Tragedy is the imitation of an action that is severe and significant; the result(s) of this action arouse(s) pity (feeling sorry for) and fear (“I don’t want that to happen to me!”); feeling these emotions when confronted with a tragic situation produces a purging (removal) of those same emotions—this “purge” is called a catharsis. TRAGEDY The tragic hero of a story displays tragic flaws that inevitably lead to his/her downfall/death. Greek tragōidia (τραγ ῳ δία) = "goat song”

A tragic hero is typically someone of high rank or reputation. During the story, the hero experiences a reversal of fortune (peripeteia), which in tragedy is good to bad or bad to worse; in other narratives, it may be bad to good. When it is too late, it is typical for the tragic hero to experience a realization of their situation and how they got there. This ignorance-to-awareness transformation is called the anagnorisis.

Hubris is a lack of humility and too much pride. Hubris is when people think that by ill-treating others they make their own superiority the greater. Hubris Example: Oedipus the king refuses to believe Teiresias when he tells Oedipus that he killed his father; he even mocks Teiresias’ blindness—his pride keeps him from believing this; he ill-treats Teiresias. You will feed your hamster, kill your father and marry your mother.

The hero must not deserve his misfortune, but he must cause it by making a mistake/error in judgment, which does not make the audience feel the hero is deserving of their fall. Hamartia There are different views in terms of what hamartia actually means. There are three loose definitions of the term; I leave you to choose one, two or all by which to use as an aid in understanding tragedy. 1) It can be seen as intentionally doing good; the success of this good intention is only hamartia when the person affected or the results (disastrous) are not what they were intended to be. Example: Oedipus solves the Sphinx’s riddle (good intention to save Thebes from the clutches of the cruel Sphinx); hence, he will marry Thebes’ queen, Jocasta (Oedipus’ mother).

2) It can also be seen as a moral error that furthers the hero’s fall. 3) It can also be when the hero chooses to not commit a moral error; as a result, disastrous circumstances occur (the hero’s fall as well). Example: Oedipus kills a man due to anger (not good). This furthers his fall since the murdered man is his father, King Laius. I need a hug!

The ancient Greeks, who developed the idea of tragedy, felt that it was much more horrible to live and suffer rather than simply die. Shakespeare and other playwrights felt differently.