What is A

TRAGIC HERO?
Unit 2: Greek Tragedy
 Let’s Review
Turn & Talk with the people next to you:
What is an archetype? What are some
examples of character archetypes?
 A tragic hero is…
A major character who has many noble features, but whose
personality has a flaw that will eventually lead to his or her downfall.

A Tragic Hero is neither good nor bad, and the audience feels pity or
fear for the character.

A Tragic Hero Archetype meets most of the following criteria:

● Born of noble or mysterious birth
● Has a tragic flaw (hamartia)
● Doomed to make a serious error in judgment due to tragic flaw
● Realizes he/she has made an irreversible mistake
● Meets a tragic death and accepts death with honor
● OR experiences terrible and excessive downfall
 According to the video, why are
tragedies (& tragic heros) alluring?
 READ THE FOLLOWING CASE
STUDIES AND DETERMINE IF THEY
ARE EXAMPLES OF A TRAGIC HERO...
ROMEO
Romeo is an angsty 15-year-old who is
in love with a girl who has made a vow
to never marry. His friends take him to
a party to help him forget his sorrows.
While at this party, Romeo falls
hopelessly in love with a young girl
named Juliet. Unfortunately, their TRAGIC HERO:
families hate each other, so they
decide to get married in secret. Much
more drama unfolds, and Romeo is YES OR NO
banished. Because these star-crossed
romantics cannot live without each
other they, with the help of a Friar,
If you circled yes, what is
develop an incredibly complicated his hamartia (flaw)?
game plan. One thing leads to another,
and Romeo’s consuming love for Juliet
leads to both of their deaths.
 Jay Gatsby
Jay Gatsby is a young and mysterious
millionaire who longs to reunite with a
woman whom he loved when he was a young
man before leaving to fight in World War I.
This woman, Daisy, is married, however, to a
man named Tom Buchanan from a wealthy
old money family. Gatsby organizes his
TRAGIC HERO: entire life around regaining Daisy: he makes
himself rich (through dubious means), he
rents a house directly across a bay from
YES OR NO hers, he throws lavish parties in the hopes
that she will come. The two finally meet
If you circled yes, what again and do begin an affair, but the affair
is his hamartia (flaw)? ends in disaster—with Gatsby getting killed.
Emily webb gibbs

A normal, bright girl very much

aware of her good qualities
from a small New Hampshire
town is the most important
character in Thornton Wilder’s TRAGIC HERO:
Our Town. She lives her whole
life in obscurity doing “the YES OR NO
right thing,” marries the boy
next door and then dies If you circled yes, what is
suddenly in childbirth leaving her hamartia (flaw)?
behind a four-year-old son.
 YOUR TASK:

CHOOSE EXPLAIN SUBMIT

Choose a modern day Write a brief paragraph (4-5
character or celebrity from sentences) explaining how
pop culture who fits the your person fits the tragic
tragic hero archetype hero archetype. Include a
picture!
Spell check your paragraph
and submit to Canvas as a pdf
when finished.