[untitled worksheet]

Target Language or Knowledge:

In Greek tragedy the tragic situation, in which the characters find themselves, is always a situation in which man seems to be deprived of all outward help and is forced to rely entirely on himself. It is a situation of extraordinary tension, of utmost conflict. Studying the plots of a number of Greek tragedies, one can find variations of two basic tragic situations: First there is the case of man's miscalculation of reality which brings about the fatal situation. The second kind of tragic situation is that of man between two conflicting principles. The protagonist is suddenly put at the crossing point of two duties, both of which claim fulfilment. This is the most compelling tragic situation and is at the game time the one that has most often been chosen by the Greek dramatists.

tragic characters situation to outward rely is tension the of find tragic the of the kind that conflicting suddenly point which the and time most Greek

What are the two tragic situations faced by the hero in a Greek tragedy?