A hero in a Greek play, full of repute and prosperity, realized this "things a tragedy" earlier today when he made a small mistake and an entire Chorus appeared out of nowhere.
Things got really bad when during this Parode they began throwing around terms like “hamartia” to describe the error, and that can never be good.
Finally, when it got to the moment of his reversal, the hero played along and admitted that he was a hubris-filled piece of shit--there! You feel better about yourselves?
The hero still has his fingers crossed that this might be a comedy or at least a Satyr play, but those thoughts were dashed when they began dancing and singing a dithyramb praising the god Dionysus.
Much to the hero's chagrin, the chorus leader stepped forward and began to give a Prologue of sorts. He gave a brief summary and offered important background information, offering a rich sense of spectacle to the moment.
Oh, shit.
When the hero asked him to please stop, half of the members of the chorus began their strophe, commenting on how afraid and scared they are of the gods' wrath.
Please, you're not helping.
The second half of the chorus continued with an antistrophe, revealing possible themes and offering commentary on what they might learn from the hero's fall.
The hero tried to hurry things along with a feigned anagnorisis, or realization that what he did was wrong. But it was no use, this thing would have to play out with several other characters from the hero's family and friend circle coming out to seemingly argue with him. One asshole even began speaking in iambic hexameter.
Dude, I thought you were his friend.
What aroused pity and fear in the hero is less the mystery of what sort of fate may befall him but more that this was really starting to take a long time. If he's as good as dead, what purpose does picking him apart and exposing all his flaws serve?
Finally, when it got to the moment of his reversal, the hero played along and admitted that he was a hubris-filled piece of shit--there! You feel better about yourselves, Chorus? Do you feel that catharsis? Glad you learned something from his suffering, you goddamn leeches.
And so blah, blah, blah, pathos, pathos, pathos, and now the hero has to kill himself or commit some sort of drastic act that will serve as a tragic reminder to the rest of the city that the gods are really powerful, but kind of sick and twisted, too. Yes, humans are mortal and extremely inferior. We get it.
Hmmm, but how to do it? Banishment from the city? Not drastic enough. Gouge out his eyes? Nah, that's already been done. Besides, it's a little too obvious, don't you think?
Maybe sacrifice himself to a Minotaur. Maybe a little too gory.
How about just striking him down with a lighting bolt? No, too easy.
Oh, he's got it. Maybe Athena could just transform him into a spider like Arachne. He could see himself living out his days eating insects and chilling out on some webs in the corner of her temple somewhere.
And just when the hero was about to get to his lowest point, he heard some mechanical whirring when a "god from a machine" unexpectedly appeared out of nowhere, saving him from his tragic fate. Deus ex machina.
Hmmm… really? A little contrived and unoriginal, don't you think?