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What Defines Tragedy? Articulate the relationship between the expressed purposes and the characteristics of different forms of dramatic literature (e.g.,

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Presentation on theme: "What Defines Tragedy? Articulate the relationship between the expressed purposes and the characteristics of different forms of dramatic literature (e.g.,"— Presentation transcript:

1 What Defines Tragedy? Articulate the relationship between the expressed purposes and the characteristics of different forms of dramatic literature (e.g., comedy, tragedy, drama, dramatic monologue).

2 Where does tragedy come from?
The Greek philosopher Aristotle first defined tragedy in his book Poetics written in about 330 BCE

3 Aristotle’s definition of tragedy had SIX parts:
Plot Character Thought Diction Spectacle Melody

4 What Defines Shakespearean Tragedy?
A Tragic Hero The Tragic Flaw-Hamartia Reversal of Fortune Catharsis Restoration of Social Order –Denouement

5 The Tragic Hero The tragic hero is someone we, as an audience, look up to—someone superior. The tragic hero is nearly perfect, and we identify with him/her

6 Tragic Flaw The hero is nearly perfect-
The hero has one flaw or weakness We call this the ‘tragic flaw’, ‘fatal flaw’, or hamartia.

7 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.

8 Catharsis We get the word ‘catharsis’ from Aristotle’s katharsis.
‘Catharsis’ is the audience’s purging of emotions through pity and fear. The spectator is purged as a result of watching the hero fall.

9 This is why we cry during movies!

10 Restoration of Social Order
Tragedies include a private and a public element The play cannot end until society is, once again, at peace.

11 The End Do Your Homework!


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