Aristotle on Tragedy

From his “Poetics”

Teachings – What and How

•Aristotle taught in what later became known as Peripatetics meaning to walk about which he did often as he discoursed•He is said to be given two type of lectures one in the morning for a inner circle of advanced students and one in the evening for the general body of lovers of knowledge•He taught modern down-to-earth philosophy, biology, politics, and the rules of logic

The Poetics

Aristotle’s Poetics, written at about 335 BCE, is considered to be the first systematic critical theory in the world. For nearly 2,000 years it has inspired the thoughts of writers, philosophers and critics.

Literature = Poetry (Three Types)

Three types of poetry:– Comedy– Epic– Tragedy (the most

refined type of poetry)

Elements of Literature

• Aristotle defines many key literary components in the Poetics: – mimesis (imitation), – muthos (plot), – anagnorisis (discovery), – periperteia (reversal), – hamartia (misjudgment), and – catharsis (purifying or relieving of emotions)

Focus on Tragedy

• Tragedy ... is (1) an imitation of an action that is serious, (2) complete, and (3) of a certain magnitude; in (4) language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in (2) the form of action, not of narrative; (5) through pity and fear effecting the proper catharsis of these emotions.

Mimesis (Imitation)

• Tragedy is the “imitation of an action” (mimesis). Aristotle indicates that the medium of tragedy is drama; tragedy “shows” rather than “tells.” According to Aristotle, tragedy is higher and more philosophical than history because history simply relates what has happened while tragedy dramatizes what may happen, “what is possible according to the law of probability or necessity.”

A “Complete” Plot

• The plot must be “complete,” having “unity of action.” By this Aristotle means that the plot must be structurally self-contained … with no outside intervention

• According to Aristotle, tragedies where the outcome depends on a tightly constructed cause-and-effect chain of actions are superior to those that depend primarily on the character and personality of the protagonist.

“Of a Certain Magnitude…”

• The plot must be “of a certain magnitude” – quantitatively (length, complexity)– qualitatively (“seriousness” and universal significance)

• Quality is shown when …– the more incidents and themes that the playwright

can bring together in an organic unity, the greater the artistic value and richness of the play

– the more universal and significant the meaning of the play, the more the playwright can catch and hold the emotions of the audience, the better the play will be

Complex Plot Preferred

• The plot may be either simple or complex, although complex is better. – Simple plots have only a “change of fortune”

(catastrophe). – Complex plots have both “reversal of intention”

(peripeteia) and “recognition” (anagnorisis) connected with the catastrophe.• peripeteia occurs when a character produces an effect

opposite to that which he intended• an anagnorisis is a change from ignorance to

knowledge

The Tragic Hero

• The protagonist should be renowned and prosperous, so his change of fortune can be from good to bad. This change “should come about as the result, not of vice, but of some great error or frailty in a character.” Such a plot is most likely to generate pity and fear in the audience, for “pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune, fear by the misfortune of a man like ourselves.”

Our Hero

• Consistent: Our hero should repeatedly show the same traits through out the play.

• Lifelike: He should also appear as humanly as possible so we can relate to him.

Our Hero, cont’d.• Good: The hero would

have to demonstrate through his speech and actions that he is morally sound.

• Appropriate: He would also have to maintain society's ideas on social behaviors (men should be manly and so forth).

Hamartia

• Hamartia, often translated “tragic flaw,” has been the subject of much debate. The meaning of the Greek word is closer to “mistake” than to “flaw”

• In the ideal tragedy, claims Aristotle, the protagonist will mistakenly bring about his own downfall—not because he is sinful or morally weak, but because he does not know enough

The Hero’s Outcome• Death: Although Aristotle did not feel that the

hero should die (because it would provoke ill feelings in the viewers), some of the tragic heroes died.

• Lesson: Aristotle felt that the best outcome for the tragic hero would be to come out of the tragedy having realized their error in judgment and gained a life lesson from it.

And There is Always Suffering

• Hamartia eventually results in significant suffering. Aristotle argues that the best tragedies combine peripeteia and anagnorisis as part of their cause-and-effect chain (i.e., the peripeteia <reversal of intention> leads directly to the anagnorisis <recognition>); this in turns creates the catastrophe, leading to the final “scene of suffering”

Catharsis – κάθαρσις

• Medicine - Purgation, especially for the digestive system.

• A purifying or figurative cleansing of the emotions, especially pity and fear, described by Aristotle as an effect of tragic drama on its audience.

• A release of emotional tension, as after an overwhelming experience, that restores or refreshes the spirit.

Tragedy’s FunctionAccording to Aristotle, stirring up pity and fear, then dispelling them is the function of tragedy

•Aristotle believed emotions important for decision-making and character (Ethics)•Example: Too much fear = cowardly, too little fear = foolhardy•Catharsis is not, then, elimination; it is the reduction of these emotions from excess to balance.