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MA English Literature Tragic Hero — practice questions

Explore 2 free Tragic Hero questions in MA English Literature English Literature. Open each question or exercise to read its content, reference answers and available explanation.

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Tragic Hero questions and exercises with answers

Showing questions 1–2 of 2.

Aristotle's ideal tragic protagonist is a man who is:Read the answer and worked solution →Aristotle's distinction between vice/depravity and hamartia matters because:Read the answer and worked solution →

Worked practice questions

Aristotle's ideal tragic protagonist is a man who is:

  1. Not eminently good and just
  2. Wholly virtuous from start to end
  3. Wholly wicked from start to end
  4. A god
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Correct answer: A. Not eminently good and just

1. Aristotle bars the wholly virtuous (shocking, not tragic) and wholly wicked (not tragic). 2. The hero must be capable of arousing pity and fear in the audience. 3. The middle position enables the tragic effect. _Source: Project Gutenberg #1974 — Aristotle's Poetics — "a man who is not eminently good and just"_

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Aristotle's distinction between vice/depravity and hamartia matters because:

  1. Audiences prefer villains
  2. Vice makes for better tragedy
  3. A wholly wicked hero cannot arouse pity and fear
  4. Stage censorship demanded it
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Correct answer: C. A wholly wicked hero cannot arouse pity and fear

1. Aristotle bars the wholly wicked because they cannot generate the proper effect. 2. The audience identifies with the partly-flawed hero in his fall. 3. Hamartia preserves the moral middle ground required for catharsis. _Source: Project Gutenberg #1974 — Aristotle's Poetics — "misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty"_

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