Aristotle

 

INTRODUCTION:

Aristotle, the illustrious disciple of Plato, is according to R. A  Scott James The law giver and absolute monarch to the poets and critics. While Eliot calls him,

“Of universal intelligence displayed an intellect of incredible versatility, Aristotle, an ontological critic, is the worthiest disciple of Plato.”

Aristotle is one of the greatest and most influential philosophers- critics of the world; and his magnum opus, the Poetics is possibly the most famous treatise in Western literary criticism. As Atkins has said,

“The miracle of ‘The Poetics’ is that it contains so much that is of permanence universal interest.”

In this critical book Aristotle cleverly defended poetry from the charges made by Plato He reinterpreted doctrines made by Plato and gave fresh meanings and views on dramatic art. He took tragedy as the most representative form of art. For him tragedy was a grand type of forms of all arts.

HIS OBSERVATIONS ON POETRY:

Aristotle opens The Poetics by defining poetry as Mimesis or Imitation. Aristotle had taken the terms from his teacher Plato.  According to Aristotle imitation is a creative process. In it, the poet draws the material from the phenomenal world. In this way, poet, instead of coping makes something new out of it.

·         IMITATION( The common base of all arts)

In Aristotle views, it is the principle of imitation, which unifies poetry with other fine arts. Imitation is the common base of all arts.

·         IMITATION(Medium and manner)

In the very first chapter of THE POETICS, points out how poetry and other arts differ from one another. He gives the difference considering the medium and manner. Thus, the medium of poet and the painter is different. The poet imitates through language, rhythm and harmony of words while the other imitates through form and colours.

·         Nature and Object of Poetic Imitation:

As regarded to the object of imitation, Aristotle says that the object of poetic imitation is to imitate man in action. The post imitates men not as they are but as they ought to be. According to his theory of imitation.

 Imitation is not a mere photographic representation.

According to Aristotle, imitation means a creation of something , according the idea. He says that an artist imitates because he gets pleasure in imitation. Here Aristotle differs from Plato’s aim of poetry that ‘To teach’. In brief the poet imitates the reality and reconstructs it with his imagination. Therefore imitation is highly necessary for the creation of literary art.

·         SCOPE OF IMITATION:

The object of imitation is the man in action. The action may be internal or external. The poet’s such human experiences emotions and passions are depicted in poetry which can happen in every man. So, the scope of imitation is endless. In this way, Aristotle gives a complete interpretation of the entire nation of imitation and then he comes to tragedy.

THE DEFINITION OF TRAGEDY:

Aristotle’s definition of tragedy in Prof. Butcher’s rendering is as follows:

“Tragedy then is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete and of a certain magnitude, in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornaments, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action not of narrative, through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions.”

According to Aristotle the first most important aspect of a tragedy is imitation. Tragedy imitates ‘actions’. He says,

“Tragedy is not an imitation of persons, that is to say, of what people have in them… but of action and of life and life consists of action.”

The good and serious action include all human actions, or activities like deeds, thoughts and feelings. The action should be serious enough to arouse the emotions of pity and fear.  It should be ‘complete’. That is it should have a beginning, a middle which logically follows the beginning and the middle. The action for the plot of a tragedy should be of a ‘certain magnitude’. By this Aristotle means that it should not be very large or very small. It should be of such a size that it can show the hero passing through certain stages from misfortune to happiness or from happiness to misfortune.

However, the author should keep in mind the limitations of human memory. Aristotle then comments on diction and language of plot. He believes that the language should be artistic and appropriate throughout the play. He places special emphasis on the use of metaphors. Aristotle then reminds us that tragedy is meant to be enacted on stage and hence emphasis should be on action rather than narration.

According to Aristotle, the function of a tragedy is to arouse the emotion of pity and fear, and in this way to affect the ‘Catharsis’ of these emotions. ‘Catharsis’ is on Greek means purgation. Thus the emotions of pity and fear are purged and the audience gains emotional health. So, the purpose of imitation is to bring out the purgation of excess emotions of us.

CONSTITUENT PARTS OF TRAGEDY:

Having examined a complete definition of tragedy, Aristotle shows its formative or constitutional parts, which are as under

•      Plot

•      Character

•      Thought

•      Diction

•      Melody, music, song

•      Spectacle

PLOT:

According to Aristotle, The first essential, the life and soul, so to speak of tragedy, Is plot. He defines it as,  The combination of the incidents or things done in the story. Aristotle says that plot is superior to all other parts. Aristotle insists on the magnitude of the plot. In a good plot the action must be shown convincing and credible. According to Aristotle there are three kinds of plot Episodic, simple and complex. And he considers complex plot as the best for tragedy.

CHARACTER:

As regarding to the character Aristotle lays down on four essential qualities. The character must be good but not thoroughly good or not thoroughly bad. The character must be appropriate to the action and the story of tragedy. The character must have life- likeness. The character must have consistency.

THOUGHT:

Thought is the intellectual want in a tragedy. It is expressed through the speech of character. Tragic dramatists present his views on life through the mouth of tragic character. In this way thought conveys the character’s error and mental development.

DICTION:

According to Aristotle,

It is diction, which distinguishes a good writer from the ordinary writer.

Diction should be embellished and of the higher level, the poet should use artistic ornaments, such as symbols, metaphors, images, and figures of speeches etc. Moreover it should be simple without being cheap and grand without being complex.

SONG AND MELODY:

It is the musical aspect of tragedy. He values ‘spectacle’ very low for which David Daiches points out the reason,

“Because Aristotle is concerned with essential meaning and value of a play not with techniques of getting that meaning and value across to an audience.”

CONCEPT OF TRAGIC HERO:

The emotions of pity and fear is possible only when the tragic hero is an appropriate person. Aristotle says, Pity is occasioned by undeserved misfortune and fear by that of one like ourselves. According to Aristotle, a tragic hero should not be a virtuous man who is lowered from prosperity to bad fortune. He should not be an impious man who is punished for his wickedness. The real tragedy which arouses the emotions of pity and fear in the spectator is possible when the hero is not exceedingly pious. However, the hero should not posses any vice or depravity. He comes to disaster because of some minor fault of his own. This fault is called ‘hamartia’ or ‘tragic flow’.

CONCLUSION:

Therefore, for Aristotle, the father of Western principles of literary criticism the grand type of all arts and imitation is not something which is false and by which the poets cheats us. It is something more than reality and the poet is a creator, not a culprit.