Aristotle’s Poetics

1. Aristotle’s Poetics Plato loved poetry but felt that because of Socrates teachings, that poets were imitators without access to reality or truth. Imitation was a self-defeating and sterile activity. Poetry is twice removed from reality and caters to emotions and UN-reality. Aristotle then argues for poetry. He defends it, although not perfectly, from Plato’s attack. Aristotle believes poets imitate the way things are/were, or the way people see them, or the way they ought to be. The image ought to out-do the originals; therefore, imitation is OK.

2. Origin of poetry • Men take pleasure in imitation, and it comes naturally. There are things we see with pain, but whose images we view with pleasure. • Comedy is an imitation of inferior persons but not full villains - it is the imitation of the ugly and ludicrous. • Tragedy is imitation with serious implications through a course of pity and fear, language made sensuously attractive (rhythm and melody), and structure - plot. • Tragedy is imitation of life and action but not men because a tragedy can exist without characters, but it must have a plot.

3. Tragedy part 1 • Tragedies must have a beginning, middle and end. It doesn’t include everything in the life of one character, just those events which further the plot. • Tragedies have 6 elements - plot, character, verbal expression (poetic language like metaphor), thought, adornment, and song. • The best tragedies have complex plots, fearful and pitiable happenings, and should be good moving to bad. It doesn’t make us feel the same when bad moves to good - not tragedy.

4. Tragedy part 2 • Plot and transformation – a character moves from good circumstances to bad through a mistake of great weight and consequence [Hamartia (tragic/fatal flaw often hubris or great pride)].  • Pity and fear [Catharsis] may be engaged by performing an act knowing and wittingly (murder), by refraining from performing the deed (not saving someone), or by performing a fearful act unwittingly and then see the blood relationship (murder in Oedipus).  • Tragic characters must be a good, appropriate, likeness to human nature, and consistent. One must strive for the necessary or probable -- it is necessary or probable that a person do a thing.

5. Tragedy part 3 • There is often a reversal of events (going from king to villain)– again must be necessary and probable, match the character and plot • Recognition of a disguised character or action in plays may be handled differently. • By token - lowest form (Odysseus scar), or the poet adds a device such as a letter to identify a character • Recollection (seeing or hearing something reminds a character) • better is Recognition based on reasoning A=B, B=C therefore A=C. The best recognition arises from events themselves. • Tragedy is superior to epic because it attains its goals better than epic does. It is better to have impossible but plausible evens than possible but implausible ones. • Thus Aristotle would consider the play Agamemnon to be a higher form than the Epic of Odysseus.