A Number - Genre

Genre

The genre of A Number would be considered a tragedy. The overall mood of tragedies is solemn, and the mood of A Number is certainly that. With the death of half of the characters in the play the mood is very dark. There is an assumed moral code, which is not to tamper with the natural order of things. There is a tragic hero; a tragic hero is “the agent of action of a classic tragedy, characterized by the following: commits an act of shame, is responsible for other people, and goes from good fortune to bad”. Salter is the tragic hero as a father he is responsible for his children and his act of shame is cloning his child, which leads to the production of multiple people that he was not aware of. There is a nemesis, or someone who is seeking revenge. That character is very clearly Bernard (B1) who seeks retribution for the way he was treated as a child and the destruction of his unique identity. There is a scene of suffering; Salter breaks down multiple times throughout the play, the consequences of his decisions coming down on him. If you combine all of these elements it is a formula for a classic tragedy.