No matter what they were named, William Shakespeare’s plays would still be great works of art, so it may not matter what we call them. Generally though, Shakespeare wrote three types of plays: Tragedy, Comedy, and History. These names help us understand the archetypes of a play and better analyze its events. After all, The Comedy of Romeo and Juliet would be a very different play from The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Perhaps it would be a farce about two star-crossed lovers, doomed to suffer humorous mistakes of identity and bumbling servants. It wouldn’t be the story of woe we are all so familiar with.
It fascinates us to watch people fail. Perhaps this is what makes a tragic hero so captivating and relatable. Tragic heroes can be seen in television, film, and literature. It is critical to define this archetype and to understand how they affect a plot. By using storyboards, students create a fun and interactive way to internalize the concept, and build a framework to spot the tragic heroes throughout literature.
The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is about two star-crossed lovers from feuding families, who take their own lives. Through a series of unfortunate events, fate and chance turn against the lovers. Romeo, a Montague, and Juliet, a Capulet, marry in secret, but are soon separated. The two die tragically in one of the most famous examples of dramatic irony.
