Aristotelian Tragedy in Shakespeare Structure and Conflict

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Aristotelian Tragedy in ShakespeareStructure and
Conflict
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What is Tragedy?

• Whats the difference between a Tragedy and a Sad
  Story?

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Origins of Tragedy

• The Greek philosopher Aristotle first defined
  tragedy in his book Poetics written in about 330
  BCE.

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Elements of Tragedy

• A Tragic Hero
• Hamartia
• Peripeteia
• Anagnorisis
• Catharsis
• Restoration of Social Order

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The Tragic Hero

• The tragic hero is someone we, as an audience,
  look up tosomeone superior.
• Must receive a fate greater than deserved.
• Hero must be doomed from the start, but bears no
  responsibility for possessing his flaw.
• The tragic hero is nearly perfect, and we
  identify with him/her
• In what ways is Hamlet a tragic hero?

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Hamartia

• Although he is nearly perfect, the hero has one
  flaw or weakness
• We call this the tragic flaw, fatal flaw, or
  hamartia.
• The most common form of hamartia is hubris, or
  excessive pride.
• What is Hamlets hamartia? How does he display it?

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Peripeteia

• Also called Reversal of Fortune
• The fatal flaw brings the hero down from
  his/her elevated state.
• Renaissance audiences were familiar with the
  wheel of fortune or fickle fate.
• What goes up, must come down.
• What is the peripeteia of Hamlet?

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Anagnorisis

• Anagnorisis is the moment when a character makes
  a critical discovery. Anagnorisis originally
  meant recognition in its Greek context, not only
  of a person but also of what that person stood
  for. It was the hero's sudden awareness or
  realization of things as they stood, and finally,
  the hero's insight into a relationship with an
  often antagonistic character in Aristotelian
  tragedy.
• What is/are the moment(s) of anagnorisis for
  Hamlet?

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Catharsis

• Catharsis is the audiences purging of emotions
  through pity and fear.
• The spectator is purged as a result of watching
  the hero fall.
• Vicarious lesson
• How does Hamlet enable the audience to experience
  catharsis?

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• A story that evokes these emotions in the
  audience has successfully taught a vicarious
  lesson.

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Restoration of Social Order(Dénouement)

• Tragedies include a private and a public
  element
• The play cannot end until society is, once
  again, at peace.
• The end result serves as a warning for future
  generations to heed the mistakes of the parents
  generation.
• Do we achieve this in Hamlet?

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Structure of Tragedy

• William Shakespeare wrote many tragedies in
  his prolific career. In each, he adhered to a
  rigid structure that has proven to be successful
  in capturing an audiences attention.
• This structure has been used as a formula for
  hundreds (thousands?) of plays and movies over
  the past four centuries.

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The Structure of Tragedy

1. Exposition
2. Exciting Force
3. Rising Action
4. Climax
5. Falling Action
6. Catastrophe

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Exposition

• The exposition
  describes the mood
  and conditions existing
  at the beginning of the play. The
  time and place will be identified as well as the
  main characters and their positions,
  circumstances, and relationships to one another.

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Exciting Force

• Also sometimes
  called the complication
  or initial incident, the
  exciting force
  is what gets things going. The exciting force
  thus begins the conflict which will continue
  throughout the play.

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Rising Action

• The series of events leading
  to the climax comprise the
  rising action. These events
  provide a progressive intensity of
  interest for the audience. The rising action
  will involve more than one act.

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Climax

• The climax represents
  the turning point of the
  play. From this point on,
  the Shakespearean hero
  moves to his inevitable (often grisly) end.

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Falling Action

• The falling action includes
  those events occurring from the time of the
  climax up to the heros death. The episodes will
  show both advances and declines in the various
  forces acting upon the hero.

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The Catastrophe

• The catastrophe
  concerns the
  necessary
  consequences of the heros actions
  (death). The catastrophe will be
  characteristically simple and brief.

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Quick Write

• Give the moments of the play which fit the
  following tragic elements
• Exciting Force
• Peripeteia
• Anagnorisis
• Climax
• Catastrophe

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Tragedy Structure

• Act I Exposition, Exciting Force, Rising Action
• Act II Rising Action
• Act III Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action
• Act IV Falling Action
• Act V Falling Action, Catastrophe

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D

1. Exposition
2. Exciting Force
3. Rising Action
4. Climax
5. Falling Action
6. Catastrophe

C
E
B
A
F
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Conflict

• Conflict is the dramatic struggle between two
  forces in a story. Without conflict, there is no
  plot.

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Types of Conflict
There are two categories
Internal Conflict External Conflict
Man vs. Self Man vs. Man Man vs. Society Man vs. Nature
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