1. Macbeth It’s a tragedy!

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

3. Tragedies must have these elements: 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

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

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

11. Macbeth Terms to Know Act- divisions of the play

12. Macbeth Terms to Know Scene- usually involves a change of setting

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

14. Macbeth 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

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

16. Macbeth Terms to Know Blank verse- unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter

17. Macbeth Terms to Know Heroic couplet- two consecutive rhyming lines of iambic pentameter

18. Macbeth Terms to Know Dramatic irony- when the audience and/or the other characters know something another character does not

19. Macbeth Terms to Know Verbal irony- when a character says one thing and means another

20. Macbeth Terms to Know Character types: Tragic hero Foil Women Supernatural

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

22. Macbeth Terms to Know More character types: Normative- reliable, restore order, survive

23. Macbeth 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

24. Macbeth 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

25. Macbeth Terms to Know Motif- a recurring word, phrase, object, idea or action in a work of literature

26. Macbeth Terms to Know Paradox- a statement that seems to contradict itself, but, in fact reveals some element of truth

27. Macbeth Terms to Know Equivocation- the use of ambiguous language for the purpose of confusion