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While there is some doubt surrounding it, William Shakespeare is credited with writing 37 plays and over 150 sonnets. His plays can be classified as Histories, Comedies or Tragedies
Henry IV, Part 1
Henry IV, Part 2
Henry V
Henry VI, Part 1
Henry VI, Part 2
Henry VI, Part 3
Henry VIII
King John
Pericles
Richard II
Richard III
All's Well That Ends Well
As You Like It
Comedy of Errors
Love's Labour's Lost
Measure for Measure
Merchant of Venice
Merry Wives of Windsor
Midsummer Night's Dream
Taming of the Shrew
The Tempest
Twelfth Night
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Winter's Tale
Anthony and Cleopatra
Coriolanus
Cymbeline
Hamlet
Julius Caesar
King Lear
Macbeth
Othello
Romeo and Juliet
Timon of Athens
Titus Andronicus
Triolus and Cressida
Shakespeare's Tragedies adhere to a Plot Structure that is not too different from Freytag's pyramid.
The exposition reveals the setting (time and place) and sometimes highlights a theme. It also has the important function of providing the appropraite mood and atmosphere for the play and can serve as a "hook" to engage the audience. Shakespeare rarely introduces his tragic figure at this stage
the feuding street fight between the Capulets and the Montagues
Romeo is sad about Rosaline
Juliet is told he is marrying Paris. This gives us a sense of time and place and shows the wealth/status of the Capulets.
An incident occurs that introduces the conflict and sets in motion the rising action of the play
Romeo meets Juliet and forgets all about Rosaline
Hamartia translates to "errors in judgement." It is slightly different than a tragic flaw, but the hero's flaw is what leads to the lapse in judgement. Hamartia is directly responsible for for the hero's downfall and leads to the catastrophe of the play.
At this point, the protagonist still seems to control his/her fate.
Romeo's impetuous rush to marry Juliet fails to consider the consequences of marrying a member of his family's bitter rivals.
This is the turning point in the fortunes of the tragic hero, the consequence of hamartia serving to compound the situation.
After the crisis, the tragic hero seems more controlled by events than in control of them. The situation is a direct ressult of his/her previous actions.
Tybalt kills Mercutio
Romeo kills Tybalt
Following closely after the crisis, the incident intensifies the downfall of the tragic hero and sets in motion the falling action, or denouement, of the play.
Juliet is "dead" (at least that's what Romeo believes)
Romeo gets poison from the Apothecary
For a brief moment, it appears as if the protagonist will actually escape his or her tragic downfall after all.
Romeo notices that Juliet is "lifelike"/her beauty is unchanged after "death."
The death of the protagonist. All of Shakespeare's tragic figures die - their deaths serving as a note of finality to his tragic plays.
Romeo and Juliet both die
Shakespeare's tragedies never end with the death of the protagonist. There is always the introduction of a new social order, a new harmony in society. For this reason, they are not considered nihilistic or depressing
The Montagues and Capulets end their feud and promise to erect statues of their children in memorial.