IB English HL Year II
Part III: Genre Studies (Drama)
V. Quinn and A. Heusterberg-Richards
DIRECTIONS: Track the Aristotelian elements of tragedy as they appear (or do not) in our dramas. Be specific to moments/lines in the dramas.
Hamlet
(Shakespeare)
The tragic hero Hamlet
How defined a tragic Noble- Prince and Educated
hero
* "must be good"
* "[must] aim at
proprietary"
* "[must be] true to life"
The hamartia of said Unwillingness to act
tragic hero (flaw) because of overthinking
Thus conscience does
make cowards (of us all,)/
And thus the native hue of
resolution/ Is sicklied oer
with the pale cast of
thought,/ And enterprises
of great pitch and moment/
With this regard their
currents turn awry/ and
lose the name of action.
The peripeteia (ironic When Hamlet does not Kill
situation) the King because he
THINKS the king is
Aristotelian elements of drama
Rosencrantz and The Birthday Party Doctor Faustus
Guildenstern Are Dead (Pinter) (Marlowe)
(Stoppard)
Roz and Guil Stanley Faustus
Friends of Nobility, have He uses to be a concert He was very well
money, have an education Pianist, he came from a educated, which gave him
better position at one point a noble status
(true to life?) in his past.
Unable to take control of He turns his back on the His lust for power and
their own life. They are people in his life. ignorance of
passive and do not try to consequences
change the doomed course
their life is on.
Guil: Weve travelled too far,
and our momentum has
taken over; we move idly
towards eternity, without
possibility of reprieve or
hope of explanation.
Roz: ... Well be all right. I
suppose we just go on.
When they find the letter When the men come back He makes a deal with the
that is to put them to death. and take their revenge/ yell Devil to sell his soul for
at him for betraying the only 24 years of powers,
 repenting but he is actually
not so he misses his shot.
My words fly up, my
thoughts remain below;/
Words without thoughts
never to heaven go.
The catastrophe When Hamlet kills Polonius
(fall/reversal of fortune) - after that everything gets
worse for Hamlet because
now other people want to
kill him and he did not
achieve his goal yet.
I will bestow him and
answer will/ The death I
gave to him.
The anagnorisis When he is about to die and
(recognition/acceptance) knows it- but knows he
finally did what he wanted
to do.
But let it be. - Horatio, I am
dead./ Thou livest; report
me and my cause aright/ To
the unsatisfied.
The audiences catharsis When he says the above
(purge of fear/pity) statement and does not let
Horatio kill himself. And
then dies.
Guil: Where we went wrong
was getting on the boat. We
can move, of course, change
direction, rattle about, but
our movement is contained
within a larger one that
carries us along as
inexorably as the wind and
current.
When they read the letter (
same as peripeteia)
When they accept (even
welcome their impending
death)
Ros: All right, then. I dont
care. Ive had enough. To tell
you the truth, Im relieved.
When the last line happens
and Ros disappears from
view. (pg125)
organization. and then right after we
see that he still cannot get
anything he wants
Interrogation scene/ when When he starts to want to
he yells out and never repent, and his emotions
speaks again are very mixed and he
keeps going back and
forth - also when he
chooses over and over not
to repent ( or cannot)
When he is up in the room When he is about to be
(we don't see) and he just taken to hell and he yells
lets them take him away - out
not fighting it
When he gets taken away When Faustus is being
for good - not knowing taken into hell and he is
where they go begging and pleading for a
reduction of his suffering
and he is grasping for any
help