A tragic hero can be defined simply as the protagonist of a tragedy. The Greek philosopher Aristotle, however, endowed this individual with a number of specific characteristics. The first of which is his ability to evoke fear and pity from an audience.
Earthquakes are caused by either volcanic activity or shifting of massive tectonic plates underneath the surface of the earth. The plates have a ton of pressure and are pressing against each other, and when the plates suddenly shift it causes the entire ground to move, shake or break apart.
1 Earthquakes 1.1 What happens during an earthquake? The Earth is an active planet, with activity occurring in the oceans, in the atmosphere and in the solid Earth itself. This course looks at a dramatic example of solid Earth activity: earthquakes. You probably have some idea from newspapers, television or perhaps personal experience, of just how powerful earthquakes can be. In a matter of minutes earthquakes have devastated cities and killed a quarter of a million people. I was in only a medium-sized earthquake in 1978, but even that had the power to throw me out of bed onto the floor and make the building sway from side to side; an awesome experience.