Year 8

The History of Tragedy

Year 8

The History of Tragedy

warning

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. In this lesson, we will learn about the origins of tragedy in ancient Greece. We will then look at how Shakespeare evolved tragedy in Elizabethan and Jacobean England.

Licence

This content is made available by Oak National Academy Limited and its partners and licensed under Oak’s terms & conditions (Collection 1), except where otherwise stated.

Loading...

5 Questions

Q1.
What happens in a tragedy?
Correct answer: A character who is respected or admired dies at the end
A story lasts for 7 days
There is a big festival
There is a god called Dionysus
Q2.
What was Dionysia
Correct answer: A festival that included plays and other things to celebrate the god Dioysus
A type of wine in Athens
The name of a Greek playwright
The prize for writing a good play
Q3.
Which of the following was NOT one of Aristotle's three unities?
Action
Correct answer: Light
Place
Time
Q4.
What is catharsis?
Correct answer: A feeling of being cleansed of strong emotion
Being happy at the end of a story
Fear
Sadness
Q5.
Which statement is true?
Shakespeare didn't write any tragedies.
Correct answer: Shakespeare updated his tragedies to fit the interests of his audience.
Shakespeare's tragedies were exactly the same as Greek tragedies.
The Greeks watched Shakespeare's tragedies and copied them.