Antigone from the play “Antigone” indeed does have a tragic flaw. “And the chorus calls her attitude
She has the ability to build up a climax into a higher level and then to defuse it by ending an act – turning it into an anti-climax. Moments of high tension include the initial accusations of witches, and John Proctors attempt to undermine Abigail. This could suggest that Abigail Williams is only part of the play to relieve or exacerbate problems occurring in the play, demoting her from the category of being the most important character in, “The
A Doll's House, a Tragedy? A tragedy, according to the New Oxford American Dictionary, is a play that has a melancholic ending that concerns the downfall of the main character. Aristotle defined it as “[A play] with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions... Every tragedy therefore must have... Plot, Characters, Diction, Thought, Spectacle, [and] Melody.” Famous tragedies include Julius Caesar and Macbeth. A Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen, cannot be considered a tragedy because although it meets some of the requirements of Aristotle's definition, it does not fit the complete profile of this literary style.
The character, Blanche has most of the characteristics of a tragic hero such as her situation was doomed from the beginning. Even though Blanche was displayed as a clean, high classed woman in the beginning of the play, as the play progresses the readers discover that she has all the elements of a tragic hero. The characteristics of a tragic hero consist of six basic traits. They have to be born into some form of nobility. In Blanche’s case, her high cheekbones signal noble origins and feminine grace.
A problem play also poses several questions on the audience. Measure for Measure does this as the audience question whether Isabella should have given up her chastity, whether justice or mercy is the most important, what makes a good leader and is it possible to be free of sin, or is everyone a sinner? One feature of a tragedy play is death. Although there is not a death-strewn climax in Measure for Measure like there is in other Shakespearean plays such as Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, there is a threat of death and a death by natural causes. Vincentio and Angelo arise a threat of death upon Claudio on several occasions throughout the play, “So, fare you well; to the hopeful execution do I leave you of your commissions.”.
These were the words that Queen Gertrude delivered to Ophelia's brother, Laertes, when she took her own life. Many think Hamlet is the most tragic character in the play, but some critics like to think that Ophelia is the most tragic. Ophelia's life is not mentioned often throughout the play, so it is shadowed by the life of Hamlet. Many obstacles that Ophelia faces throughout Shakespeare's tragedy support reasons why she is considered the most tragic character. Ophelia lives in a society ruled by men, faces rejection from the love of her life, and deals with the death of her father.
Despite the general opinion that “Hamlet” contains the weakest women in Shakespeare’s works, the unraveling of the main plot can only be attributed to them. The first case in which we see woman as the catalyst of the play is with Gertrude being one of the main motivations for Claudius murdering his brother. Once Hamlet died, Claudius and Gertrude quickly exchanged wedding vows, maintaining the stability of Denmark during the unexpected death of King Hamlet. Hamlet continuously alludes that he knows what Claudius has done, and seeks to make him feel remorseful for his actions. He achieves this goal through a reenactment of Hamlet’s death, and the exchange of everlasting love between ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Gertrude’, played by the actors at Elsinore.
Hamartia, which is a fatal or tragic flaw in the hero. Anagnorisis, which is recognition of the hero’s mistakes, and Catharsis, which is when the audience is purged of all negative emotions towards the hero. For many years there has been a great deal of controversy over the character of Othello in Shakespeare’s play. Critics have debated the extent to which Othello can be considered a tragic hero, but there are two critics, whose views are held within higher consideration than the others. The first of these critics is A.C. Bradley who believes that Othello is one of the greatest of all tragic heroes.
Choose a play with one of the following themes: the deceptiveness of appearances; cynicism versus idealism; love versus hate; appearances versus reality. Show how the dramatist establishes and develops one of their themes and go on to show how he or she resolves it at the end In Tennessee Williams’ dark and tragic play “A Streetcar Named Desire” the playwright explores the theme of appearances versus reality in the characterisation of faded southern belle Blanche DuBois and her inability to face reality. This is effectively revealed through a variety of dramatic techniques all of which results in a play, which develops this theme and is resolved by violence at the end. The play centres around the conflict between faded Southern Belle Blanche DuBois, and her rather brutish brother in law, Stanley Kowalski. Both characters collide with each other over influence of Stella, Blanche’s sister.
Consequently, they achieve a certain degree of self awareness and knowledge that they did not possess before. Shakespeare, writing in the tragic genre created in Lear and Macbeth, two tragic heroes who achieve anagnorisis or personal discovery through a series of tragic events. Aristotle believed “anagnorisis....when it occurs together with peripetia (adventure) the change of fortune from good to ill or reverse” would lead to “external identification” which is in other words self-knowledge. Shakespeare’s contemporary audience would have understood the theme of self knowledge, in tradegy as it was a popular genre. During that time, it was believed that the death of a King would upset the natural balance of order and society.