In the Poetics, Aristotle used the same analytical methods that he had successfully applied in studies of politics, ethics, and the natural sciences in order to determine tragedy's fundamental principles of composition and content. It has become the … For the deed must either be done or not done—and that wittingly or unwittingly. For a thing whose presence or absence makes no visible difference, is not an organic part of the whole. It should, moreover, imitate actions which excite pity and fear, this being the distinctive mark of tragic imitation. Tragedy is not an imitation of people, Aristotle says, “but of actions and of life.” People are either admirable or inferior, but their fortune and whether it is good or bad is based on “how they fare.” Tragedy, indeed, is the major concern of the Poetics, as it has come down to us. So again with indifferent persons. Of all plots and actions the episodic are the worst. Within the action there must be nothing irrational. Thus, it is an imitation of action and life, of happiness and misery. Now character determines men’s qualities, but it is by their actions that they are happy or the reverse. I. Several of Aristotle's main points are of great value for an understanding of Greek tragic drama. The purpose of action in the tragedy, therefore, is not the representation of character: character comes in as contributing to the action. Even a woman may be good, and also a slave; though the woman may be said to be an inferior being, and the slave quite worthless. This copy was laid out in lecture note form. Every tragedy, Aristotle repeats, has spectacle, character, plot, diction, lyric poetry, and reasoning; however, plot is the most important component part. It contains much valuable information about the origins, methods, and purposes of tragedy, and to a degree shows us how the Greeks themselves reacted to their theater. There is a type of manly valor; but valor in a woman, or unscrupulous cleverness is inappropriate. Immanuel Kant – On the Aesthetic Taste. This approach is not completely suited to a literary study and is sometimes too artificial or formula-prone in its conclusions. Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions. Of the poetry which imitates in hexameter verse, and of Comedy, we will speak hereafter. Poetics. It is shocking without being tragic, for no disaster follows It is, therefore, never, or very rarely, found in poetry. “For Tragedy is an imitation, not of men, but of an action and of life, and life consists in action, and its end is a mode of action, not a quality.”. This chapter turns to Aristotle’s discussion of tragedy and narrative in the Poetics. The story should never be … Aristotle goes on to discuss the structure of the ideal tragic plot and spends several chapters on its requirements. Again, if you string together a set of speeches expressive of character, and well finished in point of diction and thought, you will not produce the essential tragic effect nearly so well as with a play which, however deficient in these respects, yet has a plot and artistically constructed incidents. Tragedy is considered by Aristotle to be a higher form than the heroic or epic form of poetry, because it was a later development. Selected Readings from Aristotle's Categories, 12. So too the poet, in representing men who are irascible or indolent, or have other defects of character, should preserve the type and yet ennoble it. We may instance the statue of Mitys at Argos, which fell upon his murderer while he was a spectator at a festival, and killed him. Definition of Tragedy (From the Poetics of Aristotle [384-322 BC]) "Tragedy, then, is a process of imitating an action which has serious implications, is Part VI. But when the tragic incident occurs between those who are near or dear to one another—if, for example, a brother kills, or intends to kill, a brother, a son his father, a mother her son, a son his mother, or any other deed of the kind is done—these are the situations to be looked for by the poet. Let us explain more clearly what is meant by skilful handling. The next and better way is that the deed should be perpetrated. Comedy, on the other hand, shows a 'lower type' of person, and reveals humans to be worse than they are in average. Nella Poetica, Aristotele riprende le antiche teorie sulla tragedia focalizzando l'attenzione su due concetti: quello di mìmesis (imitazione) e di kàtharsis (purificazione). Again, since Tragedy is an imitation of persons who are above the common level, the example of good portrait painters should be followed. Plot, character, and speech are the most important principles of Aristotelian tragedy: the plot must be the story of a hero’s fall from fortune to misfortune, an material. Plot, character, and speech are the most important principles of Aristotelian tragedy: the plot must be the story of a hero’s fall from fortune to misfortune, an Tragedy (from the Greek: τραγῳδία, tragōidia) is a form of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. But again, Tragedy is an imitation not only of a complete action, but of events inspiring fear or pity. These then are rules the poet should observe. An end, on the contrary, is that which itself naturally follows some other thing, either by necessity, or as a rule, but has nothing following it. Aristotle says that "pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune, fear by the misfortune of a man like ourselves." The particular is—for example—what Alcibiades did or suffered. And even if he chances to take a historical subject, he is none the less a poet; for there is no reason why some events that have actually happened should not conform to the law of the probable and possible, and in virtue of that quality in them he is their poet or maker. . For Tragedy is an imitation, not of men, but of an action and of life, and life consists in action, and its end is a mode of action, not a quality. It is proper rather to Comedy, where those who, in the piece, are the deadliest enemies—like Orestes and Aegisthus—quit the stage as friends at the close, and no one slays or is slain. Aristotle's "Poetics" is a 26-chapter guidebook on writing epics, tragedies and comedies. Speeches, therefore, which do not make this manifest, or in which the speaker does not choose or avoid anything whatever, are not expressive of character. Since the aim of a tragedy is to arouse pity and fear through an alteration in the status of the central character, he must be a figure with whom the audience can identify and whose fate can trigger these emotions. Slave and Master Morality (From Chapter IX of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil), 36. However, overemphasis on a search for the decisive flaw in the protagonist as the key factor for understanding the tragedy can lead to superficial or false interpretations. LOGOS: Critical Thinking, Arguments, and Fallacies, 2. Let us now discuss Tragedy, resuming its formal definition, as resulting from what has been already said. Aristotle defends the purgative power of tragedy and, in direct contradiction to Plato, makes moral ambiguity the … So in the Iphigenia, the sister recognizes the brother just in time. By the universal I mean how a person of a certain type on occasion speak or act, according to the law of probability or necessity; and it is this universality at which poetry aims in the names she attaches to the personages. “A likely impossibility is always preferable to an unconvincing possibility. bookmarked pages associated with this title. © 2020 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The plot, then, is the first principle, and, as it were, the soul of a tragedy: character holds the second place. https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/classicreadings/, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Previous Such an event, therefore, will be neither pitiful nor terrible. And to define the matter roughly, we may say that the proper magnitude is comprised within such limits, that the sequence of events, according to the law of probability or necessity, will admit of a change from bad fortune to good, or from good fortune to bad. In this way Achilles is portrayed by Agathon and Homer. Such is the irrational element the Oedipus of Sophocles. The tragic wonder will then be greater than if they happened of themselves or by accident; for even coincidences are most striking when they have an air of design. The pleasure, however, thence derived is not the true tragic pleasure. a man who is highly renowned and prosperous, but one who is not pre-eminently virtuous and just, whose misfortune, however, is brought upon him not by vice or depravity but by some error of judgment or frailty; a personage like Oedipus. He says that poetic mimesis is imitation of things as they could be, not as they are — for example, of universals and ideals — thus poetry is a more philosophical and exalted medium than history, which merely records what has actually happened. For infinitely various are the incidents in one man’s life which cannot be reduced to unity; and so, too, there are many actions of one man out of which we cannot make one action. Again in the Helle, the son recognizes the mother when on the point of giving her up. Nonetheless, the Poetics is the only critical study of Greek drama to have been made by a near-contemporary. In his Poetics, Aristotle projected the theory of Catharsis as a reply to Plato’s objections to the tragedy. First, and most important, it must be good. John Stuart Mill – On The Equality of Women, 58. This catharsis is brought about by witnessing some disastrous and moving change in the fortunes of the drama's protagonist (Aristotle recognized that the change might not be disastrous, but felt this was the kind shown in the best tragedies — Oedipus at Colonus, for example, was considered a tragedy by the Greeks but does not have an unhappy ending). Now character determines men's qualities, but it is their action that makes them happy or wretched. Nor, again, can one of vast size be beautiful; for as the eye cannot take it all in at once, the unity and sense of the whole is lost for the spectator; as for instance if there were one a thousand miles long. Poetics is the earliest known work of literary criticism. An Introduction to Western Epistemology, 33. Removing #book# Definition Tragedy = A drama in which the protagonist dies or is utterly defeated. The plot is intended to illustrate matters of cosmic rather than individual significance, and the protagonist is viewed primarily as the character who experiences the changes that take place. He must be one who is highly renowned and prosperous—a personage like Oedipus, Thyestes, or other illustrious men of such families. In the Poetics, Aristotle's famous study of Greek dramatic art, Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) Character is that which reveals moral purpose, showing what kind of things a man chooses or avoids. Again, a beautiful object, whether it be a living organism or any whole composed of parts, must not only have an orderly arrangement of parts, but must also be of a certain magnitude; for beauty depends on magnitude and order. It is, moreover, evident from what has been said, that it is not the function of the poet to relate what has happened, but what may happen—what is possible according to the law of probability or necessity. The fourth case] is when some one is about to do an irreparable deed through ignorance, and makes the discovery before it is done. In short, Aristotle defines tragedy as imitation of a noble and complete action, representing pitiable and fearful incidents. The work of Herodotus might be put into verse, and it would still be a species of history, with meter no less than without it. Harmartia would thus be the factor that delimits the protagonist's imperfection and keeps him on a human plane, making it possible for the audience to sympathize with him. Nel mondo greco, è la purificazione dell'anima dagli impulsi irrazionali e dalle passioni. It is thus too that Euripides makes Medea slay her children. . Selections from the Poetics of Aristotle Translated by S. H. Butcher . Most of the Poetics is devoted to analysis of the scope and proper use of these elements, with illustrative examples selected from many tragic dramas, especially those of Sophocles, although Aeschylus, Euripides, and some playwrights whose works no longer survive are also cited. A further proof is, that novices in the art attain to finish of diction and precision of portraiture before they can construct the plot. Plots, therefore, constructed on these principles are necessarily the best. The true difference is that one relates what has happened, the other what may happen. Content wise, I think this book is great, but it was just so very boring! Jeff McLaughlin. Aristotle mentions two features of the plot, both of which are related to the concept of harmartia, as crucial components of any well-made tragedy. One instance, however, is in the Antigone, where Haemon threatens to kill Creon. A well-constructed plot should, therefore, be single in its issue, rather than double as some maintain. English. A beginning is that which does not itself follow anything by causal necessity, but after which something naturally is or comes to be. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. It examines how the public, performed aspect of tragedy and witnessing tragedy as a political community are significant for the body politic. Plato – On the Value of Art and Imitation, 68. Besides which, the most powerful elements of emotional interest in Tragedy—Peripeteia or Reversal of the Situation, and Recognition scenes—are parts of the plot. He defines trag edy as "the im itation o f an action that is serious and also as hav ing magnitude, complete in itself." According to Aristotle, tragedy came from the efforts of poets to present men as 'nobler,' or 'better' than they are in real life. This passage reflects Aristotle’s argument that catharsis is a key element of tragedy, and that tragedy must elicit feelings of fear and pity specifically, as compared to any other emotion. compares tragedy to such other metrical forms as comedy and epic. A well constructed plot, therefore, must neither begin nor end at haphazard, but conform to these principles. His first Titanic-sized mistake was equating poetry to science. The aim of tragedy, Aristotle writes, is to bring about a "catharsis" of the spectators — to arouse in them sensations of pity and fear, and to purge them of these emotions so that they leave the theater feeling cleansed and uplifted, with a heightened understanding of the ways of gods and men. It was not art, but happy chance, that led the poets in search of subjects to impress the tragic quality upon their plots. 1 Reading: A Brief Summary of Aristotle’s “Poetics” Aristotle opens the Poetics by defining poetry as Mimesis or imitation. III”. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsis, or a "pain [that] awakens pleasure", for the audience. ― Aristotle, Poetics. In addition, the hero should not offend the moral sensibilities of the spectators, and as a character he must be true to type, true to life, and consistent. Fear and pity may be aroused by spectacular means; but they may also result from the inner structure of the piece, which is the better way, and indicates a superior poet. They, while reproducing the distinctive form of the original, make a likeness which is true to life and yet more beautiful. Aristotle gives his views on tragedy, the plot, the characters and the content, and then it is compared to epic poetry. The most beautiful colors, laid on confusedly, will not give as much pleasure as the chalk outline of a portrait. ― Aristotle, Poetics. The tragedies of most of our modern poets fail in the rendering of character; and of poets in general this is often true. An Introduction to Marx's Philosophic and Economic Thought, 64. Aristotle's Poetics (Greek: Περὶ ποιητικῆς Peri poietikês; Latin: De Poetica; c. 335 BC ) is the earliest surviving work of dramatic theory and first extant philosophical treatise to focus on literary theory. The Greek word katharsis was usually used either by doctors to talk about purgation, the flushing of contaminants out of the system, or by priests to talk about religious purification. As an example of motiveless degradation of character, we have Menelaus in the Orestes; of character indecorous and inappropriate, the lament of Odysseus in the Scylla, and the speech of Melanippe; of inconsistency, the Iphigenia at Aulis—for Iphigenia the suppliant in no way resembles her later self. The important thing is that when Aristotle’s writing his Poetics, Greek theatre was not in its heyday, but was already past its peak, and Aristotle was writing a good 100 years after the Golden Age of Greek tragic … They are compelled, therefore, to have recourse to those houses whose history contains moving incidents like these. In Comedy this is already apparent: for here the poet first constructs the plot on the lines of probability, and then inserts characteristic names—unlike the lampooners who write about particular individuals. Of the remaining elements Song holds the chief place among the embellishments. It follows plainly, in the first place, that the change of fortune presented must not be the spectacle of a virtuous man brought from prosperity to adversity: for this moves neither pity nor fear; it merely shocks us. The last case is the best, as when in the Cresphontes Merope is about to slay her son, but, recognizing who he is, spares his life. Now any speech or action that manifests moral purpose of any kind will be expressive of character: the character will be good if the purpose is good. Or, again, the deed of horror may be done, but done in ignorance, and the tie of kinship or friendship be discovered afterwards. Still better, that it should be perpetrated in ignorance, and the discovery made afterwards. Polygnotus delineates character well; the style of Zeuxis is devoid of ethical quality. These are the only possible ways. There is then nothing to shock us, while the discovery produces a startling effect. Hence they are in error who censure Euripides just because he follows this principle in his plays, many of which end unhappily. By ‘Diction’ incidents. Aristotle has relatively less to say about the tragic hero because the incidents of tragedy are often beyond the hero's control or not closely related to his personality. ... Aristotle thought tragedy involved more than the downfall of the hero. Søren Kierkegaard – On Encountering Faith, 23. William Paley – On The Teleological Argument, 19. Fourth among the elements enumerated comes Diction; by which I mean, as has been already said, the expression of the meaning in words; and its essence is the same both in verse and prose. Poetry, therefore, is a more philosophical and a higher thing than history: for poetry tends to express the universal, history the particular. The genres all share the fun… He may not indeed destroy the framework of the received legends—the fact, for instance, that Clytemnestra was slain by Orestes and Eriphyle by Alcmaeon—but he ought to show of his own, and skilfully handle the traditional. He says that the plot must be a complete whole — with a definite beginning, middle, and end — and its length should be such that the spectators can comprehend without difficulty both its separate parts and its overall unity. But of this enough has been said in our published treatises. Aristotle was the first theorist of theatre – so his Poetics is the origin and basis of all subsequent theatre criticism. Bad poets compose such pieces by their own fault, good poets, to please the players; for, as they write show pieces for competition, they stretch the plot beyond its capacity, and are often forced to break the natural continuity. The Originals: Classic Readings in Western Philosophy. In esso troviamo elementi fondamentali per la comprensione del teatro tragico, in primis i concetti di mimesi (μίμησις, dal verbo μιμεῖσθαι, imitare) e di catarsi κάθαρσις, purificazione).Scrive nella Poetica: "La tragedia è dunque imitazione di una azione nobile e compiuta [...] la quale per mezzo della pietà e della paura finisce con l'effettuare la purifi… The best proof is that on the stage and in dramatic competition, such plays, if well worked out, are the most tragic in effect; and Euripides, faulty though he may be in the general management of his subject, yet is felt to be the most tragic of the poets. Such an effect is best produced when the events come on us by surprise; and the effect is heightened when, at the same time, they follows as cause and effect. David Hume– On the Irrationality of Believing in Miracles, 21. Despite the broad diversity in our century of views about tragedy, most critics show remarkable agreement about one point: that ‘conflict’ is a central defining characteristic of the form. Critical Essay Aristotle on Tragedy. Are you sure you want to remove #bookConfirmation# It is therefore evident that the unraveling of the plot, no less than the complication, must arise out of the plot itself, it must not be brought about by the Deus ex Machina—as in the Medea, or in the return of the Greeks in the Iliad. This sudden acquisition of knowledge or insight by the hero arouses the desired intense emotional reaction in the spectators, as when Oedipus finds out his true parentage and realizes what crimes he has been responsible for. Now, according to our definition Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is complete, and whole, and of a certain magnitude; for there may be a whole that is wanting in magnitude.
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