Tuesday, November 17, 2015

The Five Deadly Claims

1.      Policy: The deaths of tragic heroes in Shakespearean tragedy should not be overlooked because rather than simply ending a character’s life they provide a single redemptive moment in which the true nature of the hero is revealed.
2.      Definition: Death in Shakespearean tragedy is not an ending but rather a destination that the tragic hero must arrive at in order to realize his or her true potential as a human being. 
3.      Comparison: Although Shakespearean comedies end much more happily than tragedies, tragedies are ultimately more satisfying because the deaths of the tragic heroes give the audience a chance to see both the hero and the world itself as they really are, with any pretense stripped away.
4.      Evaluation: Despite the many redeeming qualities of Shakespearean tragedies, they succeed as stories because the death of the tragic hero provides a fitting climax to all the action and tensions within the play.
5.      Causal: The deaths of tragic heroes in Shakespearean tragedy provide pivotal moments in each play that combine all the various themes of the play into one central meaning. Without those pivotal moments, key themes of the play would be more easily lost on the audience.

1 comment:

  1. Each of these sound really interesting, Jessica. The only think I can think of is that you sometimes end the thesis by dropping the focus, like your definition one by generalizing the intricacies of tragic heroes with the vague potential of human beings. Focusing on a redemptive quality that these moments demonstrate that redeems tragic characters could be more focused.

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