Tragedy Unit Review

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering essential questions, archetypes, Greek deities, and literary concepts of tragedy based on class lecture notes.

Essential Questions of the Tragedy Unit

1) What is the nature of human suffering (outside forces vs. internal forces)? 2) How do characters respond to suffering (accepting it vs. running/hiding)? 3) What does the play suggest about human free will?

Tragedy is a reflection of the struggle between two Greek Gods, and what does each represent in this struggle?

1. Apollo and Dionysus. (conflict between the two)

   1. Apollo represents the God of wisdom. 

   2. And Dionysus represents the God of playfulness.

1. What are the six archetypes of tragedy? Refer to the story for examples, how does the archetype operate. (12)

1. Destruction of Innocent Life

   1. Destruction of something beautiful, admirable, innocence by an overwhelming power

      1. Traveling through the dark 

2. The Loss of Innocence

   1. Discovery of evil, loss of innocence from the real world, it is unavailable 

      1. Trifle for from real life

3. Sacrificial Hero

   1. Scapegoat hero or sacrificial 

      1. Scapegoat: through suffering, society is purged of evil, sins and burden 

         1. -Ellen Foster—> gets abused by father for no reason

      2. Sacrificial: they are great, moral victories won 

         1. Oedipus —>is a hero that suffers but does the good for the people 

1. Tragic Hero and Flaw 

   1. Has social status, has convictions, has tragic flaws. Endurs the suffering and dies at end but experiences reversal and recognition at the end  

      1. Flaw leads to choice leading to fall

         1. Emperor and new clothes 

5. Hero suffers and asks why/ Hero stands up to their suffering

   1. Humans make mistakes, suffering seems worse than what they deserve. They recognize the power above may doom them to fail. 

      1. Hero demands reason for suffering

         1. Jocasta —> she wants to know why this happens all to her family

      2. Hero faces suffering head on (hero grows)

         1. The tunnels—> he dies and just accepts it

6. Death as a release

   1. Forces behind tragedy are so powerful→ no option for struggle. The desire to live is more crazy than the desire to die. The world takes on unreal quality.

      1. The interlopes—> both eneimies come to an agreement and dies together

1. Which two archetypes are the ones we discussed as uplifting, or as celebrating human strength and resilience? (2)

1. -Sacrificial Hero and Hero stands up to their suffering 

1. Define catharsis, identify the emotions that lead to catharsis, and explain why/how those emotions are evoked in the audience. (3)

1. A purging of emotion (pity,fear)

   1. The audience experiences awe and compassion from the story

What is dramatic irony, and what is an example from one of our stories?

1. storytelling and literary device where the audience or reader knows a critical piece of information that the characters in the story do not for the future

   1. When Oedipus says he will catch the King's killer like his dad, but it is his dad.

1. What are the elements of the traditional Greek tragic hero? List them. (5)

Hubris, hamartia, noble status, reversal, recognition, suffering and downfall, catharsis

What is a tragic flaw? Include in your definition the sequence that the flaw puts in motion (this leads to this…) and an example from our stories.

1. A tragic flaw is bad flaw that leads to a downfall or suffering aka harmatia. For example the flaw in The emperor with new clothes was him being cocky and led to him being embarrassed and ruining his reputation.

1. What is hubris, in the way we have defined  that concept in class, not just in a definition online. (2)

1. Putting yourself before Gods and thinking you are higher than them in power.

1. Explain, in your own words, the recognition of tragedy, using Paul from "Paul's Case” as an example. (3)

Paul realizes his tragedy when he tries to escape from the real world to his happy place but realizes that he cant escape the real world forever and he has to experience that world no matter what which leads to his downfall.

1. Explain in your own words, the reversal in tragedy, using Antigone or Creon as an example.

1. The reversal in tragedy is when there is a complete switch in the story. Something super good turns into something terrible.  For example or visa versa. Antigone starts off with a good life with talking about her playfulness with her brothers and sister. But her reversal is her finding out there is a bad side to life from Creon and her dying because of it.