POETICS by ARISTOTLE

IDEAL PLOT

In Aristotle’s much hated and much acclaimed book Poetics, he gives ‘plot’ supremacy over other constituents of tragedy. Plot, to him, is the ordered arrangement of incidents. A plot is a representation of action, and it needs to have certain qualities which I have discussed below. But, the ultimate goal of a tragic plot is to arouse fear and pity. Ideal plot is a plot which has an ordered pattern of action as well as unity, which is true only poetically, and which is as complex as to arouse fear and pity.

A. PATTERN OF ACTION
The action that is represented should have completeness and appropriate amplitude. Completeness implies that a well-constructed plot must have a ‘beginning’, ‘middle’ and an ‘end’. The action begins with the ‘beginning’ and ends with the ‘end’; after beginning and before end comes the ‘middle’. Conforming to the beginning-middle-end pattern, a plot should also be of proper amplitude. The secret of beauty in a living creature as well as in a plot is proper order and appropriate size. A plot should have appropriate amplitude that allows the evolution of action.

B. UNITY OF PLOT
Unity of a plot is established when it includes only the relevant incidents of a man’s course of life. These incidents should be arranged in a way that if any of them is removed or differently placed the effect of wholeness will seriously be disrupted, because if the presence or absence of an incident makes no apparent difference, it is no real part of the whole.

C. POETIC TRUTH
A poet does not and should not deal with actuality; rather he should be concerned with probability. It is his function to describe what could probably happen, not what has actually happened. Poetry, in a generalised manner, expresses what is the necessity or probability of a given circumstance. Poetry is more philosophical and more worthy of serious attention, because while poetry is concerned with universal truths, history treats of particular facts.

D. COMPLEX PLOT
Plots are of two kinds: simple and complex, of which Aristotle prefers the complex one. Complex plot is a plot with reversal, discovery and calamity; and simple plot is without them. Reversal is the change of a situation to its opposite; and the change conforms to probability or necessity. Discovery is a change from ignorance to knowledge. The most effective discovery is the one which is accompanied by reversals. A calamity is an action of a destructive and painful nature, such as death openly represented, excessive suffering, wounding and the like.

E. TRAGIC ACTION AROUSINGING FEAR AND PITY
Fear and pity may rise in two ways: by means of spectacle or from the very structure of action. To produce this effect by means of spectacle is less artistic; to produce it from the very structure of the action is the preferable method and a mark of better dramatic poet. As it happens in case of Oedipus, the plot should be complex and represent certain kind of human beings facing such a fate that is pitiable and fearful. Since the dramatic poet has to produce the tragic pleasure that is associated with pity and fear by means of representation, it is obvious that this effect must be bound up with the events of the plot.


The major aim of a plot is to represent an action worthy of arousing pity and fear. To achieve this emotional effect, a poet needs to Conform to the beginning-middle-end pattern, attain unity, express universal poetic truth through complex structure. An ideal plot is a plot in combination of all these qualities.






TRAGEDY OVER EPIC

Aristotle, in Poetics, considers the question of which is the higher form, tragedy or epic poetry. He gives supremacy to tragedy over epic. He has come to this decision in three waves: first, he lists all the arguments given in favour of epic poetry; second, he cancels all these arguments out, mostly by showing that they are leveled against the performance of tragedy rather than anything in the genre itself; and third, he lists the advantages tragedy has over epic poetry.

The argument in favour of epic poetry is based on the principle that the higher art form is less vulgar and addressed toward a refined audience. Tragedy is performed before large audiences resulting in melodramatic performances and overacting to please the crowds. Some argue that epic poetry is more cultivated than tragedy because it does not rely on gesture at all to convey its message. Aristotle answers to this argument against tragedy by noting that the melodrama and overacting are the faults of performance and not the tragic poet himself. The recital of epic poetry could similarly be overdone by reflecting poorly on the poet Further, not all movement is bad-take dance for instance-but only poorly executed movement. Also, tragedy does not need to be performed, it can be read, just like epic poetry, and all its merits will still be evident.

Further, he advances several reasons for considering tragedy superior. First, it has all the elements of an epic poem and has also music and spectacle which the epic lacks. The main aim of poetry is to arouse pity and fear. Music and spectacle can certainly add to these emotional effects. Second, simply reading the play without watching it being performed, it is already very potent. Third, tragedy is shorter suggesting that it is more compact and will have a more concentrated effect. The more concentrated is the more effective in providing emotional punch. Fourth, there is more unity in tragedy as evident by the fact that a number of tragedies can be extracted from one epic poem.

The advantage of tragedy over epic it that it can be read as well as seen to be performed. When it is enjoyed from an audience’s perspective, tragedy accomplishes its function of arousing pity and fear better with its elements of music and spectacle; and when it is only read, it appeals more to our emotions with its concentrated form than epic poetry. These are the considerations on the basis of which Aristotle placed tragedy over epic.






POETIC TRUTH Vs EMPIRICAL REALITY

A poet does not and should not deal with actuality; rather he should be concerned with probability. It is his function to describe what could probably happen, not what has actually happened. Poetry, in a generalised manner, expresses what is the necessity or probability of a given circumstance.

Poetry is more philosophical and more worthy of serious attention, because while poetry is concerned with universal truths, history treats of particular facts. Universal truth refers to the way a certain type of person behaves generally in a certain situation. On the other hand, history describes how a person actually behaved in the past. In respect of comedy, by Aristotle’s time, the distinction had become clear. Comic poets used to build up plots out of probable occurrences, and then they added any names that occur to them. Tragedians, on the other hand constituted plots centering real events with real names for making them credible. But, the interpretations of these events were the poets’ own. It is not possible to be sure of the probability of the events that did not happen, but it is absolutely sure that what happened in the past was probable lest it should not have happened. In Aristotle’s time, some new practices like Agathon’s Antheus, emerged which dealt with events that had never happened. Nonetheless, they were well appreciated by the audience. This fact proved that, whether in comedy or in tragedy, conforming accurately to the historical and traditional stories is unnecessary. But, if a playwright chose to stick to the traditional stories, it would not make a minor poet of him because it is the law of necessity with which history evolves. The point is that, whether it be fictitious or historical truth, poetry conveys universal message whereas history deals with particular facts.

In representing history in poetry, care should be taken that the events does not seem to be happening mechanically or accidentally, because it will fail the main goal of arousing pity and fear. These emotions are rather likely to come over when events happen unexpectedly, at the same time logically.

Verse alone does not make something poetry. History, if written in verse, will not become poetry. A story amounts to poetry by virtue of the representation of action. Verse alone will not turn a particular event into a poem unless it conveys universal message or represents action appropriately.

The major difference between poetry and history is that of universality and particularity. What is universal is always more important that what is particular. This is why, we have lost interest in the actual battle of Marathon, but the downfall of Oedipus in Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex is ever-vivid in our mind. Aristotle, therefore, said rightly that poetry is more philosophical than history.






TRAGIC ACTION AROUSING FEAR AND PITY/ CATHERSIS

Fear and pity may rise in two ways: by means of spectacle or from the very structure of action. To produce this effect by means of spectacle is less artistic; to produce it from the very structure of the action is the preferable method and a mark of better dramatic poet. As it happens in case of Oedipus, the plot should be complex and represent certain kind of human beings facing such a fate that is pitiable and fearful. Since the dramatic poet has to produce the tragic pleasure that is associated with pity and fear by means of representation, it is obvious that this effect must be bound up with the events of the plot.

A plot should represent a certain type of human being heading towards certain type of end. For example, a good man should not be shown as passing from prosperity to misery because it merely disgusts the audience; nor should an evil man should be depicted as progressing from misery to prosperity since it would be demoralizing. Poets should also avoid representing a worthless man to fall into misery from prosperity. Though none of the options above arouse fear and pity, there remains a means between these extremes. According to Aristotle, a poet should represent a prosperous and high reputed man to fall from the peak of success into misery not due to any vice or depravity, but rather to some error. Watching this kind of event, pity and fear rise in the audience’s mind.

Conflict between characters is inevitable because conflict inflicts suffering, and suffering arouses pity and fear. This purpose is served best if the conflict takes place within friends and family. Traditional Greek mythology provides a few events of this kind. So, stories are there for the tragic poets, but Aristotle emphasized on using them ‘effectively.’

Conflict can take place in many ways, but Aristotle illustrates what he means by their ‘effective’ use; for example if a man murders his family, he can do it wittingly or unwittingly, and he may fail or succeed. But, of the ways the action can happen, the least effective is if someone, with all the facts in his favour, fails do the horrible act, because it merely shocks us. The next in the order of effectiveness is when a man actually does the act in ignorance, but learns the truth afterwards. It comes as a mere surprise to us. But, the best method is the one in which a man learns truth when he is about to commit the crime. This is the most successful method because it arouses pity and fear most successfully. This kind of effect is best achieved in combination of reversal and discovery.

According to Aristotle, it is by chance rather than by technical knowledge that the poets discover the tragic effects. In their search for the traditional stories, poets suddenly find an event effective in arousing pity and fear. But, they have to represent the event effectively because if the audience does not feel pity and fear for the characters and for humanity, the tragedy is a failure.