Macbeth It’s a Tragedy

Characteristics of the Tragic Hero:

Macbeth Terms to Know

Tragedy

Characteristics of the Tragic Hero:

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Tragedy A play or novel in which the main character struggles, loses control, and usually dies. There is always an unhappy ending.

Elements of a Tragedy An extraordinary hero or heroine The hero is destroyed or killed because of fate, character flaws, or both. The hero’s death must serve some purpose.

Characteristics of the Tragic Hero: He should be worthy of our interest, concern, or sympathy. He will not be perfect but will be a good man of noble instincts possessing faults that make him human.

Characteristics of the Tragic Hero: He will always possess a great deal of pride. He will be old and wise enough to understand what is happening to him.

Characteristics of the Tragic Hero: He will encounter inevitable disaster. He will not take his destruction meekly, but will assert his force and dignity as a man.

Characteristics of the Tragic Hero: He may be a victim, but he will not bow and become a martyr. His cause must be a noble one with a measure of good in it.

Characteristics of the Tragic Hero: He usually makes a decision that is an error in judgment caused by his tragic flaw. He evokes both our pity and our fear.

Terms to Know Tragedy- a dramatic work that presents the downfall of a dignified character who is involved in historically or socially significant events

Terms to Know Tragic hero- main character with a quality that leads to his/her destruction. This quality is called a tragic flaw.

Macbeth Terms to Know Act- divisions of the play Scene- usually involves a change of setting Written together as follows: Act II.iii.200-210

Terms to Know Soliloquy- a speech that a character makes while alone on stage, to reveal his or her thoughts to the audience

Terms to Know Aside- a remark that a character makes in an undertone to the audience or another character but that others on stage are not supposed to hear.

Terms to Know Iambic pentameter- each line contains ten syllables, with one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable          

Terms to Know Blank verse- unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter Heroic couplet- two consecutive rhyming lines of iambic pentameter

Terms to Know Dramatic irony- when the audience and/or other characters know something another character does not Verbal irony- when a character says one thing and means another

Terms to Know Character types: Tragic hero Foil Women Supernatural

Terms to Know More character types: Generic- reliable, provide information (ex. Old Man) Normative- reliable, restore order, survive

Terms to Know Foil character- provides a striking contrast to another character; used to call attention to certain traits possessed by a main character or to contrast

Terms to Know Comic relief- a humorous scene, or incident, or speech that is included in a serious drama to provide respite from emotional intensity

Terms to Know Motif- a recurring word, phrase, object, idea or action in a work of literature Paradox- a statement that seems to contradict itself, but, in fact reveals some element of truth Equivocation- the use of ambiguous language for the purpose of confusion