Tragedy Test

What are the essential questions of our tragedy unit?

1) What is the nature of human suffering?

2) Why do humans suffer? - outside forces, fate, chance, chaos, Gods, tragic flaw

3) How do these characters respond to their suffering? - accepts it (eyes wide open) , hides from it

4) What does the play suggest about human free will?

Tragedy is reflective of the struggle between which two Greek gods, and what does each represent in this struggle?

Apollo and Dionysus - Apollo represents order, reason, logic, while Dionysus represents chaos, instinct, irrationality. (Order vs. Disorder)

Destruction of Innocent Life

“Travelling Through the Dark” (The plague in Oedipus Rex) - when a strong power destroys something innocent or beautiful; usually emphasizes how weak humans are.

The Loss of Innocence

“A Trifle from Real Life” (when Jocasta realizes that her son is Oedipus) - when characters discover the evil/truth in the world; there is no escaping this.

Sacrificial Hero

“The Story of Prometheus” “Shane” (when Oedipus claims that he should be exiled for the well-being of the city of Thebes) - hero sacrifices themselves for the community; moral victory is won, although the hero seems to lose. (ex: wandering hero)

Scapegoat

A character who takes a burden off a community

Martyr

A character who suffers/dies for a cause - cause is strengthened

Tragic Hero and Flaw

“Paul’s Case” (Oedipus’s flaw = stubbornness, paranoia - leads to choice - leads to his fall) - the character has strong and unwavering beliefs, is destroyed at the end; experiences a reversal and recognition.

Hero suffers and asks why OR Hero stands up to their suffering

“The Tunnel” (when Oedipus asks the Gods about his fate/destiny) - hero accepts that a higher power (fate) may ruin them; hero demands a reason for their suffering OR hero faces the suffering with opened-eyes - if a hero stands up to powers, then they grow and gain respect.

Death as a release

(When Jocasta kills herself) Romeo and Juliet - characters would rather die than live; the world becomes unreal, nightmare-like.

Complication

Basically the rising action; opposing forces are developed (good vs. bad)

Climax

The characters shift into a new condition; foreshadows the future of the story

Reversal

A turning point/situation where things suddenly shift to the opposite (climax 2.0)

Recognition

The hero realizes their true identity, or the truth of the situation they are in; character transitions from blindness to knowledge. Basically the falling action.

Reconciliation

Basically the resolution, characters are revealed in their transformed condition and order and balance are restablished.

Which 2 archetypes can be uplifting?

1) sacrificial hero

2) hero stands up to suffering

Catharsis

A purging or emotion that is experienced by the audience while watching a play. (ex: audience feels sorrow/pity for Oedipus, audience feels fear because Oedipus’s downfall could happen to anyone, tension peaks and the truth comes out - while watching this, the audience releases their grief, making them mentally cleansed.)

Dramatic Irony

A plot device to which the audience knows more than the actor (ex: In Oedipus Rex, the audience knows from the beginning of the play that Oedipus is the man who killed his father and married his mother, while Oedipus searches for the killer - himself)

What are the elements of the traditional Greek hero?

Noble birth and high status, portrays powerfulness and strength, hamartia (tragic flaw), suffering and struggle, violent death.

What is a tragic flaw?

A tragic flaw is a personality weakness or characteristic that leads the character to their downfall. (ex: Oedipus’s flaw is his stubbornness or impulsivity, which leads him to need to seek the truth, which leads him to discover that he is the murderer, which leads him to his downfall.) Flaw —> choice —> downfall

Hubris

Hubris is when a person/character elevates themselves to the position or responsibility of the Gods.

Recognition for Paul’s Case

In Paul’s Case, the recognition happens when Paul realizes that he can’t escape the yucky real world he lives in; (stealing money, father coming to NYC to find him, school sees him as a troublemaker and disobedient) Paul loses his innocence and he destroys himself by the end of the story. Paradise/ Eden: Carnegie Hall/ theater —> Yucky/real world: office, Cornelia Street, school

Reversal for Antigone

After Creon locks Antigone in a cave alive, after she defiantly buried her brother, Antigone hangs herself to escape her life. Upon seeing his fiance dead, Haemon kills himself from grief. Then, Creon comes to the cave to release Antigone, but he finds both his son and Antigone to be dead.