active recall - tragedy

what is peripeteia?

the sudden reversal of fortune of the tragic hero

different king lear characters react to ‘nothing’ with different philosophies

• lear embraces madness in absurdism

• edward and kent uses his newfound nothings to build a new life , existentialist ideas of making life your own

• gloucester falls from his nihilism. literally losing his sight is nothingness, and he couldn’t handle that

what is hamartia?

the character’s fatal flaw

what is a tragic hero?

protagonist who, despite noble flaws, falls from power due to their hamartia

what is a tragic villain?

villain who is aware of their evil but takes no pleasure in it

what is a tragic victim?

character who experiences a downfall due to their hamartia, or someone who experiences a downfall due to the tragic hero’s hamartia

aristotelian tragedy

romantic tragedy

• fate does not control characters

• characters are no longer of high status

• nietzsche ; society split into apollonian order and dionysian excess of pleasure

shakespearean tragedy

• tragic flaw of character causes the downfall

• rounded characters

domestic tragedy

• ordinary people

• slower revelation of events

• issue led

keats - contextual points

• esoteric role of women

• greek philosophy contradicting romanticism clear contrast of nietzschean ideas of apollonion vs dionysian

• metaphysical literary elements

• gothic literary elements

esoteric role of women - keats’ poems

greek philosophy contradicting romanticism - evidence in keats’ poems

metaphysical literary elements - evidence in keats’ poems

• life and the inevitability of death (memento mori) shown through time and nature as a conceit ;

  • all characters seem to be under a time limit, such as la belle dame who cries when in the elfin grot as she knows the knight will soon leave her , lamia cannot enjoy her wedding because of the looming threat of apollonius

  • nature as a conceit to symbolise life and inevitability of death, as well as the Romantic beauty noticed by keats as he dies

  • keats’ upon seeing his blood-stained handkerchief, ‘that drop of blood is my death-warrant; - i must die

• questioning existence, plato’s theory of forms ;

  • questioning whether lorenzo still lives in the basil

  • questioning whether the men in the knight’s dream truly existed

  • questioning the mortality and existence of gods / daimons such as hermes and lamia , and whether they should exist with the mortals (lycius)

• questioning free will in regards to love ;

  • describes the uncontrollable love one has to the sublime of nature

gothic literary elements - evidence in keats’ poems

• great displays of emotion ;

  • grief experienced by characters is strong enough to kill them - isabella and lycius

• opposition against christainity

  • pagan gods

  • apollonius seen as a christ like figure is antagonist , similar to keats’ own denial of christianity. christianity is not fantasical enough

esoteric role of women - how does this make keats’ poetry tragic?

greek philosophy contradicting romanticism - how does this make keats’ poetry tragic?

metaphysical literary elements - how does this make keats’ poetry tragic?

gothic literary elements - how does this make keats’ poetry tragic?

settings - keats’ poems

wild / natural sublimity and wealthy estates juxtapose the tragic storylines ; mirroring the own tragedy in keats’ life - despite his love for the Romantic world around him, he is dying. deepens tragic fall of character demise as they have more to lose (beauty)

tone - keats’ poems

structure - keats’ poems

symbolism - keats’ poems

anagnorisis - keats’ poems

peripeteia - keats’ poems

catharsis - keats’ poems

• anti-heroic nature provides catharsis in la belle dame as we feel both are tragic victims and the tragic villain is more so society

hamartia - keats’ poems

hubris - keats’ poems

• criticises trying to live a double life

tragic fall - keats’ poems

blindness - keats’ poems

women - keats’ poetry

• esoteric in nature

• women in greater greek mythology

character archetypes - keats’ poetry

• machiavellian

• tragic hero

• tragic villian

• tragic victim

• femme fatale

foil - keats’ poery

isolation - keats’ poetry

fate + gods - keats’ poetry

family - keats’ poetry

moral growth - keats’ poetry

nature - keats’ poetry

power - keats’ poetry

• those with societal power will inevitably have a hubris that causes the downfall of tragic victims

• the only power is the sublime

calamity - keats’ poetry

tragic eras - keats’ poetry

pessimism - keats’ poetry

friendships - keats’ poetry

suffering - keats’ poetry

supernatural - keats’ poems

• love is supernatural

  • ghost telling isabella of lorenzo’s death

  • obsessive nature of love, as if it were draining life source (lycius , the knight)

  • gothic literary elements , metaphysical elements

dreams - keats’ poems

love - keats’ poems

• keats couldn’t get married to his love, fanny brawne, because her mother forbid it due to his poet status. mirrors this tragic injustice in his poems by having the subjects in his poems never marry

• love acts in supernatural ways

  • knight is sickly after losing la belle dame

  • lycius is ‘tricked’ into falling in love

  • loss of love is strong enough to kill

la belle dame character analysis

• representing tuberculosis

  • wild and romanticised ; byron ‘i should like, i think, to die of consumption.. because then all the women would say, ‘see that poor byron - how interesting he looks in dying’ ‘

  • explains the knight’s sudden sickness and the sickness of the people in his dreams

  • Romantic commentary on the sublime ; what is beautiful is destructive ‘beauty overcomes every other consideration’

  • explains presence of characters of higher social status due to major artistic figures contracting TB

  • obsessive love la belle dame has for the knight represents the all-encompassing nature of the illness and the pleasing idea to have contracted ‘the romantic disease’

  • repetition of ‘fair’ when describing the victims , both the knight and those in his dreams

  • ‘light’ refers to the immense weight loss of TB sufferers. depictions of her being ‘fair’ in art refers as well to physical TB traits

• representing the sublime of nature

  • seemingly separated from the civilised world , repetition of ‘wild’ and pagan figures such as elves and faeries

  • troubled, due to her crying in the elvin grot ; nature is still troubling because of its sublimity, yet you can be wild and free which is what sets it apart from the civilised world

  • her description contrasts the heavy appearance of the knight (e.g., her ‘light foot’ vs his heavy armour)

the knight character analysis

• sickly appearance suggesting tuberculosis

isabella character analysis

lorenzo character analysis

isabella’s brothers character analysis

lamia character analysis

lycius character analysis

hermes character analysis

apollonius character analysis

death of a salesman - contextual points

• pilgrims, change in values from the existing american dream

• collectivism vs individualism

• excess of suffering, ‘regarding the pain of others’

• ambiguity of tragedy

pilgrims , change in values from the existing american dream - death of a salesman

collectivism vs individualism - death of a salesman

excess of suffering , susan sontag - death of a salesman

the idea that there is so much suffering all in different avenues, and appeasing one holds back the other, the tragedy is more amibguous in this sense. there is so much tragedy that the suffering of one cannot be accounted for (sontag quote)

ambiguity in tragedy - death of a salesman

pilgrims , change in values from the existing american dream - how does this make death of a salesman tragic?

collectivism vs individualism - how does this make death of a salesman tragic?

excess of suffering , susan sontag - how does this make death of a salesman tragic?

ambiguity in tragedy - how does this make death of a salesman tragic?

settings - death of a salesman

tone - death of a salesman

structure - death of a salesman

symbolism - death of a salesman

language - death of a salesman

• ‘kid’

anagnorisis - death of a salesman

peripeteia - death of a salesman

catharsis - death of a salesman

hamartia - death of a salesman

hubris - death of a salesman

tragic fall - death of a salesman

blindness - death of a salesman

women - death of a salesman

character archetypes - death of a salesman

foil - death of a salesman

isolation - death of a salesman

fate + gods - death of a salesman

family - death of a salesman

moral growth - death of a salesman

nature - death of a salesman

power - death of a salesman

calamity - death of a salesman

tragic eras - death of a salesman

pessimism - death of a salesman

friendship - death of a salesman

suffering - death of a salesman

willy character analysis

linda character analysis

• femme fatale

• tragic villain

biff character analysis

happy character analysis

charley character analysis

bernard character anaylsis

howard character analysis

ben character analysis

the woman character analysis