1. Before Mrs. Morciglio has a coronary, please memorize these

2. Protagonist From “Proto” and “Agon” (‘First’ and ‘Pain’), the protagonist is the main character in ANY work of literature who experiences pain, obstacles, and difficulty. A Tragic Hero is a special kind of Protagonist-but one can find a Protagonist in most types of literature and media. Since life is filled with painful experiences and events, it makes sense that we would be drawn to characters that experience pain and suffering.

3. Tragedy A Tragedy is a piece of drama that contains a Tragic Hero who experiences a painful downfall. Historically, tragedy usually takes place over a period of 24 hours, has one protagonist (main character), and takes place in one setting (but many writers do not follow all of these rules). The Greeks perfected the form, but it is not the ONLY type of literature they produced-nor are they the ONLY culture to produce it.

4. Tragic Hero The protagonist (main character) of a tragedy- characterized as having a TRAGIC FLAW which is a personal flaw that leads to his downfall. He is UNAWARE of that flaw until the very end of the play. The Tragic Hero always starts the play in a position of power, wealth, influence, or status and ends up dead- or wishing he was dead. That notion is called REVERSAL OF FORTUNE.

5. Tragic Flaw The Tragic Flaw is a PERSONAL CHARACTERISTIC-a specific problem inside the character that he is unaware that he has; his personality is flawed in some way that he cannot see nor understand. He is metaphorically blind to that flaw until the last moment. Again, metaphorically blind means that he does not know that he suffers from that flaw.

6. Dramatic Irony Dramatic irony is the gap between what the audience knows and what the protagonist does NOT know. In tragedy, Dramatic Irony is caused when the audience understands the protagonist’s tragic flaw before the character does. Every time the audience sees the protagonist make a mistake based on that flaw, the Dramatic Irony is built up-the process happens until the character is forcibly made to see his tragic flaw (usually) near the end of the story.

7. Archetype An archetype is a type or CATEGORY of character-not necessarily the main character. An archetype is way to organize characters based on similar characteristics and similar events that befall them. A Tragic Hero is ONE TYPE OF ARCHETYPE. But there are countless others. Archetypes may represent categories of real people as well as characters. Archetypes make it easier to define types of characters in literature and allow us to compare and contrast them.