Riddle of the SphinxRiddle of the Sphinx

Aristotle on Oedipus

Tragedy is the Tragedy is the Representation of an Representation of an

ActionAction

Aristotle, Poetics

The Objects the imitator represents are actions, with agents who are

necessarily either good men or bad—the diversities of human character being

nearly always derivative from this primary distinction, since the line between

virtue and vice is one dividing the whole of mankind. It follows, therefore, that

the agents represented must be either above our own level of goodness, or

beneath it, or just such as we are; in the same way as, with the painters, the

personages of Polygnotus are better than we are, those of Pauson worse, and

those of Dionysius just like ourselves. This is a difference that distinguishes

Tragedy and Comedy also; the one would make its personages worse, and the

other better, than the men of the present day.

Aristotle, Metaphysics

General

Specific

AccidentalSubstantial

Properties

General

Specific

AccidentalSubstantial

ThingBiota

AnimalVertebrateMammalPrimate

HomonidaeHomo

SapiensSapiens

General

Specific

AccidentalSubstantial

ThingBiota

AnimalVertebrateMammalPrimate

HomonidaeHomo

SapiensSapiens

Wearing Clothes

Wearing a Dress

Being Female

Being Diotima{Depiction

Portrayal

General

Specific

AccidentalSubstantial

Kingdom

Phylum

Class

Order

Family

Genus

Species

General

Specific

PossibilityBeing

nece

ssit

yn

ece

ssit

y

Imp

oss

ibil

ity

Imp

oss

ibil

ity

EssenceEssence

AccidentAccident

Simile of the Line

illusions

ordinary

things

forms

The Forms

Plato’s Simile of the Line

ARISTOTLE’S CRITICISM

What about Cause and Effect?

Causality

MaterialFormal

Efficient Final

Aristotle’s Four Causes

Character is that which reveals choice, shows what

sort of thing a man chooses or avoids in

circumstances where the choice is not obvious, so

those speeches convey no character in which there

is nothing whatever which the speaker chooses or

avoids.

Aristotle, Poetics

Character

Means

Propriety

Thought & Character

Intent

Action Reveals Character

In respect of Character there are four things to be aimed at. First, and most

important, it must be good. 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. This rule is relative to each class. ... The second thing

to aim at is propriety. There is a type of manly valor … unscrupulous

cleverness is inappropriate. Thirdly, character must be true to life: for this is a

distinct thing from goodness and propriety, as here described. The fourth

point is consistency: for though the subject of the imitation, who suggested

the type, be inconsistent, still he must be consistently inconsistent.

Aristotle, Poetics

What we have said already makes it further clear that a poet's object is not

to tell what actually happened but what could and would happen either

probably or inevitably. The difference between a historian and a poet is not

that one writes in prose and the other in verse—indeed the writings of

Herodotus could be put into verse and yet would still be a kind of history,

whether written in metre or not. The real difference is this, that one tells

what happened and the other what might happen. For this reason poetry is

something more scientific and serious than history, because poetry tends to

give general truths while history gives particular facts.

Aristotle, Poetics

Substance

Accident

Accident

CAUSALITY

Exemplar

History

History

ART

More Philosophical than History

Art: Good Guy Wins

History: Bad Guy Wins

History: Good Guy Loses

ART

More Philosophical than History

Moral Exemplar/Depiction

Generic Virtues

Accidental Actualities

ART

More Philosophical than History

Virtues

Vice

Vice

Virtue

Aristotle’s Virtue Theory

Virtues

Stinginess

Extravagance

Generosity

Aristotle’s Virtue Theory

Virtues

insensibility

Self-Indulgence

Temperance

Aristotle’s Virtue Theory

Plot

Rising Action

Motive

Intent

Aristotle’s Triangle

Plot

Rising ActionReversal

Climax

Aristotle’s Triangle

Falling Action

By "plot" I mean here the arrangement of the incidents:

"character" is that which determines the quality of the

agents, and "thought" appears wherever in the dialogue

they put forward an argument or deliver an opinion.

9/10

The most important of these is the arrangement of the incidents, for tragedy

is not a representation of men but of a piece of action, of life, of happiness

and unhappiness, which come under the head of action, and the end aimed at

is the representation not of qualities of character but of some action; and

while character makes men what they are, it's their actions and experiences

that make them happy or the opposite. They do not therefore act to represent

character, but character-study is included for the sake of the action. It follows

that the incidents and the plot are the end at which tragedy aims, and in

everything the end aimed at is of prime importance. Moreover, you could not

have a tragedy without action, but you can have one with out character-study.

Aristotle, Poetics

Clearly the story must be constructed as in

tragedy, dramatically, round a single piece of

action, whole and complete in itself, with a

beginning, middle and end, so that like a single

living organism it may produce its own peculiar

form of pleasure.

Aristotle, Poetics

Laocoön

Parthenon Metope,

Centaurs and Lapiths

Parthenon Metope, Centaurs

and Lapiths

Drunken Satyr or Barberini

Faun

Dontello, David

Michelangelo, David

Michelangelo, David

Botticelli, Venus

Donatello, Petinent

Magdalene

Donatello, Petinent

Magdalene

Dürer,

Melancholia

Brunelleschi, Sacrificeof Isaac

Ghiberti, Sacrificeof Isaac

Massacchio, Expulsion from the Garden of

Eden

Leonardo, Last Supper

Leonardo, Last Supper

Michelangelo, Creation

Michelangelo, Pieta

Michelangelo, Last Judgement

Münch, Scream

Picasso, Guernica

CHARACTER

Vice?

Vice?

Virtue?

Which virtues are depicted?

CHARACTER

Vice?

Vice?

Virtue?

Which virtues are depicted?

In two sentences, select a

feature from Dumbo that most

exemplifies Aristotle’s theory

and state how it does so. In

two more sentences, select a

feature from Dumbo that most

refutes Aristotle’s theory and

state how it does so. Use

direct quotes from Aristotle.

Keep it pithy, extra sentences

may detract from your score.

Application