Tragic Conventions for Grade 8 English
Published on Nov 18, 2015
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Tragic Conventions
The drama of human suffering
While Rome and Juliet was written in (1597), it is shaped by tragic conventions many hundreds of year before. These tragic conventions were outlined by Aristotle (384-322 B.C) in a book called Poetics.
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Tragic Hero
The likable hero with a tragic flaw
A tragic hero is the protagonist of the tragedy.
The tragic hero is is someone who is noble and likeable enough for us to care about - like Romeo or Juliet.
A tragic hero comes with a flaw, normally a result of their blindness to reality, or exaggerated arrogance.
Normally they are in conflict with some overpowering force, e.g. FATE.
The tragic hero is is someone who is noble and likeable enough for us to care about - like Romeo or Juliet.
A tragic hero comes with a flaw, normally a result of their blindness to reality, or exaggerated arrogance.
Normally they are in conflict with some overpowering force, e.g. FATE.
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FATE!
You cannot escape it
In a tragedy, the tragic hero will be up against some inescapable force. This can come in many different forms, but it's main form is 'fate'. Romeo and Juliet are 'star-crossed lovers'. Their love is doomed from the beginning. All they can do is fail, however hard they try.
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Single Strand of Action
Same time, same place?
The storyline will be relatively simple, following one major storyline. In fact, the storyline is so simple, it can be told in just 14 lines of rhyming verse (aka the Prologue)
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Tragic Recognition
A character makes a critical discovery
There will be a moment in a tragedy when the tragic hero makes a critical discovery. It is the hero's sudden awareness of the reality of their situation. For example, when Juliet awakes to find Romeo dead... it is often a highly charged emotional moment.
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Cathartic Ending
Cleansing of the emotions, especially pity and fear
All in all, tragedies sound pretty... well... tragic. So why do we love them? For their cathartic endings. Aristotle felt catharsis was a form of purification, when we watch a tragedy we experience pity and fear for our tragic heroes, and through experiencing this, the audience learns to feel emotions at deeper levels.
It goes something like this: you have lived through the downfall of Romeo and Juliet, and you leave having learned from that experience, having been disturbingly fascinated and affected, and you are relieved it has ended.
Most importantly, you are relieved that it isn't you!
It goes something like this: you have lived through the downfall of Romeo and Juliet, and you leave having learned from that experience, having been disturbingly fascinated and affected, and you are relieved it has ended.
Most importantly, you are relieved that it isn't you!
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