Topic : Aristotle’s  “Poetics”.

Paper : 3, Literary Criticism.

                Name : Gohil Khanjaniba M.

                Roll No : 17.

                Class : MA, Part – 1.

                Year : 2013/2014.

Submitted to : Dr.Dilip Barad and   Heenaba Jhala.

             Department of English,

             MKBU,

             Bhavnagar.

            ''Poetics'' by Aristotle

v     Introduction:

                                Aristotle -the most distinguished disciple of Plato. He was also critic, scholar, logician and practical philosopher. In the fourth century BC, Plato was a great disciple of Socrates, was the first critic who examined poetry as a part of his moral philosophy. When he examines poetry, his powerful weapon-he believed that the poetry is rather moral and not aesthetic. He became confused.

                                          Aristotle's ''Poetics'', differentiates many kinds of poetry. He also explained that the poetry has different structure of a good poem and division of a poem, its component parts. He defines poetry as a 'medium of imitation' that represents non-real life through character, emotion, or action. He illustrates poetry in a very profound ways, including epic poetry, tragedy, comedy, dithyrambic poetry and even some kind of music.

                                           In other words, as per many documents in the history of philosophy and literary theory, Aristotle wrote ''Poetics''. He adopted two major works, they are:

1. Rhetoric.

2. Poetics.

                                          Aristotle composed it around 330 BCE. The readers also came across that Aristotle's approach   

To phenomenon of poetry was quite different in comparison to Plato's approach. The fact is much misunderstanding is often caused by our attempts to limit too strictly.

 

Ø Aristotle's defense to Plato's theory of 'Mimesis':

                             In Plato's theory of 'Mimesis', he says that all art is mimetic by nature. In other words, art is an imitation of life; it is nearer to ultimate reality. Thus, to explain this idea he gives an example of a carpenter and a chair. He believed that art is twice removed from reality. He gives first importance to philosophy, because it deals with the ideas and poetry deals with illusion-all these things which are twice removed from reality. So that he believed that art is twice removed from reality. In short Plato rejected poetry as it is mimetic in nature on the moral and philosophical virtues. Aristotle who believes that poetry as it is mimetic nature. He gives his views that poetry is an imitation of an action, and he neither in favor of philosophical nor moral.

Ø      Aristotle gives the definition of tragedy-a form of art:

                            ''Tragedy, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete and of certain magnitude; in the language embellished each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play ; in the form of an action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgative-catharsis of these and similar emotions''.

Ø      Difference in an imitation of Arts:

                                      In the groups of art, the means with them as a whole are rhythm, language and harmony-used, either singly or in certain combination.  A combination of rhythm and harmony. There is further an art which imitates by language alone, without harmony, in prose or in verse. Either in some one or in a plurality of meters. For a mime of Sophistry or Xenarchus and Socratic conversation. There are two instances were in 'trimesters' or in 'elegiacs' or some in 'other kind of verse'.

                                The objects the imitators represents action with agents who are necessarily either good man or bad man. This difference between 'tragedy' and 'comedy' also; the one would make it personages worse and other better than the men of the present days.

                                The third difference in these arts is in the manner in which each kind of object is represented. In the kind of object for imitation one may:  

        (A.) Speak at one moment in narrative and at another in                                                         an assumed character as homer does.

        (B.) One may remain the same throughout, without any such change the imitators may represent the whole story dramatically, as through they were actually doing the things described.

              

Ø Six parts of 'Tragedy'

                     According to Aristotle, tragedy has been divided into the six parts. Diction is merely, the composition of the verses; and by 'melody'. The subject represents also is an action and the action involves agents have their distinctive qualities , they are 'thought' and 'character'.

                  'The Fable' – the combination of the incidents or things done in the story. Whereas,'character' is what makes us ascribe certain moral qualities to the agents.' Thought is shown in all they say when proving a particular point or it may be enunciating a general truth. Six parts of tragedy are as under:

Ø PLOT: Plot is the first principle and as it were, the soul of a tragedy. It may be divided into several sub-plots.

Ø CHARACTER: Character is in its position. The similar fact is seen in painting-thus,tragedy is an imitation of an action, and of the agents action reveals moral purpose.

Ø THOUGHT:What is possible in given circumstances. Where something is proved '' To be or not to be '' (Hamlet's soliloquies of one written by Shakespeare) or general maxim is enunciated.

Ø DICTION: It means the expression of the meaning in words and its essence is the same both in verse in prose.

Ø SPECTACLE: Spectacle has an emotional attraction of its own, but of all the parts. It is the least artistic and connected least with the art of poetry. As a reader we can say that it is apart from representation and actors.

Ø MELODY: Melody or song has the chief place among  the embellishments.    

                        The most important of the six is the combination of the incidents of the story. Tragedy is an imitation not of persons but of an action and life , and of happiness and misery. All human happiness or misery takes the form of action. Character gives us qualities, but it is in our actions. A tragedy is impossible without action, but there may be one without character ,a series of characteristic speeches ends as regards diction and thought and yet fail to produce the true tragic effect.

                              The most powerful elements of attraction in tragedies are the Peripeties and Discoveries –are the parts of the plot. Tragedy is primarily an imitation of an action, and that is mainly for the sake of the action that imitates the personal agents. Melody is the greatest of the pleasurable accessories of tragedy. The tragic effect is quite possible without a public performance and actors and also to make up the spectacle is more a matter for the costumier than the poet.

Ø    Construction of the Plot 

                                  The proper construction of the Plot or Fable, a whole is that which has following functions:

1.The beginning.

2.The middle.

3.The end.

                                  Beauty is a matter of size and order. A story or plot must be of some length to be of some length to be taken in by the memory. Certain magnitude as ‘a length which allows of the hero passing by a series of probable or necessary stages misfortune to happiness or from happiness to misfortune’.

                       

Ø The Unity of Plot          

                                       The poet must be more the poet of his stories or plots than of his verses, becoming a virtuous poet , have a imitative element simple plots and actions the episodic are the worst. Episodic Plot, there is neither probability beyond its capabilities, twist the sequence of incidents. Tragedy is an imitation, not a complete action, but also of incidents arouses ‘Pity’ and ‘Fear’.

                                Plots are either simple or complex, main character or hero’s fortune takes place without Peripety or Discovery; and complex.

-  Peripety

                             Peripety is the change from one state of things within the play to its opposite of the kind described, in the probable or necessary. Peripety and Discovery are on matter of this sort. A third part is Suffering, which we may define as an action of a destructive or painful nature such as murders on the stage, tortures, wounding and the like.

                    

- The parts of tragedy

                 The parts of tragedy, treated as formative elements in the whole are mentioned before. The parts from the point of view of its quantity they are: Prologue, episode, exode and choral portion and distinguished into Parode and Stasimon, these two are common to all tragedies.

  -Plot

                            In tragedy plot must be not simple one but complex; that it must imitates actions arousing pity and fear. Three forms of plot to be avoided, they are:

A good man must be seen passing from happiness to misery: It is not inspiring or piteous but simply odious to us.

A good man from misery to help the most Untragic that can be; it has no one of the requisites of tragedy; it does not appeal either to the human feeling or to our pity and fear.

                                            The tragic pity and fear may be aroused by the spectacle ; but they may be aroused by the very structure and incidents of the play- which is better way and sows the better poet. In the story of ''Oedipus Rex'' which has the effects be filled with horror and pity at the incidents. They are still obliged, accordingly, to him resource to the families in which such horrors have occurred; as we could see in the play ''Hamlet'' written by the most famous playwright.

                         In the character there are four points to aim at. They are:

1) The first is that they shall be good; such goodness is possible in every type of personage.

2) The second point is to make them appropriate. The character before us may be say manly; but it is not appropriate in a female character to be manly or clever.

3) The third is to make them like the reality, which is not the same as their being good and appropriate, in our sense of the term.

4) The fourth is to make them consistently be part of the man before one for imitation as presenting that form of character,he should still be consistently inconsistent.

                          All these rules one must keep in mind throughout, and further those also for such points of stage-effect as directly depend on the art of the poet. The corresponding use of strange words results in a barbarism-a certain admixture, accordingly, of unfamiliar terms is necessary.-

The objection is always that                  something is:

Ø Impossible.

Ø Improbable.

Ø Corrupting.

Ø Contradictory.

Ø Against technical correctness.

             

                    Thus we can say that Aristotle, is powerful critic, philosopher, novelist, writer, playwright of his time. He is well known for his great interpretation of work of art, especially in the drama or the play.

                                                                            

                    Thank You.