Explain Aristotle meant when he said pleasure proper to tragedy
Explain Aristotle meant when he said pleasure proper to tragedy In the Poetics, Aristotle's famous study of Greek dramatic art, Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) compares tragedy to such other metrical forms as comedy and epic. He determines that tragedy, like all poetry, is a kind of imitation (mimesis), but adds that it has a serious purpose and uses direct action rather than narrative to achieve its ends. 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.
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. 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).
Explain Aristotle meant when he said pleasure proper to tragedy : According to Aristotle, tragedy has six main elements: plot,
character, diction, thought, spectacle (scenic effect), and song (music), of
which the first two are primary. 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.
Several of Aristotle's main points are of great value for an
understanding of Greek tragic drama. Particularly significant is his statement
that the plot is the most important element of tragedy:
Explain Aristotle meant when he said pleasure proper to tragedy : Tragedy is an imitation, not of men, but of action and life,
of happiness and misery. And life consists of action, and its end is a mode of
activity, not a quality. Now character determines men's qualities, but it is
their action that makes them happy or wretched. The purpose of action in the
tragedy, therefore, is not the representation of character: character comes in
as contributing to the action. Hence the incidents and the plot are the end of
the tragedy; and the end is the chief thing of all. Without action there cannot
be a tragedy; there may be one without character. . . . The plot, then, is the
first principle, and, as it were, the soul of a tragedy: character holds the second
place.
Aristotle goes on to discuss the structure of the ideal
tragic plot and spends several chapters on its requirements. 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. Moreover, the plot
requires a single central theme in which all the elements are logically related
to demonstrate the change in the protagonist's fortunes, with emphasis on the
dramatic causation and probability of the events.
Explain Aristotle meant when he said pleasure proper to tragedy : 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. 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. This
stress placed by the Greek tragedians on the development of plot and action at
the expense of character, and their general lack of interest in exploring
psychological motivation, is one of the major differences between ancient and
modern drama.
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. Aristotle says that "pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune,
fear by the misfortune of a man like ourselves." He surveys various
possible types of characters on the basis of these premises, then defines the
ideal protagonist as
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.
Critical Essay Aristotle on Tragedy
Explain Aristotle meant when he said pleasure proper to tragedy : The hero's error or frailty (harmartia) is often
misleadingly explained as his "tragic flaw," in the sense of that
personal quality which inevitably causes his downfall or subjects him to
retribution. 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. It gives more attention to personality than the
dramatists intended and ignores the broader philosophical implications of the
typical plot's denouement. It is true that the hero frequently takes a step
that initiates the events of the tragedy and, owing to his own ignorance or
poor judgment, acts in such a way as to bring about his own downfall. In a more
sophisticated philosophical sense though, the hero's fate, despite its
immediate cause in his finite act, comes about because of the nature of the
cosmic moral order and the role played by chance or destiny in human affairs.
Unless the conclusions of most tragedies are interpreted on this level, the reader
is forced to credit the Greeks with the most primitive of moral systems.
It is worth noting that some scholars believe the
"flaw" was intended by Aristotle as a necessary corollary of his
requirement that the hero should not be a completely admirable man. 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.
This view tends to give the "flaw" an ethical definition but relates
it only to the spectators' reactions to the hero and does not increase its
importance for interpreting the tragedies.
The remainder of the Poetics is given over to
examination of the other elements of tragedy and to discussion of various
techniques, devices, and stylistic principles. 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. These are "reversal" (peripeteia),
where the opposite of what was planned or hoped for by the protagonist takes
place, as when Oedipus' investigation of the murder of Laius leads to a
catastrophic and unexpected conclusion; and "recognition" (anagnorisis),
the point when the protagonist recognizes the truth of a situation, discovers
another character's identity, or comes to a realization about himself. 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.
Explain Aristotle meant when he said pleasure proper to traged: Aristotle wrote the Poetics nearly a century after
the greatest Greek tragedians had already died, in a period when there had been
radical transformations in nearly all aspects of Athenian society and culture.
The tragic drama of his day was not the same as that of the fifth century, and
to a certain extent his work must be construed as a historical study of a genre
that no longer existed rather than as a description of a living art form.
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. This approach is not completely suited to a literary
study and is sometimes too artificial or formula-prone in its conclusions.
Nonetheless, the Poetics is the only critical study of Greek drama to have been made by a near-contemporary. 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. In addition, Aristotle's work had an overwhelming influence on the development of drama long after it was compiled. The ideas and principles of the Poetics are reflected in the drama of the Roman Empire and dominated the composition of tragedy in western Europe during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries.
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