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Terminology of Tragedy: AP Literature Flashcards

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7848300443anagorismthe moment of recognition in a tragedy/ movement from ignorance or pride to self knowledge0
7848319474areteexcellence particular to one thing1
7848322665catharsisemotional purgation felt by the audience of a tragedy2
7848326995chthonicthe underground world; the subconscious; the mythic dimension; the collective unconscious3
7848335811chorusrepresents the community; plays it safe/the tragic hero is isolated from the community4
7848358120dikethe law of the gods; pure justice; the balance of things5
7848366968erinyesthe furies, female earth-powers who avenge wrongs, especially of innocent women6
7848386827Eudaimoniathe deep happiness that comes from living virtuously and moving toward one's telos throughout life; the happiness that comes from the accumulated momentum of responsible excellence that one has built through living one's life; the richest and happiness possible for a human, attaining profound quantities of internal, external, and narrative goods7
7848427866hamartiathe tragic flaw, usually hubris8
7854254128hubrispride in self that violates the prerogative of the gods; produces incomprehensible nameless suffering9
7854552775lex talionislaw of the talon; i.e.., an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; blood revenge10
7854552776liminalhaving to do with thresholds from one world to another11
7854558820logosthe word; the power of argument and logic and the enfleshment of thought in language12
7854628162physisthe forces of nature; unrestricted passion13
7854633260moiraindividual fate14
7854637704nomoshuman laws instituted by a city; designated distinction between polis and physis15
7854673564ob skenaoff stage; violent events too terrible to look at take place there16
7854677049oikosthe household; center of family17
7854679381ontologythat which questions the meaning or reason for being itself18
7854683009peripeteiathe moment of reversal in a tragedy19
7854686667polisthe good city of man ruled by law20
7854689690sophrosynebalanced in life; the "golden mean," all things in proportion21
7854693408telosthe end toward which community or an individual wishes to go; teleological questions ask "what do we wish as people or as a community to become or accomplish in the end?"22
7854744025themisright balance (connected with nature and linked to ecology)23

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