Shakespeare’s Tragedies

A tragedy is a narrative about serious and important actions that end unhappily. Usually a tragedy ends with
the deaths of the main characters. In some tragedies the disaster hits totally innocent characters; in others the
main characters are in some ways responsible for their downfall.

Shakespeare’s tragic plays usually follow this five-part pattern:

Act III: Crisis, turning point (1st Climax)

Act II: Rising action (complications) Act IV: Falling Action

Act I: Exposition Act V: (2nd) Climax and resolution

1. The exposition establishes the setting, introduces some of the main characters, explains background,
and introduces the characters’ main conflict.
2. The rising action consists of a series of complications. These occur as the main characters take action to
resolve their problems.
3. The crisis, or turning point, is the moment when a choice made by the main characters determines the
direction of the action: upward to a happy ending, which would be a comedy, or downward to tragedy.
This turning point is the dramatic and tense moment when the forces of conflict come together. Look
for the turning point in Act III.
4. The falling action present events that result from the action taken at the turning point. These events
usually lock the characters deeper and deeper into disaster; with each event we see the characters
falling straight into tragedy.
5. The final and greatest climax occurs at the end of the play—usually, in tragedy, with the deaths of the
main characters. In the resolution (or denouement) the loose parts of the plot are all tied up. The play
is over.

Note: A climax usually has three elements. The most important element is that the protagonist experiences a
change. The main character discovers something about himself or herself, and another unknown character.
The last element is revealing the theme itself.