Topic: “Poetics” by Aristotle
NAME : SRUSHTIKUMARI ZINABHAI CHAUDHARI
ROLL NO : 40
CLASS : MA, SEM– 1
YEAR : 2024-25
SUBMITTED TO : DR. DILIP SIR BARAD
MKBU,
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH,
BHAVNAGAR.
''POETICS'' BY ARISTOTLE
INTRODUCTION:
Aristotle born in 384 BC (Stagira, Greece) and died in 322 BC ( Chalcis, Greece ) . Aristotle is a towering figure in ancient Greek philosophy, who made important contributions to logic, criticism, rhetoric, physics, biology, psychology, mathematics, metaphysics, ethics, and politics. He was a student of Plato for twenty years but is famous for rejecting Plato's theory of forms. In the fourth century BC, Plato was a great disciple of Socrates, was the first critic who examined poetry as a part of his moral philosophy. When he examines poetry, his powerful weapon-he believed that the poetry is rather moral and not aesthetic. He became confused.
Aristotle’s Poetics is one of the most outstanding works of European thought. It was Aristotle who started an analysis of poetry and the drama. All worthwhile criticism from his own time to the present day stems either directly or indirectly from him.
Poetics is a treatise of about fifty pages, containing twenty-six chapters. It is believed to have had a second part which is lost. Aristotle undertakes to examine the nature and differentiating qualities of imaginative literature with a view to demonstrate that it is true, serious and useful. It seems that he was more interested in tragedy rather than epic or comedy.
Like many important documents in the history of philosophy and literary theory, He adopted two major works, they are:
1. Rhetoric.
2. Poetics.
Aristotle's Poetics, composed around 330 BCE, was most likely preserved in the form of students' lecture notes. This brief text, through its various interpretations and applications from the Renaissance onward, has had a profound impact on Western aesthetic philosophy and artistic production.
ARISTOTLE'S DEFINITION OF TRAGEDY :
" Tragedy is representation of an action, which is serious, complete in it self, and of a certain length, it is expressed in speech made beautiful in different parts of the play , it is acted, not narrated : and by exciting pity and fear , it gives a healthy relief to such emotion."
The definition is compact. Every word of it is pregnant with meaning. All art is representation (imitation) of life, but none can represent life in its totality. Therefore, an artist has to be selective in representation. He must aim at representing or imitating an aspect of life or a fragment of life. A tragedy presented on the stage should be complete or self-contained with a proper beginning, proper middle and proper end. A beginning is that before which the audience or the reader does not need to be told anything to understand the story. If something more is required to understand the story than the beginning gives, it is unsatisfactory. From it follows the middle. In their turn the events from the middle lead to the end. Thus the story becomes a compact and self-sufficient one. It must not leave the impression that even after the end the action is still to be continued, or that before the action starts certain things remain to be known.
Six parts of 'Tragedy':
After discussing the definition of tragedy, Aristotle explores various important parts of tragedy. He asserts that any tragedy can be divided into six constituent parts.
They are:
• Plot,
• Character,
• Thought,
• Diction,
• Song,
• Spectacle
Plot :
The Plot is the most important part of a tragedy. The Plot means ‘the arrangement of the incidents’. Normally the plot is divided into five acts, and each Act is further divided into several scenes. The dramatist’s main skill lies in dividing the plot into Acts and Scenes in such a way that they may produce the maximum scenic effect in a natural development.
Character:
Characters are men and women who act. The hero and the heroine are two important figures among the characters.
Thought :
Thought means what the characters think or feel during their career in thee development of the plot. The thought is expressed through their speeches and dialogues.
Diction :
Diction is the medium of language or expression through which the characters reveal their thoughts and feelings. The diction should be ‘embellished with each kind of artistic element’.
Song :
The song is one of these embellishments. The decoration of the stage is the major part of thep Spectacle.
Spectacle:
The Spectacle is theatrical effect presented on the stage. But spectacle also includes scenes of physical torture, loud lamentations, dances, colourful garments of the main characters, and the beggarly or jocular appearance of the subordinate characters or of the fool on the stage.
Aristotle's theory of 'Hamartia':
Aristotle said that if the hero was completely had, we have no sympathy for him when he is suffering. We may not feel pity for him. However, we may be shocked, when he suffers, if he is completely a good man. We may feel that there is no justice in the world. So, the hero of a tragedy should be ' good but not to o good'. This means that he should have some weakness in his character. Aristotle used the word 'Hamartia' for this. This means that the protagonist of a tragedy should have some weakness which brings about his fall. Sometimes the hero of a tragedy suffers because he is unable to tackle the situation owing to his weakness. For example, Hamlet was indecisive, and this becomes the cause of his tragic fall. Had there bean Othello in place of Hamlet or Hamlet in place of Othello, there would have been no tragedy.
The hamartia of the protagonist leads to the complication in a plot and a sudden revelation (recognition) of that flaw, or anagnorisis intensifies the complication. This revelation reverses the protagonist's fortunate fate into an unfortunate one, known as peripeteia that ultimately leads to catastrophe or a tragic end of the life of the hero.
Example : Othello, Othello (by William Shakespeare)
Othello undoubtedly meets the first criteria of a good man. When Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, sends a squad of armed guards to attack Othello after he learns from Iago that Othello has married his daughter, Othello does not get angry and treats both the soldiers and Brabantio with respect. Othello believes that he did nothing wrong, and his reputation proves his thoughts. Othello also fits Aristotle’s second criterion of a tragic hero. He occupied a worthy position in the army of his country. Othello was a highly respected general, serving in the Venetian army. Othello was a man of great power and influence, respected by his peers and subjects alike, making him a suitable tragic hero.
The third characteristic, as Aristotle argued, is fidelity to life. Othello is authentic, showing emotions that most people would experience in real life. Like any man, he feels jealousy, love, anger, guilt, and hatred. Othello taking Iago’s words as fact without checking their authenticity is a folly committed by all people at some point in their lives, especially when their spouse’s fidelity is questioned. The fourth and final criterion for deciding who the tragic hero is, is the sequence of the person’s actions. Othello is unfailingly in love with his wife Desdemona until jealousy fuels him. Othello is invariably shown as a brave man, and he is also very sorry that the Ottoman forces retreated, as he wanted to show Desdemona his bravery. Othello consistently calls Iago “honest” and gives him many chances to prove Desdemona’s wrong character. He also stays true to his good character when he realizes the terrible crime committed by not trusting his wife; as a result, he punishes himself and commits suicide.Simultaneously causing the audience to feel fear and empathy.
"Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul/But I do love thee! And when I love thee not,/Chaos is come again."
Othello says this about Desdemona just before Iago "tempts" him in the garden. It is an expression of Othello's love for her, but also foreshadows the "perdition" or damnation to which Othello falls when he gives in to Iago's temptation.
Conclusion
Based on the conducted analysis, it can be concluded that Othello meets all the criteria for a tragic hero offered by Aristotle. Greek literary traditions influenced Shakespeare’s image of the tragic hero. Othello is an excellent example of the traditional Aristotelian tragic hero as far as his destiny and inner suffering directly reflect the patterns explained by Aristotle. The emotional conflict and the personal fall under the impact of the external circumstances and internal characteristics result in Othello’s doom.
Thank you
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