For our introductory session on the play ,Hamlet, we first examined Aristotle's traditional framework for tragedy: a noble character, a flaw or hamartia, a reversal of fortune or peripeteia , and last catharsis. We then reviewed the distinction between an aside and a soliloquy as well as the historical basis for the story of Hamlet. Last, we discussed the purpose of a foil . I identified the three foil characters and discussed how the foil characters act as contrasts to the protagonist thus elucidating character.