1. Bell Ringer 10/31
Please be prepared to answer the following questions at the beginning of class:
What is Arthur Miller’s definition of Tragedy?
Boil it down to one or two sentences.
What are the characteristics of a Tragic Hero?
What is the Tragic Hero’s Tragic Flaw?
Pd. 1

2. Bell Ringer 10/31
Please be prepared to answer the following questions at the beginning of class:
What is the traditional definition of Tragedy?
What are the characteristics of a Tragic Hero?
What is the Tragic Hero’s Tragic Flaw?
Pd. 2, 7, & 9

3. Bell Ringer 10/31
Please be able to answer the following question by the beginning of class:
What is a Foil?
Give one example of a foil and the comparisons it focuses on.

4. Bell Ringer 10/31
Get out both of your sets of Tragedy Notes and get with a partner.
You’re going to make a graphic organizer using these notes.

5. English III
EQ: How did Arthur Miller’s point of view and purpose shape the content and style of Death of a Salesman?
Agenda
Bell Ringer/Discussion
EQ/Agenda
Foils (definitions and activity)
Tragedy Guided Notes
Pds. 1 & 4: Tragedy and the Common Man
“Tragedy and the Common Man” Notes
Tragedy Comparison/Contrast

6. Irony
Situational: an event occurs that contradicts the expectations of the characters, of the reader, or of the audience.
Dramatic: there is a contradiction between what a character thinks and what the reader or audience knows.
Verbal: a word or a phrase is used to suggest the opposite of its usual meaning.

7. Irony Activity Come up with an example for each type of irony:
Dramatic, Verbal, Situational
Use these characters and situation in your examples:
Sarah – 16 year old girl
Allen – 16 year old boy
Sarah and Allen are taking a road trip in a beat up old car.
You do not have to write a whole story, just short parts of a story that illustrate the examples.
Situational: Give character expectation and show them getting something opposite
Dramatic: We as the reader should know something that the characters don’t know
Verbal: the character must say something (use dialogue) but mean the opposite

8. Foils
Foil – a character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) in order to highlight particular qualities of the other character.
A foil usually either differs drastically or is extremely similar but with a key difference setting them apart.
Example: Dumbledore vs. Voldemort

9. Foil Activity Take a look at our character map.
Who could we pair together as foils?
Think in terms of categories:
Bosses
Fathers
Sons
Etc.
Predict what comparisons we could make.

10. Tragedy
A serious play in which the chief figures, by some peculiarity of character, pass through a series of misfortunes leading to a final, devastating catastrophe.
Usually these characters are of the noble class (kings, queens, dukes, etc.)
There are many different kinds and theories of tragedy, starting with the Greeks and Aristotle's definition in The Poetics,
"the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself...with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions."
In the Middle Ages, tragedy merely depicted a decline from happiness to misery because of some flaw or error of judgment.

11. Tragedy
The basic difference between tragedy and comedy and the epic is the "tragic pleasure of pity and fear" the audience feels while watching a tragedy.
In order for the tragic hero to arouse these feelings in the audience, he cannot be either all good or all evil but must be someone the audience can identify with (like a round character).
However, if he is superior in some way(s), the tragic feeling is intensified.

12. Tragedy
His disastrous end results from a mistaken action, which in turn arises from a tragic flaw or from a tragic error in judgment.
Often the tragic flaw is hubris, an excessive pride that causes the hero to ignore a divine warning or to break a moral law.
It has been suggested that because the tragic hero's suffering is greater than his offense, the audience feels pity; because the audience members perceive that they could behave similarly, they feel pity.

13. Tragedy A tragedy is divided into five acts.
The first act – introduces the characters in a state of happiness, or at the height of their power, influence, or fame
The second act – typically introduces a problem or dilemma
The third act – problem reaches a point of crisis in the third act, but which can still be successfully averted
the fourth act – the main characters fail to avert or avoid the impending crisis or catastrophe, and the disaster occurs
The fifth act – traditionally reveals the grim consequences of that failure or disaster

14. Tragedy and the Common Man
As you read, please answer the following questions:
What is Arthur Miller’s definition of Tragedy?
Boil it down to one or two sentences.
What are the characteristics of a Tragic Hero?
What is the Tragic Hero’s Tragic Flaw?

15. Tragedy & the Common Man
According to Arthur Miller:
Tragedy is universal.
Tragedy is about people’s search to see themselves correctly and to take their desired place in society.
Conflict begins when someone tries to take away a character’s dignity

16. Tragedy & the Common Man
Tragic feeling occurs when:
Character challenges the accepted and realizes the world is never stable
We feel the character’s fear of being torn away from his or her rightful place and previous self-image
Characters are ready to lay down their lives for their sense of personal dignity.

17. Tragedy & the Common Man
Tragic Flaw
Not necessarily a weakness
Unwillingness to accept indignity without active retaliation
Character becomes noble as the stable world he or she has known is torn apart
Must be willing to lay down his or her life

18. Tragedy & the Common Man
The lesson of tragedy: the environment, not the hero, is evil.
Tragedy isn’t about sadness. It should “reinforce the brightest opinions of humanity.”
There should always be a possibility of success.
Tragic feeling won’t happen if the author fears to question everything
Anything that holds people back or down should be examined

19. Tragedy Comparison/Contrast
Using your notes on Traditional Tragedy and Arthur Miller’s Tragedy:
Create a three column graphic organizer
Please compare and contrast these categories:
Basic Definition
Tragic Hero
Tragic Flaw

20. Death of a Salesman Section 1
Beginning of Act 1 to the Woman’s appearance
Narrator: Mrs. Hockenberry
Linda:
Willy:
Happy:
Biff:
Bernard:

21. Original Staging

22. Bell Ringer 10/31
Please be prepared to answer the following question by the beginning of class:
What are the three typical points of view that narrators use in fiction?
What do they look like/sound like?

23. Creative Writing
EQ: How can we engage and orient the reader when writing short stories?
Agenda
Bell Ringer/Discussion – Yesterday’s Prompt
Agenda/EQ
Narrator Notes
Choosing a narrator for our Note Card Premise
Which one would be best?

24. Narration and Point of View
Point of view: narrator and character types
An author creates a person to tell the story, and this person is the narrator.
The narrator delivers the point of view of the story.
Multiple narrators of the story can also present multiple points of view.

25. Narration and Point of View
A first person narrator
uses the pronoun "I" to tell the story, and can be either a major or minor character.
It may be easier for a reader to relate to a story told in a first person account.
A subjective narrator is generally unreliable
because he/she is in the story, and can only speak to his/her experience within it.

26. Narration and Point of View
A second person narrator
uses the pronoun "you" and is not used very often since it makes the reader a participant in the story (and you, as reader, may be reluctant to be in the action!).

27. Narration and Point of View
A third person narrator
uses the pronoun "he" or "she" and does not take part in the story.
An objective narrator is an observer
and describes or interprets thoughts, feelings, motivations, of the characters. Details such as setting, scenes, and what was said is stronger with an objective observer

28. Narration and Point of View
An omniscient (omniscient = all knowing) narrator has access to all the actions and thoughts within fiction
A limited narrator has a restricted view of events, and doesn't "know" the whole story

29. Narration and Point of View
How much does the narrator know?
Does he or she know everything, including the thoughts, feelings, motivations, etc. or present just limited information?
Do you (the reader) know more?
Time?
Do events take place "now" (verbs in the present tense)?
or in the past (verbs are in the past tense)?
Are past recollections fresh, or distant, and maybe hazy?

30. Narration and Point of View
Is the narrator a participant in, or a witness to, the action?
Is the story second-hand, related "as told to" the narrator?
Think of yourself telling someone something that happened:
How much of the event do you know, and how does that affect the story?
Why is the story being told, and why now?
What is the motivation?