| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Aristotelian tragedy | A simulation of serious events that are comprehensive, have a certain level of importance and which uses language that would be understandable yet creates emotions for an audience. It is written so that the events occurring have a cause-and-effect chain, leading the audience to be more wary of what is occurring. It is meant to impose questions of what will happen, instead of what did happen. It is made up of six parts: plot, characters, diction, thought, spectacle, and melody. |
| hamartia | Use of faults in the character, that most relates to the audience, causing these fear and pity emotions. The change of a character from good to bad (downfall) depends on a mistake or misjudgement that any human can make. |
| peripeteia | The consequence of a character's action in which was not intended. This is a surprise to the audience, as it was not expected. This would act as the preamble to anagnorisis. |
| anagnorisis | It is defined as a change from the unknown and uninformed to something that is more defined, to fabricate and classify which characters are to be loved or hated; to define who is good or bad. |
| catharsis | At the end of a tragedy, the audience must feel a sense of draining. A tragedy is meant to stimulate feelings of pity and fear in the audience, leaving them at the end of the tragedy with a sense of balance. A tragedy delivers such emotions in order for the audience to contemplate and purge any surplus of pity and fear in their own lives. |
| catastrophe | Straightforward plots will only have a change of fortune; a fortune that is expected. There is no surprise to what will happen to the characters involved in the plot, as it may have already occurred. This also involves the protagonist suffering as a result of the first action. |
Combine with other sets
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