History MoralEventHorizon / Theatre

* The blinding of Gloucester possibly marks Goneril's and Regan's crossing in ''Theatre/KingLear'', if their treatment of their father hasn't already done it for them.
* Claudius' murder of his brother in ''{{Hamlet}}''.
* In ''Theatre/TitusAndronicus'', Tamora, Demetrius, Chiron and Aaron all cross the MEH with Lavinia's rape and mutilation, and debatably Titus himself when he induces Tamora to eat her sons.
* Iago's MEH in ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'' is the enactment of his plan to ruin Othello.

* [[spoiler: Joe Keller]] of AllMySons has to qualify for this in some measure. Yeah, people might have been shopping faulty parts to the military in WorldWarII for the contract money, but [[spoiler: Joe not only did it knowingly, he then pinned the crime on Steve Deever, ''his best friend'' and business partner, by pretending he had been sick the day the parts were shipped out when his greed gets ''21 pilots'' killed. Said friend gets life in prison and Joe gets off, retaining the parts business for himself]]. Not only this but [[spoiler: it also causes Steve's own family to turn against him]], and [[spoiler: Joe]] has no problem with letting everyone believe [[spoiler: he was both a hero who uncovered Steve's incompetence and an innocent victim who had conveniently been sick at home when he ''wasn't''.]] And he allows this to go on for ''years''. Then when the truth comes out, he's not very remorseful about it and tries to justify his actions and get out of it as being "for the family" and that [[SocietyIsToBlame lots of others were doing it at the time]], so if [[spoiler: his son Chris]] was going to turn him to the police he might as well turn over ''everyone else'' who did it. ''Then'', when it's revealed that his actions [[spoiler: caused Larry, his other son, to ''[[KilledOffForReal kill himself]]'' because he couldn't have the shame of what his father did]], he goes into the house as if to get his coat so he can be taken into the police to atone for what he did...[[spoiler: where he promptly [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled shoots himself in the head]] ''just so he wouldn't have to go to jail'' and be exposed for what he did, or have to deal with the fact his son's death was his fault]].

* Iago's MEH in ''{{Othello}}'' is the enactment of his plan to ruin Othello.

* The blinding of Gloucester possibly marks Goneril's and Regan's crossing in ''{{King Lear}}'', if their treatment of their father hasn't already done it for them.

* In ''{{Titus Andronicus}}'', Tamora, Demetrius, Chiron and Aaron all cross the MEH with Lavinia's rape and mutilation, and debatably Titus himself when he induces Tamora to eat her sons.

* [[JerkassGods Hera]] crosses it in ''[[{{Creator/Euripides}} Herakles Mad]]'' when she fills the title character, who has just defeated a CompleteMonster tyrant, with a homicidal rage simply because he's one of Zeus' bar sinisters.

* The blinding of Gloucester possibly marks Goneril and Regan's crossing in ''[[King Lear]]'', if their treatment of their father hasn't already done it for them.
* Claudius' murder of his brother in ''[[Hamlet]]''.
* In ''[[Titus Andronicus]]'', Tamora, Demetrius, Chiron and Aaron all cross the MEH with Lavinia's rape and mutilation, and debatably Titus himself when he induces Tamora to eat her sons.
* Iago's MEH in ''[[Othello]]'' is the enactment of his plan to ruin Othello.

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* [[JerkassGods Hera]] crosses it in ''[[((Creator/Euripides}} Herakles Mad]]'' when she fills the title character, who has just defeated a CompleteMonster tyrant, with a homicidal rage simply because he's one of Zeus' bar sinisters.

* In ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'', at least as far as Elphaba was concerned, the Wizard crossed the horizon when he broke Professor Dillamond's will, turning him from a respected professor into a mindless animal. For Mrs. Morrible, the horizon mark came when she created the cyclone that brought Dorothy to Oz(and killed Elphaba's sister Nessarosa). Interestingly enough, once Glinda takes the reins of government, she is willing to simply exile the Wizard from Oz, but has Morrible sent to prison.
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* Similarly, Theatre/RichardIII probably hit it when he had the princes drowned.

** It should probably be noted, though, that most of these (aside from murdering her brother) weren't included in the story until Euripides introduced the idea that she murdered her children. Up until that point, she was more of a deeply flawed WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, since Jason ''was'' kind of a bastard to her.

* [[spoiler: Joe Keller]] of AllMySons has to qualify for this in some measure.
** To put it in perspective: yeah, people might have been shopping faulty parts to the military in WorldWarII for the contract money, but [[spoiler: Joe not only did it knowingly, he then pinned the crime on Steve Deever, ''his best friend'' and business partner, by pretending he had been sick the day the parts were shipped out when his greed gets ''21 pilots'' killed. Said friend gets life in prison and Joe gets off, retaining the parts business for himself]]. Not only this but [[spoiler: it also causes Steve's own family to turn against him]], and [[spoiler: Joe]] has no problem with letting everyone believe [[spoiler: he was both a hero who uncovered Steve's incompetence and an innocent victim who had conveniently been sick at home when he ''wasn't''.]] And he allows this to go on for ''years''. Then when the truth comes out, he's not very remorseful about it and tries to justify his actions and get out of it as being "for the family" and that [[SocietyIsToBlame lots of others were doing it at the time]], so if [[spoiler: his son Chris]] was going to turn him to the police he might as well turn over ''everyone else'' who did it. ''Then'', when it's revealed that his actions [[spoiler: caused Larry, his other son, to ''[[KilledOffForReal kill himself]]'' because he couldn't have the shame of what his father did]], he goes into the house as if to get his coat so he can be taken into the police to atone for what he did...[[spoiler: where he promptly [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled shoots himself in the head]] ''just so he wouldn't have to go to jail'' and be exposed for what he did, or have to deal with the fact his son's death was his fault]].

[[quoteright:292:[[{{Macbeth}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/macbeth_1330.gif]]]]

* The titular character in {{Macbeth}} (the play for which the page image is an illustration) reaches this point when [[spoiler:he has Macduff's family, including the kids, murdered.]]

* Similarly, RichardIII probably hit it when he had the princes drowned.

* [[spoiler: Joe Keller]] of AllMySons has to qualify for this in some measure, though YourMileageMayVary.

* Hard to decide when [[CompleteMonster Rotti]] [[RetiredMonster Largo]] crosses the line in {{Repo! The Genetic Opera}}, but between [[Spoiler: Poisoning Marni and convincing Nathan it was his own ineptitude, turning Nathan himself into a TragicVillain, pressing Mag into white slavery and then murdering her when she shows defiance, grooming Shilo as the next head of [[CloudCuckooLand Geneco]]]]. it must have happened somewhere along the way. Even compared to [[CrapSackWorld the every day evils of the population]] he is beyond redemption, especially when you realize the odds of Largo being responsible for ThePlague that caused mass organ failure [[FridgeLogic was probably something he cooked up, too]]

* Greek tragedy has a term for this event: Harmatia. It's the act the Tragic Hero performs, usually motivated by his "hubris" (Tragic Flaw), that starts the tragedy down the path of no return. Normally this is some kind of offense against the gods or against the natural order: a murder, an act of blasphemy, a rashly-taken oath, etc. But once committed, it can't be undone. The Tragic Hero and every character around him is doomed, no matter how hard they try to escape their fate.

* The eponymous man in ''PhantomOfTheOpera'' crosses the MEH when he [[spoiler: ties Raoul to a noose and forces a SadisticChoice on Christine; either confessing love for the Phantom and buying Raoul's freedom, or confessing love for Raoul and watching him die.]] {{Lampshaded}} in Christine's song lyrics: "The tears I might have shed for your dark fate, grow cold and turn to tears of hate!"

* The eponymous man in ''PhantomOfTheOpera'' crosses the MEH when he [[spoiler: ties Raoul to a noose and forces a SadisticChoice on Christine; either confessing love for the Phantom and buying Raoul's freedom, or confessing love for Raoul and watching him die.]] {{Lampshaded}} in Christine's song lyrics: "The tears I might have shed for pity, turn to tears of hate!"

* The titular character in {{Macbeth}} reaches this point when [[spoiler: he has Macduff's family, including the kids, murdered.]]

* The titular character in {{Macbeth}} reaches this point when [[spoiler: he has Macduff's family, including the kids, murdered.]]

* The eponymous man in ''PhantomOfTheOpera'' crosses the MEH when he [[spoiler: ties Raoul to a noose and forces a SadisticChoice on Christine; either confessing love for the Phantom and buying Raoul's freedom, or confessing love for Raoul and watching him die.]] {{Lampshaded}} in Christine's song lyrics: "The tears I might have shed for pity, turn to tears of hate!"

** To put it in perspective: yeah, people might have been shopping faulty parts to the military in WorldWarII for the contract money, but [[spoiler: Joe not only did it knowingly, he then pinned the crime on Steve Deever, ''his best friend'' and business partner, by pretending he had been sick the day the parts were shipped out when his greed gets ''21 pilots'' killed. Said friend gets life in prison and Joe gets off, retaining the parts business for himself]]. Not only this but [[spoiler: it also causes Steve's own family to turn against him]], and [[spoiler: Joe]] has no problem with letting everyone believe [[spoiler: he was both a hero who uncovered Steve's incompetence and an innocent victim who had conveniently been sick at home when he ''wasn't''.]] And he allows this to go on for ''years''. Then when the truth comes out, he's not very remorseful about it and tries to justify his actions and get out of it as being "for the family" and that [[SocietyIsToBlame lots of others were doing it at the time]], so if [[spoiler: his son Chris]] was going to turn him to the police he might as well turn over ''everyone else'' who did it. ''Then'', when it's revealed that his actions [[spoiler: caused Larry, his other son, to ''[[KilledOffForReal kill himself]]'' because he couldn't have the shame of what his father did]], he goes into the house as if to get his coat so he can be taken into the police to atone for what he did...[[spoiler: where he promptly [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled shoots himself in the head]] ''just so he wouldn't have to go to jail'' and be exposed for what he did, or have to deal with the fact his son's death was his fault]].

* [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Caldwell B. Cladwell]] crosses this when he orders Bobby Strong to be sent to {{Urinetown}}, [[spoiler: which is actually being thrown off Cladwell Column,]] knowing full well that his daughter will probably be killed by the rebels. NecessarilyEvil or not, that was just unpardonable

** Though that only happens in the myth. In the play her MoralEventHorizon is stabbing her two children ''purely'' because she it will hurt Jason. This is after she kills his wife by lighting her on fire with magic poison. Oh, and then she [[KarmaHoudini sails off to Athens under the aegis of the king]].