PRECIS

Aristotle attempts to make differences between three types of poetry: comedies, tragedies, and epics.  He says that imitation is prevalent in all of the different types.  Audiences don’t have to be afraid when horrific acts are demonstrated on stage because we understand that this is just an imitation of a human action and not the actual action.  One difference between tragedy and epics is the length of each.  Epics have one type of verse and are in narrative form and its action has no fixed limit of time (229).  All the parts of an epic are included in a tragedy but all parts of a tragedy are not in an epic (230).   Aristotle also says that there are six parts to every tragedy: a fable or plot, characters, diction, thought, spectacle, and melody (231).  He goes on to explain what each one means in a dizzying amount of words.  I think that Aristotle gets his point across about the differences between the three types of poetry but does so in a labor intensive way for the reader.  It was easier to pinpoint some of his more simple sentences to make sense out of his more complex ones.  It would be so much easier and friendlier to read if as a whole the chapters were simpler.  It’s too exhausting to read too much at one time.  I took a couple breaks and moved my way through slowly and think I will understand it better after having a conversation about its content.

Word: peripety

Peripety, or peripeteia, is defined in the OED thus: "In classical tragedy (and hence in other forms of drama, fiction, etc.): a point in the plot at which a sudden reversal occurs. In extended use: a sudden or dramatic change; a crisis." Aristotle defines it more simply as change "from one state of things within the play to its opposite." Aristotle stresses the importance of peripeteia and discovery ("a change from ignorance to knowledge") in tragedies, especially in conjunction.

Word: Catharsis

The Oxford English Dictionary defines catharsis as, “The purification of the emotions by vicarious experience, esp. through drama (in reference to Aristotle’s Poetics.)” In fact, before Aristotle uses the word in his own definition of tragedy, catharsis was a medical phrase that meant the emission of waste from the body. “Aristotle is employing it as a medical metaphor” (Wikipedia). To Aristotle, there is a purifying function of tragedy. In order to best describe the sensation of tragedy and the emotion that quickly cycles though the body, he uses a physical metaphor:

 

A tragedy, then, is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself: in language with pleasurable accessories, each kind brought in separately in the parts of the work; in a dramatic, not in a narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish it catharsis of such emotions.     (Aristotle)

 

PRECIS: Poetics

In "Poetics," Aristotle states that there are six literary elements which are fundamental to the genre of tragedy. Of these six, he states that plot is the most important (232). To prove this point, Aristotle uses the analogy of painting, stating that if the most beautiful of colors were put onto a canvas without order, the effect would be less pleasing than a simple black and white sketch of a portrait. In this analogy the colors equate with characters and the order with plot.

In 335BCE, many people might have agreed with Aristotle, but in today's society people appreciate numerous forms of art, many of which are radically different than what Aristotle would have been exposed to in ancient Greece. For example, abstract painting. I doubt that Aristotle would have had much appreciation for such art, as it often lacks recognizable subjects and does not always 'imitate' anything in the external world. I don't believe that Aristotle could have ever predicted, or understood, that society might come to appreciate forms of art without 'form,' or enjoy works of literature, not because of a complex or ornate plot, but because of an investment in character, which is something that has been accomplished in post-modern literature.

Gladiator: Aristotelian Tragedy.

I chose the movie Gladiator to supplement Aristotle's idea of Tragedy and or Epic in his essay Poetics.

Here is a rough summary of the movie, for those who have not seen it or are unfamilure:

Maximus is a powerful Roman general, loved by the people and the aging Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Before his death, the Emperor chooses Maximus to be his heir over his own son, Commodus, and a power struggle leaves Maximus and his family condemned to death. The powerful general is unable to save his family, and his loss of will allows him to get captured and put into the Gladiator games until he dies. The only desire that fuels him now is the chance to rise to the top so that he will be able to look into the eyes of the man who will feel his revenge.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172495/

“A tragedy, then is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in language with pleasurable accessories, each kind brought in separately in the parts of the work; in a dramatic, not in a narrative form; with incident arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotion" (230).
I believe that the movie touches on all aspects of what Aristotle believes Tragedy is, however it is important to point out that there are 2 main differences between a Tragedy and an Epic: time and narration. Where a Tragedy is usually told within the span of a day, an epic has an unset or unlimited amount of time. The story of Maximus in the movie spans much longer than a day, yet I would till categorize it as a Tragedy.
This brings me to the second difference which is that an Epic is told in narrative form or from an omniscient narrator, while a Tragedy is more of a dialogue, which is more like the movie.
I want to explore why some elements of Epics can be found in Tragedy but not vice versa.
Additionally I want to explore why Character seems to come secondary to Plot when it is the Character the viewer or reader identifies with and is the cause of evoking pity or fear in the audience(236).
Lastly, since it pertains to the movie Gladiator, I wanted to discuss the demise of the Hero and why with an authentic tragedy must the death of the Hero always be the product of some fatal choice or action, for the tragic hero must always bear at least some responsibility for his own doom, when in the case of Maximus, it was not his choice.
Is this only reason of why the Hero dies found in poetry, or because we live in a time with so many variations of what a Tragedy and Epic could be in viewable formats instead of literature, has there been an evolution of Aristotle's Poetics?

PRESIS: Chalk one up for mimesis

Aristotle brings up the idea of mimesis. He argues that mimesis helps us to be more reflective and sensitive. In poetry, especially when acted out, the viewers are sometimes forced to watch very gruesome acts of violence. "The truth of this second point is shown by experience: though the objects themselves may be painful to see, we delight to view the most realistic representations of them in art, the forms for example of the lowest animans and of dead bodies" (227). Viewers do not run off and scream because they know that it is just an imitation. They understand it is an imitaion of a real act, but at that very point in time just an imitation. Seeing those acts performed can allows for reflection. Reflection into the acts of human violence, its reasoning, and its consequences. Who knew poetry could be so helpful?

WORD: Imitate

Aristotle's organizes the "genres" of the poetic arts under the banner of imitation. Painting to poetry builds its business of art on imitating. Aristotle says that what we call modern day theatre arts strive through action to show life, that is to imitate. The OED defines "to imitate" as "to make or produce a copy or representation of; to copy, reproduce." It is this representation or replica of life that entertains human beings. "We delight to view the most realistic representations...in art."(p. 227)