The Descent into Madness:
A Comprehensive Examination of The Tragic Hero
Focus Texts: Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, T.S. Elliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” Arthur Miller’s “Tragedy and the Common Man,” and Robert Warshow’s “The Gangster as Tragic Hero”
Essential Questions:
1. How do multiple authors examine the Aristotelean tragic hero?
2. How does an “anti-hero” descend into madness as exemplified in various genres?
A. Opening Assignment: Heart of Darkness Literature Circles
Complete one of the snapshot activities.
B. Distribute take-home test for Heart of Darkness.
C. Begin reading Act III of Hamlet.
D. Closing: Discuss what we have read.
A Comprehensive Examination of The Tragic Hero
Focus Texts: Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, T.S. Elliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” Arthur Miller’s “Tragedy and the Common Man,” and Robert Warshow’s “The Gangster as Tragic Hero”
Essential Questions:
1. How do multiple authors examine the Aristotelean tragic hero?
2. How does an “anti-hero” descend into madness as exemplified in various genres?
A. Opening Assignment: Heart of Darkness Literature Circles
Complete one of the snapshot activities.
B. Distribute take-home test for Heart of Darkness.
C. Begin reading Act III of Hamlet.
D. Closing: Discuss what we have read.