This is the character against whom the protagonist struggled.

The release of powerful, healing emotions that make tragedy so moving.

This is is a projection of oneself into another character; an identification in which one seems to participate in the actions and feelings of the other.

The protagonist most often contributes to his or her own downfall by a fatal flaw, or tragic error.

Frequently an Oedipus, an Antigone, a Macbeth, a Lear, or a Cleopatra is brought to doom by excessive pride--a belief that he or she is somehow above the fates, or in control of destiny.

A sudden reversal, often in fortune, of the protagonist. Peripeteia is, therefore, the turning point in Greek tragedy.

The audience’s emotions produced by watching the tragedy unfold.

An unexplained reference to something/someone famous.

When the audience knows something that the characters on stage do not.

A character speaks to the audience and the other characters on stage cannot hear.

Audience members agree to set aside any assumptions about reality.

When a writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story to create dramatic tension.

A speech spoken by one character, usually in a play. A character may be speaking to other characters in the play or to the audience.

A speech performed by a single character, usually in a play. The character speaks his thoughts out loud, to himself.