1. Tragedies and Tragic Characters

2. Elements of a Tragic Character
The tragic character is a significant part of the plot. The character’s actions precipitate a cause and effect pattern.
The audience or reader should be capable of feeling pity for the tragic character.
There should be a universal quality about the tragic character; a trait most people can identify with.
The tragic character should be idealized yet realistic.
The tragic character should be consistent.

3. What is a Tragedy?
A drama or literary work in which the main character is undone by a flaw.
Often the consequences that the character experiences are not proportionate to their misdeeds or lack of judgment.
However, the consequences are generally a result of the tragic figure’s actions.
A tragedy stresses the vulnerability of human beings, making it clear that no one is above misfortune.

4. Origins of the Tragedy
Greek tragic plays took place at a religious festival in the city of Dionysia to honor the Greek god Dionysus.
The authors of these tragedies were called tragic poets or tragedians.
Tragic poets competed with one another and were ranked by a panel of judges.
Women were not allowed to play actor parts. Therefore, male actors played female roles.
Actors often used masks on stage. This enabled actors to play multiple parts and helped the audience identify the character’s sex, station, and age.
The plays used a chorus of singers who also wore masks.

5. Tragedians of Enduring Greek Tragedies: Aeschylus
est. b. 525 b.c.e b.c.e.
considered father of the tragic form and is the oldest of the three great Greek tragedians
He is believed to have created anywhere from plays but only 7 have survived.
His play, The Persians, is considered to be a somewhat accurate depiction of the invasion of Greece by Xerxes and the Persians as he lived during this time.

6. Tragedians of Enduring Greek Tragedies: Euripides
480 BCE–406 BCE
Referred to as the “stage philosopher” as his plays appeared to be rooted in Socratic philosophy.
18-19 of his complete plays have survived out of an estimated 92. (One of his surviving plays is believed to have been written by someone else.)
Unlike his predecessors, he gave women and slaves noble attributes such as strength and intelligence.

7. Tragedians of Enduring Greek Tragedies: Sophocles
497 – 406 B.C.E.
Chronologically, he worked after Aeschylus but before Euripides.
He wrote an est. 123 plays, but only 7 survived the most popular of which are Oedipus the King and Antigone.
Many cultural references are drawn from Oedipus Rex and Sigmund Freud’s Oedipus theory.