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    The document outlines the key elements of a Shakespearean tragedy: 1) The tragic hero is usually of high status but has a tragic flaw that leads to their downfall. 2) External and internal conflicts drive the plot and intensify the hero's actions. 3) This leads to their isolation and opposition from others. 4) The hero realizes their flaw too late and is destroyed, allowing the restoration of order. The structure follows this pattern over five acts from exposition to resolution.

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    Shakesperian tragedy elements discussed

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    Elements_of_a_Shakespearean_Tragedy

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    The document outlines the key elements of a Shakespearean tragedy: 1) The tragic hero is usually of high status but has a tragic flaw that leads to their downfall. 2) External and internal conflicts drive the plot and intensify the hero's actions. 3) This leads to their isolation and opposition from others. 4) The hero realizes their flaw too late and is destroyed, allowing the restoration of order. The structure follows this pattern over five acts from exposition to resolution.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    105 views2 pages

    Elements of A Shakespearean Tragedy

    Uploaded by

    Anjan
    The document outlines the key elements of a Shakespearean tragedy: 1) The tragic hero is usually of high status but has a tragic flaw that leads to their downfall. 2) External and internal conflicts drive the plot and intensify the hero's actions. 3) This leads to their isolation and opposition from others. 4) The hero realizes their flaw too late and is destroyed, allowing the restoration of order. The structure follows this pattern over five acts from exposition to resolution.

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    Shakespearean Tragedy

    The Elements of a Tragedy

    Element 1- The Tragic Hero

    Usually there is only one tragic hero. Exceptions- The Love Tragedies

    Only Great Men are Tragic Heroes


    Peasants (merely because they are human beings) do not inspire pity and fear as great men do.
    For example- The pangs of despised love and the anguish of remorse are the same in a peasant as in a prince. However, a peasant’s emotional
    distress will not affect the welfare of a nation or empire. So when a great man falls suddenly from the heights of earthly greatness, his fall
    produces a sense of contrast.

    Common Qualities of the Tragic Hero


    1. Tragic heroes are exceptional beings. They are from a high estate, but the tragic hero’s nature generally raises him in some respect much
    higher than the average level of humanity. The tragic hero carries a touch of greatness (fierce determination, fixed ideas,) which stirs not only
    sympathy and pity, but also admiration, terror, and awe.
    2. Tragic heroes contribute to their own destruction by acts in which the reader sees a flaw in their character. The flaw often takes the form of
    obsession.
    3. The difficulty is that the audience must desire the defeat/destruction of the tragic hero, but this in itself does not constitute tragic feeling.
    4. Shakespeare’s tragic heroes need not to be “good,” though they generally are.
    5. Shakespeare’s tragic heroes project that man is not small or contemptible, no matter how rotten he can be.
    6. Shakespeare’s tragic heroes illustrate the center of the tragic impression: the sense of waste. There is a profound sense of sadness and
    mystery which is due to this impression of waste.
    7. Shakespeare’s tragic heroes live for what seems to be a type of the mystery of the whole world. Shakespeare tries to show the reader the
    tragedy that is all around and the waste that it creates.

    Element 2- The Tragic Flaw


    Hamartia (Greek)- In a tragedy, the quality within the Tragic Hero or heroine which leads to his or her downfall.
    The flaw often takes the form of obsession.

    Element 3- The Tragic “Story”

    Plot
    1. The tragic story leads up to, and includes, the death of the hero.
    2. The suffering and calamities that befalls the hero are unusual and exceptionally disastrous.
    Explanation of the Calamity-
    The suffering befalls to a conspicuous person.
    The suffering is itself of a striking kind.
    The suffering, as a rule, is unexpected.
    The suffering, as a rule, contrasts with previous happiness and/or glory.

    Tragedy, Human Flaws, and Responsibility


    1. The calamities of a tragedy do not simply happen, nor are they sent.
    2. The calamities of tragedy proceed mainly from actions, and those, the action of men.
    3. Shakespeare’s tragic heroes are responsible for the calamity of their falls. The center of the tragedy, therefore, lies in the action issuing
    from the character, of flawed perceptions, and human frailty for which the hero is ultimately responsible. The hero recognizes his own
    responsibility for the calamity too late to prevent his own death.

    Element 4- The Abnormal, The Supernatural, Fate/Fortune/Chance


    1. Shakespeare occasionally represents abnormal conditions of mind: insanity, hallucinations etc. The abnormal conditions of the mind
    are never introduced as the origin of any deeds of any dramatic moment.
    2. Shakespeare also introduces the supernatural: ghosts and witches who have supernatural knowledge. The supernatural elements cannot
    be explained away as an illusion in the mind of one of the characters. It does contribute to the action, but it is always placed in the
    closest relation with the character. It gives a confirmation and a distinct form to inward movements already present and exerting an
    influence: to the half-formed thought or the memory of guilt or suspicion.
    3. Shakespeare, in most tragedies, allows “chance” in some form to influence some of the action. Finally, chance is a prominent feature in
    life. That men may start a course of events but can neither calculate nor control it, is a tragic fact. However, any large use of chance
    would weaken the sense of the casual connection of character, deed, and calamity.
    Element 5-Tragic Conflicts

    The action of the protagonist/tragic hero is most often motivated by external and internal conflicts, which lead to complications from which
    further conflicts arise- all in a kind of snowballing effect, driving the action toward a tragic resolution.

    External Conflict
    1. Usually, there are two persons, of whom the hero is one.
    2. Two Parties or Groups, one of which the hero leads
    3. The passions, tendencies, ideas, principles, forces, which animate these persons or groups

    Internal Conflict
    1. Shakespeare’s tragic hero, though he pursues his fated way, is, at some point, torn by an inward struggle.
    2. A comparison of the earlier and later tragedies show this struggle is most emphasized in the later tragedies.
    3. The conception of outer and inner struggle includes the action of “spiritual forces.” The “spiritual forces” generating the internal turmoil for
    the hero is the combination of the pressures of the external and internal struggles or conflicts.

    Element 6- The Tragic Pattern

    1. A man of high estate- A king, a prince, a general


    2. A flaw of character- Within the first two acts, the reader will become aware of the Tragic Hero’s obsession.
    3. Intrusion of time and a sense of urgency- As the inner and outer conflicts intensify, the reader sees the
    Tragic Hero’s actions snowball to his final demise. (Act 3)
    4. Misreadings and Rationalizations- The occurrence of the third element will increase the Tragic Hero’s urgency. The Tragic Hero operates
    on what he believes to be the case rather than what he actually knows to be the case.
    5. Murder, exile, alienation of enemies and allies- Brought on by new conflicts
    6. Gradual Isolation of the Tragic Hero- Brought on by new conflicts, which forces the Tragic Hero to face the responsibility for his actions alone.
    7. Mobilization of the opposition- The stage will occur when the opposing forces mobilize against the Tragic Hero to bring the tragedy to his
    conclusion. Often times, the Tragic Hero is confronted by an enemy in the fifth act who has a good reason for seeking his death.
    8. Tragic recognition of the Flaw by the Tragic Hero: too late- At the point of number 7, the Tragic Hero realizes his error. The Tragic Hero
    must accept responsibility for what has happened.
    9. Last courageous attempt to restore lost
    10. Audience recognizes potential for greatness- This occurs when the Tragic Hero shows the audience the nobility of his heart, and the audience
    recognizes his loss as a waste.
    11. Death of the Tragic Hero
    12. Restoration of order

    Element 7- Tragic Structure in the Plays


    As a Shakespearean tragedy represents a conflict which ends in calamity, any such tragedy can be divided into four parts.

    1. Exposition- The exposition is the task of the first and second act. Here the reader learns about the general setting, the persons, the character
    traits, problems of the play, the major conflict, and the tragic hero’s flaw.
    2. Development/Rising Actions- This comprises the second, third, and fourth acts. Time and urgency becomes important and the action
    increases. Eventually, the tragic hero will end up alone.
    3. Development/Falling Action- In act four, opposing forces begin to openly resist and make plans for the removal of the tragic hero, and the
    tragic hero's power is declining as the opposition’s power advances.
    4. Resolution- In the final act, the opposition reaches its full strength (Climax) and defeats/destroys the isolated, weakened hero. This is where
    Tragic Recognition takes place, the reader becomes aware of the greatness of the man just loss, and order is restored.

    Vocabulary

    1. Agon- The struggle or conflict at the center of the tragic action.


    2. Anagnorisis- A revelation or moment of understanding whereby the Tragic Hero comes to understand something concerning the meaning of
    his fate.
    3. Catharsis- The sudden emotional breakdown that constitutes overwhelming feelings of great pity, sorrow, laughter or any extreme change in
    emotion that results in the renewal, restoration and revitalization for living.
    4. Hubris- Exaggerated self-pride or self-confidence or arrogance, often resulting in fatal retribution.
    5. Nemesis- The fate, experienced as punishment, which befalls the Tragic Hero as the consequence of his or her actions.
    7. Discovery- The change from ignorance to knowledge in the central character.
    8. Foreshadowing- The author uses subtle hints about the plot developments to come later in the story.
    9. Foil- A secondary character that is either one who is opposite to the main character (the Tragic Hero) or nearly the same as the main character.
    The purpose of the foil character is to emphasize the traits of the main character by contrast. This contrast will highlight various facets
    of the main character’s personality.

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