English Language
Arts 12
October 1-2, 2014
Bellringer
• In your NOTEBOOK, write today’s date and
answer the following question. (3 points)
What is evil? How can it be defined? Why
do we have it?
Reading Workshop
20-25 minutes
• Remember: You need to be reading. Not talking, doing
homework, goofing off, sleeping, distracting others, etc.
You may listen to music as long as it is kept quiet and
kept in your pocket.
• You receive 5 pts. for being present and on-task during
Reading Workshop.
Reading Log
• REMEMBER YOU ARE NOW COMPLETING YOUR READING
RESPONSES ONLINE.
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Go to your Google Folder for this class.
Create a new document
Title your document with today’s date (9/25)
Begin your response
• THINGS I WILL BE GRADING ON IN YOUR RESPONSES
• Responses are AT LEAST ½ page (you can double space) with few to
no grammar, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation errors.
• Responses have stated the title of the book and summarized what
you read.
• Responses have a discussion about what you read that begins with a
stem.
• Responses have textual evidence in the discussion (properly cited), to
strengthen your discussion.
Lesson Overview
What is a tragic hero and how do I
know who they are?
Lesson Objectives
• Students will be able to define
tragic hero, list tragic heroes from
works of literature and from film
and television, and take away the
effects of a tragic hero in plot.
Essential Questions
• 1. How do we know what a character’s
tragic flaw is?
• 2. Can you distinguish a flawed character
from a character who is misfortune?
• 3. Who is the hero and who is the villain in
the work of literature?
• 4. How is a tragic hero different than an
antihero?
Mini Lesson
• Does anyone have prior
knowledge and know what a
tragic hero is, or do you have a
guess or list of this type of
character?
Mini Lesson
The great philosopher Aristotle first defined the ill-fated
protagonist as a tragic hero. Aristotle suggested that a hero
of a tragedy must evoke in the audience a sense of pity or
fear, and that the tragic hero has to be a man whose
misfortune is brought about, not by vice or depravity, but
by some error or fate. To this day, literature is inundated
with the use of this type of protagonist which is better
known as:
A Tragic Hero
Mini Lesson
• Tragic Hero-usually a person of
noble birth with heroic, or
potentially heroic qualities. This
person is fated by the Gods, or by
some supernatural force, to doom
and destruction, or at least to
great suffering.
Mini Lesson
• Think of characters from movies, TV, and
literature that you think would fall in the
“tragic hero” category and make a list.
• Share with your table your list of tragic
heroes.
• What attributes define a tragic hero?
Examples of Tragic Heroes
• Oedipus (cursed to marry his mother and kill his
father)
• Achilles
• Snape and Sirius Black (Harry Potter)
• Theoden (Lord of the Rings)
• Harvey Dent/Two-Face (The Dark Knight)
• Dr. House (House)
• Stefan (The Vampire Diaries)
• Anakin Skywalker
Mini Lesson
• Aristotle’s principles of Tragic Hero:
• Hamartia: The flaw that causes the downfall
• Hubris: Extreme Pride
• Peripeteia: Reversal of fortune
• Anagnorisis: When the hero makes a critical
discovery
• Nemesis: Fate that cannot be reversed
• Catharsis: Tone (Pity or Fear) the audience is
left with after the hero’s fall.
Mini Lesson
• “Aristotles Principles of Tragic Hero
Template” (handout)
• Fill out and keep track of the attributes
which make the protagonist of Grendel
a tragic hero by writing in the answers
on the template.
Writing Workshop
• 1. How do we know what a character’s
tragic flaw is?
• 2. Can you distinguish a flawed character
from a character who is misfortune?
• 3. Who is the hero and who is the villain in
the work of literature?
• 4. How is a tragic hero different than an
antihero?
Review
• Discuss chapter 4 of Grendel.
Homework
• None