Poetics

Questions 1: Of the plays we have read this term, Much Ado About Nothing and Richard III had interesting plot points outside of their respective genres. The first play is categorized as a comedy because of the nature of the plot and the happy conclusion. Despite the cheerful nature of the start of the play, there is a secret plot to ruin Claudio and Hero’s love that could have turned the final act into the ending of Othello. The other play, Richard III, is considered a history because it…

In some stories, we are taken through a journey with protagonist and at the end of his or her story, the protagonist finds his or herself facing a disastrous situation or a tragic ending. Certain actions arise that bring a morally good tragic hero from happiness to distress which is led by a hamartia; an error in judgement many times due to lack of knowledge or full understanding of a situation. According to our textbook, the definition of a Tragedy is “the representation of serious and…

In the novel, Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the protagonist is faced with many challenges that ultimately end in tragedy. In addition, a tragedy in Shakespearean plays always involve a man of high estate, a flaw in character, misconceptions, rationalizations, murder, and death of a tragic hero. Order is always restored, but it takes the sacrifice of the hero to make this possible. A tragic hero is someone who leads to their own downfall from the start due to a personal weakness within their…

Morality as a whole can be represented in many ways. Morality can be represented as a gift that frees us from all evil or the act of wrong. Those that choose to abide by certain rules can be rewarded by a good result but if they choose not to abide by the rules; consequences will be put in place and a dreadful result will follow. Rescue, emphasizes mainly on deception, passion and the true sense of affection. This is represented by how far a person would go in the name of love. Webster together…

The anagnorisis of “Oedipus the king” is when Oedipus, Jocasta, and all the other character in the story find out that Oedipus actually did murder Laius his own father and Jocasta is really his mother as also his wife. Oedipus discovers that the child of King Laius and Queen Jocasta was sent given away to a shepherd to die as a child. Oedipus goes on to get some testimonies to make absolutely sure, even though it is obvious that he was Laius’s killer. He brings Tiresias to confront him to tell…

A tragic hero is commonly defined as a literary figure who, during the course of the plot, makes a deadly flaw that seals his fate and ultimately leads to his demise. Two classic examples can be found in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: Brutus, the killer of Caesar, and the dictator of Rome himself. Marcus Brutus and Julius Caesar both serve as exceptional illustrations of tragic heroes because of their social relevance, their harrowing mistakes, and their cataclysmic deaths. It is…

During Elizabethan times in British literature, plays with a constant theme of revenge with a typical tragedy were well acclaimed. To seek revenge refers to a human?s natural instinct to get back at others who have done wrong to them. In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the play dramatizes the revenge Hamlet takes on his uncle which leads to his own tragic flaw of procrastination. From the beginning of the play, Hamlet has a dark, gloomy, melancholy attitude. Gertrude began worrying about Hamlet…

It is good to have an end to journey toward, and in the end the experiences within the journey itself are equally as important, as such ventures can induce some form of self-transformation. Journeys, Year 11 students, are amongst the very few things in life that is completely unavoidable. Every single person in this room has embarked on a journey, whether it be a journey to senior schooling, or even a journey to self-discovery; everyone has at least once experienced the impacts journeys may…

The play that I chose to read is called “Heracles” and was written by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides around 421-416 B.C.E. (Euripides). The basic story of this tragedy revolves around a man named Heracles, whose family is about to be killed by Lycus, the usurping ruler of Thebes while Heracles is unable to help them as he is in the progress of completing the last of his twelve labors. However, Heracles unexpectedly returns and kills Lycus to save his family from their death only for Hera…

One of the distinguished literary theory 's brought forth by Aristotle is the theory of the tragic hero. A comprehensive definition of this theory is a character whether in film or book who makes a judgment error that leads to the character’s own destruction. For this question I will be looking at Joe Paterno and why I consider him to be an excellent example of a tragic hero. I will break down his story as a tragic hero in parts as illustrated in the class notes. Tragic Hero Part 1: The first…