Name: _______________________
English 12
Tragic Hero Characteristics
A tragic hero
Write excerpt that shows characteristic
line #s
Oed: “But the blinding hand was my own! / How
could I bear to see… “
(l. 12901291)
1) goes from prosperity
to woe
2) has self-inflicted pain
3) expresses self even
though he must suffer for
his self-assertion
4) admits defying code
5) becomes irrational at
times
6) sets himself among
cosmic powers
7) knows what he will
suffer
8) has a moral or an
intellectual flaw
9) is struck down by self
10) has misfortunes
coming from outside
forces that are endured
11) has good intentions
12) runs into irony
13) has the quality of
hubris (arrogance or
conceit from an
overabundance of pride;
blind to reality)
Documenting Lines from the Play
In this case, since we are working with only one play, you should document with line numbers in the
parentheses:
“Why think of him?/ Forget this herdsman. Forget it all./ This talk is a waste of time” (l. 1001-1003).
Because the play is numbered continuously through the different episodes, you do not have to indicate in
which “scene” the lines occur. Counting lines is a bit difficult. Not every line counts as one. If a line stops
short and the next line picks up where it stopped, that counts as one line. Use the guide numbers to help
you decipher which lines you are working with.
Note that you indicate line breaks in the play with “/.”