The Shakespearean Tragedy

1. The Shakespearean Tragedy

2. Characteristics of a Shakespearean Tragedy • The main character, called the tragic hero comes to an unhappy ending. • The tragic hero is generally a person of importance in society, such as a king or queen. • The tragic hero exhibits extraordinary qualities, but also a tragic flaw, which is a fatal error in judgment or weakness that leads directly to his or her downfall.

3. The hero faces an antagonist, his enemy, who may contribute to his downfall. • A series of related events leads to a catastrophe, which involves the death of the hero. • The tragic hero usually recognizes his or her tragic flaw by the end and gains the audience’s sympathy. • The tragic hero meets his or her doom with courage and dignity, reaffirming the greatness of the human spirit.

4. Devices Used By Milton

5. Alliteration: • Repetition of initial consonant sounds • EX: “One great furnace flamed” • Allusions: • An author’s reference to other works of literature or historical events or figures • EX: “Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit of that forbidden tree…” • Elevated Diction: • The use of lofty words and phrases to match the “exalted subject and theme” of the epic (“larger-than-life” characters and themes)

6. Epic Simile: • A comparison in which something in the poem is compared to something quite outside the poem-often an animal, sometimes a human being or a human action. • EX: Satan’s size is compared to the bodies of Greek myth. Giants (II 197-200) • Blank Verse: • Unrhymed , iambic pentameter (ten beats per line) • Omitted words & Inverted syntax • Subject/verbs are often placed out of order to accommodate demands of meter. • EX: “sin, Heavenly Muse…” could be placed at the beginning of the poem

7. Literary Terms Macbeth

8. Pathetic Fallacy • The attribution of human feelings and responses to inanimate things (ex. Nature, weather) • Where did we see these in Macbeth?

9. Freytag’s Pyramid • According to Freytag, a drama is divided into five parts or acts.

11. Exposition • The exposition provides the background information needed to properly understand the story, such as the protagonist, antagonist, basic conflict, and setting. • The exposition ends with the inciting moment, which is the incident that without there would be no story.

12. Rising Action • The basic conflict is complicated by the introduction of related secondary conflicts, including various obstacles that frustrate the protagonist’s attempt to reach their goal.

13. Climax • The third act is the climax or turning point, which marks a change for the better or the worse in the protagonists affairs. In a tragedy things will go from good to bad.

14. Falling Action • The conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist unravels, with the protagonist losing against the antagonist. The falling action might contain a moment of final suspense, during which the final outcome of the conflict is in doubt.

15. Denouement • The tragedy ends with a catastrophe in which the protagonist is worse off than at the beginning of the narrative.