Tragedies Unit: Elements, Background, Literary Terms

What is a key quality of the tragic hero?

• He or she is usually of noble status and is well-respected by most of the other characters.
• He or she is friends with a charismatic sidekick.
• He or she is a demi-god.
• He or she is pathetic, so the reader feels sorry for this character but doesn’t identify with him or her.

What is the tragic flaw?

• The moment in the play from which there is no return and the tragic hero gives up hope
• The moment in the play where the audience realizes how they are different from the characters on stage
• An unexplained gap in the play that makes the audience question why the characters are doing something that isn’t logical
• The tragic hero’s personality trait that ultimately leads to his or her downfall

Tags

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What is the official term for the downward spiral of negative events that happen to the tragic hero, leading him or her from happiness to catastrophe (most frequently death)?

• Reversal of fortune
• Tragic tornado
• A series of unfortunate events
• Catharsis

What is poetic justice?

• The concept that everyone gets what they deserve in the end: the bad are punished and the good are rewarded
• When an important character, like the Prince, gives a monologue that establishes some kind of law that causes conflict for the other characters.
• A specific style of poetry that overlaps with the writing style of early Chinese court officials
• The term for playwrights like William Shakespeare who were known for writing tragedies entirely in poetic form.

Tags

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What is the term for the sense of emotional release that the audience is meant to feel by the end of the play, allowing them to feel like they can make better choices than the characters in the play?

• poetic justice
• exposition
• apotheosis
• catharsis

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What is the primary purpose of the tragic genre?

• The sense of renewal the audience receives by experiencing catharsis
• To promote political agendas paid for by the playwrights aristocratic patrons
• To illustrate that bad things happen to people who make bad choices
• To remind people that life is short and no one should take anything for granted

Tags

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What is the term for the tragic hero’s personality trait that ultimately leads to his or her downfall?

• Pathetic fallacy
• Character foil
• Tragic irony
• Tragic flaw

Tags

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What is the reversal of fortune?

• The moment when the tragic hero meets someone who changes his or her life
• The moment when the audience leaves feeling like they are luckier than the tragic hero
• The downward spiral of negative events that happen to the tragic hero, leading him or her from happiness to catastrophe (most frequently death)
• The moment when the antagonist has successfully gained everything that the tragic hero used to have.

What is the quality of tragedies that makes them feel tragic?

• The deaths of more than one person
• That someone is always alive at the end who will have to live with their guilt of having caused something bad to happen to the tragic hero
• The lack of poetic justice
• The length of the plays

Tags

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What is catharsis?

• The tragic hero’s personality trait that ultimately leads to his or her downfall
• The downward spiral of negative events that happen to the tragic hero, leading him or her from happiness to catastrophe (most frequently death)
• The technical term for the moment of the tragic hero’s death
• A release from intense emotions that allows the reader to feel relieved by knowing that they are wiser than the characters in the tragedy.

Tags

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