Download Day 2

Drama as a Genre….
•Drama is a very old genre.
•The oldest surviving plays were
written in ancient Greece over 2500
years ago…
around the same time that The
Odyssey was composed.
•Why do you think the Greeks wrote
plays and not novels?
There are two major forms of
drama:
1. Comedy:
A comedy is a light hearted
production that has a happy or
pleasant ending. It does not
necessarily have to be funny
or humorous.
2. Tragedy:
What would you assume to be true about a tragedy?
• deals with a serious topic
• has a serious tone
• ends in disaster
•Has a special type of
protagonist…
not an epic hero but….
The Tragic Hero!
•Back in the day, a Greek
philosopher named Aristotle
made up a list of rules for
what a tragic hero should be.
•Writers, including
Shakespeare, followed these
rules well into the 20th
century.
•Some writers still follow
them today!
When I say “hero,” what type of real life
person do you think of ?
?
Well… Aristotle and Shakespeare had
someone quite different in mind….
But Aristotle would stop us there.
Aristotle would say that this guy is NOT
a tragic hero?
Why?
•Aristotle would say that Bob’s death wasn’t
truly a tragedy because he was just an average
man.
•It’s sad, but it’s not a “tragic” loss.
•Aristotle says a true “tragic hero” must have
high stature: someone like a king or a prince or
a respected person of high standing.
•Who in our society has high stature?
•The highest position in the US….
Would this be good enough for Aristotle?
Well… it’s better… This scenario fulfills 2 of Aristotle’s
requirements:
1. A tragic hero must be of high stature.
2. A tragic hero must experience a downfall.
But Aristotle also says this downfall must be caused by a
flaw in the tragic hero’s personality…
A Tragic Flaw!
Bush doesn’t exhibit a tragic flaw in this story. He’s doing
something good just because it’s the right thing to do.
Let’s try
again.
In this version, our
person of high
stature survives!
But… after he
places the baby in
the arms of her
relieved mother,
and hugs her…
He looks at his
wrist…
Our hero’s tragic
flaw of “greed”
forces him to run
back into the
burning house to
look for his
watch!
Hmmm….
But…
•This can’t be an easy decision for Mr.
Bush.
•Aristotle says that a tragic hero must face
a tragic dilemma.
•A dilemma is a choice that is very
difficult to make. There are good points
on both sides.
Let’s say this was a hard decision for our hero…
He really sat there and considered both sides,
but then his greed won him over and Bush ran
back into the house….
Now our story meets almost all of
Aristotle’s criteria for a tragic hero…
1. He has high stature.
2. He has a tragic flaw.
3. He faces a tragic dilemma.
4. He experiences a downfall
caused by his flaw.
To be an ideal tragic hero though, we have to
consider Aristotle’s final two criteria.
1. Our hero cannot be excessively good or evil.
•
•
What would happen if he was purely evil?
What would happen if he was perfectly
good?
In this story , does Mr. Bush fit
this criteria?
A
what?
Aristotle says a
true tragic hero
must experience
an anagnorisis.
Anagnorisis:
(Go ahead… say it!)
A moment of self awareness
when a tragic hero realizes
that he or she caused their
own downfall
Boy oh boy… I’m
going to die because I
was sooo greedy. I did
this to myself!!!
Aristotle’s Criteria for a
Tragic Hero
1.
2.
3.
4.
Must be of high stature.
Must have a tragic flaw.
Must face a tragic dilemma.
Must experience a downfall caused by his
flaw. (Not always death.)
5. Cannot be totally good or totally evil.
6. Must experience an anagnorisis.
In Romeo and Juliet...
• We have a pair of tragic
heroes…
• Guess who. 
Let’s get into groups…
• You need to come up with a scenario like
mine with
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
a modern person of a high stature
who must make a hard choice.
Because he/she has a major flaw
they make the wrong choice
and experience a big downfall
however he/she can’t be pure good or evil
then he/she realizes it was all their own fault.