In a formal Tragedy, there is a specific scene where the Tragic Hero is given a clear choice, and they choose wrongly. Often this wrong choice can be blamed on the hero's Fatal Flaw, but sometimes they just get screwed over by fate. (Classic Greek theater liked to give their tragic heroes dilemmas with no correct choice.) The literary term for this is hamartia, a Greek term from Aristotle's Poetics (and an admittedly vaguely-defined one--it can also be interpreted as a Fatal Flaw). Which also means this device is Older Than Feudalism. Examples of Tragic Mistake include: