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Unveiling the Shakespearean Tragic Hero: Formula, Criteria, and Impact

Uncover the essence of Shakespeare's tragic heroes through exploration of the tragic hero formula, criteria, and cathartic impact on the audience. Delve into the characteristics, flaws, and choices that define these iconic literary figures.

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Unveiling the Shakespearean Tragic Hero: Formula, Criteria, and Impact

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  1. Shakespeare’sTragic Hero Formula

  2. The Tragedies 3 categories: Comedies Histories Tragedies • Tragedy: A play about the downfall of a central character.

  3. Shakespeare’s Tragic Hero • Tragic Hero: Character who meets destruction because of a tragic flaw. • Tragic Flaw (Hamartia): A personality trait that causes a lapse in judugement. • Example: Pride or greed.

  4. 5 Major Criteria • He must be a person of some high stature or position such as a King, General, or Nobleman. • Though he’s a good person, he frequently makes serious errors in judgment which lead him to committing his downfall. • Often he has a distorted perception of, or is blind to, reality. • He must elicit both pity and fear from the audience (catharsis). • He chooses his outcome; he is not a victim of fate or circumstance.

  5. Why Tragedy? • Catharsis means to purge or cleanse. • Both Plato and Aristotle argued that witnessing tragic theater grants the audience this experience. • Aristotle argued witnessing tragic drama simply forces us to temporarilyexperience the dangers of wrongdoing. • This experience teaches us a basic cautionary tale at a deep, truly terrifying emotional level.

  6. Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear and Brutus are just a few of Shakespeare's characters that may be considered tragic heroes. Identify some tragic characters from recent films, tv shows, or books.Explain how they fit a specific part of the tragic hero criteria. Example: Walter White in Breaking Bad.

  7. Key Literary Elements of the Play • Protagonist(s): Othello, Desdemona, Cassio • Antagonist: Iago • Setting: Venice and Cypress • Conflicts: Person vs. person, person vs. society, person vs. self • Subjects/Themes: Appearance vs. reality, jealousy and betrayal, love

  8. 5 Part Dramatic Structure

  9. Significant Techniques • Blank verse: Unrhymed iambic pentameter • Figurative Language: Simile, metaphor, personification, allusions, punning (play on words) • Soliloquy: When a character speaks aloud about their feelings and thoughts to himself and to the audience. Soliloquies are delivered when characters are alone or when they think they are alone on stage.

  10. Aside: A piece of dialogue intended for the audience or another character, but not heard by the other actors on stage. • Irony: Dramatic, situational, verbal • Suspense and Foreshadowing: Anticipation regarding an outcome/clues given that hint toward an outcome.

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