Brutus, Marc Antony declares, was noble and Nature would stand up and tell all, “This was a man!” Octavius orders that Brutus’s body be treated with honor and respect and that all the rites of burial be accorded him.

How does Brutus’s death contribute to the tragic resolution of Julius Caesar? Student responses may include: o Brutus’s death contributes to the tragic resolution of the play because it represents his final recognition and acceptance of defeat.

Brutus’ tragic flaws are part of what makes him a tragic hero. In Julius Caesar, Brutus is a great example of a tragic hero. His tragic flaws are honor, poor judgement, and idealism (Bedell). In Shakespeare’s plays, the tragic hero and his flaws cause the downfall of the play (Tragic Flaws).

The famous Greek philosopher, Aristotle, was the first to record the principle attributes of a tragic hero. Romeo’s flaw is his impulsive nature. He quickly falls in love and gets in fights. The false poison that causes Juliet to appear dead, and the real poison that Romeo drinks to kill himself.

Unities, in drama, the three principles derived by French classicists from Aristotle’s Poetics; they require a play to have a single action represented as occurring in a single place and within the course of a day. These principles were called, respectively, unity of action, unity of place, and unity of time.

The basic structure of a Greek tragedy is fairly simple. After a prologue spoken by one or more characters, the chorus enters, singing and dancing. Scenes then alternate between spoken sections (dialogue between characters, and between characters and chorus) and sung sections (during which the chorus danced).

Terms in this set (5)

• tragic hero. at the center of a tragedy is its hero, the main character, or protagonist.
• tragic flaw. an error in judgement or a weakness in character such as pride or arrogance (helps bring about the hero’s downfall)
• Catastrophe.
• Chorus.
• Central Belief: fate.

Thespis