

7. Peripeteia What is the peripeteia of Hamlet?
Also called Reversal of Fortune
The “fatal flaw” brings the hero down from his/her elevated state.
Renaissance audiences were familiar with the “wheel of fortune” or “fickle fate.”
What goes up, must come down.
What is the peripeteia of Hamlet?

8. Anagnorisis
Anagnorisis is the moment when a character makes a critical discovery. Anagnorisis originally meant recognition in its Greek context, not only of a person but also of what that person stood for. It was the hero's sudden awareness or realization of things as they stood, and finally, the hero's insight into a relationship with an often antagonistic character in Aristotelian tragedy.
What is/are the moment(s) of anagnorisis for Hamlet?

9. Catharsis
“Catharsis” is the audience’s purging of emotions through pity and fear.
The spectator is purged as a result of watching the hero fall.
Vicarious lesson
How does Hamlet enable the audience to experience catharsis?

10. A story that evokes these emotions in the audience has successfully taught a vicarious lesson.

11. Restoration of Social Order (Dénouement)
Tragedies include a private and a public element
The play cannot end until society is, once again, at peace.
The end result serves as a warning for future generations to heed the mistakes of the parents’ generation.
Do we achieve this in Hamlet?

12. Structure of Tragedy
William Shakespeare wrote many tragedies in his prolific career. In each, he adhered to a rigid structure that has proven to be successful in capturing an audience’s attention.
This structure has been used as a formula for hundreds (thousands?) of plays and movies over the past four centuries.

13. The Structure of Tragedy
Exposition
Exciting Force
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Catastrophe

14. Exposition
The exposition describes the mood and conditions existing at the beginning of the play. The time and place will be identified as well as the main characters and their positions, circumstances, and relationships to one another.

15. Exciting Force
Also sometimes called the complication or initial incident, the exciting force is what “gets things going.” The exciting force thus begins the conflict which will continue throughout the play.

16. Rising Action
The series of events leading to the climax comprise the rising action. These events provide a progressive intensity of interest for the audience. The rising action will involve more than one act.

17. Climax
The climax represents the turning point of the play. From this point on, the Shakespearean hero moves to his inevitable (often grisly) end.

18. Falling Action
The falling action includes those events occurring from the time of the climax up to the hero’s death. The episodes will show both advances and declines in the various forces acting upon the hero.

19. The Catastrophe
The catastrophe concerns the necessary consequences of the hero’s actions (death). The catastrophe will be characteristically simple and brief.

20. Quick Write
Give the moments of the play which fit the following tragic elements:
Exciting Force
Peripeteia
Anagnorisis
Climax
Catastrophe

21. Tragedy Structure Act I: Exposition, Exciting Force, Rising Action
Act II: Rising Action
Act III: Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action
Act IV: Falling Action
Act V: Falling Action, Catastrophe

22. D C E B A F Exposition Exciting Force Rising Action Climax
Falling Action
Catastrophe C E B A F

23. Conflict
Conflict is the dramatic struggle between two forces in a story. Without conflict, there is no plot.

24. Types of Conflict There are two categories: Internal Conflict
External Conflict
Man vs. Self
Man vs. Man
Man vs. Society
Man vs. Nature