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Author Topic: Aristotle's Theory of Tragedy  (Read 1626 times)

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Offline AzimuthComics

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Aristotle's Theory of Tragedy
« on: May 05, 2016, 02:53:15 PM »


What is Aristotle's Theory of Tragedy?

It refers to a strict set of rules Tragedy was "meant" to conform to. In reality, many didn't and still don't, but many did. The basic rules were that it could only deal with nobility, was always in rhyming verse, and the action could only take place in the space of 24 hours and in a day.
Those last two rules are the main ones that tragedists broke. Corneille's El Cid would be a good example, fulfilling all but one of those rules (the 24 hours). Some that are pure Aristotleian tragedies would have to be .
According to Aristotle, tragedy is a medium for drama rather than narrative. Essentially the time old rule "show, don't tell". Whereas history tells, tragedy is an imitation (a mimesis) of what happened with an emphasis on philosophy, and shows what may have happened rather than hard facts. In that sense, you could consider it historical fiction. The ultimate goal was to make you think, and more specifically to provoke catharsis in the viewer. Catharsis is defined as giving sensations of pity and fear, and to purge [thev iewer] of these emotions so that they leave the theater feeling cleansed and uplifted. In layman's terms, thrill your viewer and bring on the drama. To provoke this feeling of catharsis, absolute disaster had to happen to the main protagonist. In Greek Tragedy, we have Oedipus, who beds his mother and kills his father. It also applies to Manga, being somewhat of a trope there too. A ridiculous amount of anime decides to get pity for the characters by killing a loved one of theirs'.

Tragedy has six main elements, in order of importance:
-Plot
-Character
-Diction
-Thought
-Spectacle (the scene's set-up)
-Song

Aristotle wrote a work based on how to set-these up and exploit them named "The Poetics". He justifies and explains his choice of plot as the most important element.

Quote
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.

In the above graph we may see how the story flows. A tragedy is whole, with a clearly defined beginning, middle and end. This is known as Unity of the play. The end is always unhappy. Happy endings are reserved for comedies, or tragicomedies (tragedies with a happy ending or dealing with the lower classes). The plot is limited to a single-theme, and all the events of the tragedy must be logically linked to it. The plot is also limited to itself. Subplots are very rare, and there can't be too many of them. As I've mentioned, these rules were often broken. The main offenders were William Shakespeare, Pierre Corneille and Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (Molière).

I'll get more in-depth into the flow. We have:
-Exposition, usually under the form of a prologue (prologos, preliminary speech). In it, character(s) introduce the tragedy's drama and give background on the story.
-Rising action.
-Crisis (The conflict/complication).
-Climax (The turning point).
-Falling Action (Resolution and consequence(s) of the Climax).
-Denouement (Usually a conclusion or a catastrophe).

Often in Greek Tragedy the action was divided into three episodes, each separated by a stasima, a choral intermission explaining what's happened or commenting on it.

Who was Aristotle?


A greek philosopher and scientist (He's the one who claimed atoms weren't real and that instead everything was made up of elements). He wrote the Poetics, focused on tragedy.

"Power attained by violence is only a usurpation, and only lasts so long as the strength of the commander outweighs that of the subjugated."

Offline Skyes

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Re: Aristotle's Theory of Tragedy
« Reply #1 on: May 28, 2016, 12:17:22 PM »
That was very interesting, thank you for sharing! :)

Offline legomaestro

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Re: Aristotle's Theory of Tragedy
« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2016, 02:08:29 PM »
Yeah, interesting post there indeed! I've always loved Greek Mythology, and would like to know more about how it was built up and the like. Never read El Cid before, is it good?

Was confused at this bit though
Quote
place in the space of 24 hours and in a day.


Offline AzimuthComics

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Re: Aristotle's Theory of Tragedy
« Reply #3 on: May 28, 2016, 02:27:16 PM »
Repeated it by mistake, it obviously means the same thing.

El Cid is great, it introduced the great concept of Cornelia Dilemma: the hard choice between two lose situations.

Glad you enjoyed the thread!

"Power attained by violence is only a usurpation, and only lasts so long as the strength of the commander outweighs that of the subjugated."