The expectation of the ability of good to triumph over evil is so ingrained in our collective consciousness that for a story to end in a righteous character’s failure often comes as a shock to the audience. This is an important thing to understand if one wishes to tell a tragic story. The tragedy in these cases revolves around a powerful moral conflict between the character and the world he lives in, which he fails to properly identify. If you recall from our earlier discussion of the Conflict of Ideals, this is not necessarily a matter of good vs. evil, but of what is “right” to the character
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