The artistic ornament in a diction implies the rhythm, harmony and song. Rhythm and harmony in verse may be used to develop some parts and song to imply others. They are all designed to enrich the language of the play to make it more effective. There are a few aspects included in a tragedy and omitted in an epic.
Tragedy
Form of action
Needs much greater concentration
Has all the elements which an epic has
More effective
Has music and spectacle
Reality of presentation
Unity of action
The tale is told with the help of living/moving character
The speeches and action make the tale
The dramatist is nowhere seen
Intended to be acted and read
Epic
Artistic ornament
Lengthy
Certain elements of tragedy are not seen
More comprehensive and varied
Lack of music and spectacle
Reality and unity are missing here
Has only rhythm, harmony and song
Narrator of the story is the poet
The poet is free to speak in his own person or in the likeness of the character. Only to read
The Structure of the Plot
A plot is the soul of the tragedy. It rules out plurality of action. The artistic arrangement of incidents is of prime importance in it.
Unity of Time
The tragedy should confine itself as far as possible to a single revolution of the sun, i.e., conformity of the time taken by the events of the place. A good tragic plot has to arouse the emotion of pity and fear in the spectator or the reader. Pity, for the undeserved sufferings of the hero and fear of the worst that may happen to him. The change of fortune should not be from bad to good, but reversely from good to bad. The unhappy ending is the only right ending for it is the most tragic in it effect. A happy ending may please us more, but it will not afford the true tragic pleasure aroused by the pity and fear it follows. Therefore, that the events comprising the plots will concern only one man and not more. There are two ways in which the emotions may be aroused – by spectacular and more theatrical effects and by the inner structure of the plot. “For, the plot ought to be so constructive that even without the aid of the eye, he who hears the tale told will thrill with horror and melt to pity at what takes place”.
Peripeteia
It is a deed done in blindness defeating its own purpose. Reversal of action or intention.
Anagnorisis
It is the recognition or discovery of truth, i.e., discovery of the false moves taking in ignorance., i.e., change from ignorance to knowledge.
There are 3 elements in a tragic plot which is titled as ‘Reversal Discovery and Calamity’ by Aristotle.
- Reversal is a change from one to its opposite.
- Discovery as the word itself indicates a discovery is a change from ignorance to knowledge and it leads either to love or to hatred between persons destined for good or ill fortune. The discovery of this kind with a reversal will carry with it either pity or fear
- Suffering or calamity of these three, reversal and discovery are essentially related to the plot and action of the play and so is calamity. A calamity is an action of a destructive or painful nature such as death openly represented, excessive suffering, wounding and the like.
Main Parts of a Tragedy
- Prologue – the whole part of a tragedy that precedes the parode, or the first entry of the chorus.
- Episode – it is the whole of that part of a tragedy that comes between complete choral songs.
- The Exode – it is the whole of that part of a tragedy which is not followed by a song of the chorus.
- Chorus – is divided into parode (the first entry of the chorus) and stasimon which is a choral song
Kinds of Tragedy
Four kinds of a tragedy are – complex, suffering, character and spectacular.
Tragic Hero
Aristotle says,“good men should not be shown passing from prosperity to misery, for, this does not inspire fear or pity, it merely disgusts us”.
“Nor should evil man be shown progressing from misery to prosperity. This is the most untragic of all plots, for, it has none of the requisites of a tragedy; it does not appeal to our humanity or awake in pity or fear in us.”
“Nor again should an utterly worthless man be seen falling from prosperity to misery. This may not arouse either pity or fear; for, our pity is awakened by undeserved misfortune, and our fear by that of someone just like ourselves – pity for the undeserving sufferer.”
Ideal tragic hero – “there remains a mean between these two extremes. This is the sort of man who is not conspicuous for virtue and justice, and whose fall into misery is not due to vice and depravity but rather to some error”.
Hamartia
According to Aristotle, a tragic hero is one who falls from high state or fame not through vice of depravity but by some great hamartia. It is an error of judgement.
An ideal tragedy results from – human error, error on the part of friends and relatives, error on the part of hero himself and the calamity due to the false move blindly made by a friend or kinsman or by himself.
Characters of a Tragedy
First and foremost is that the character should be good. Secondly, the place of portrayal should be appropriate. Thirdly, the characters should be lifelike. Fourthly, they should be consistent. The unravelling of the plot should arise from the circumstances of the plot. The dues ex machina should be used only for matters outside the play proper, either for things that happened before it and that cannot be known by the human characters, or things that are yet to come and that require to be foretold prophetically – for, we allow to the Gods the power to see all things.
“Since tragedy is a representation of people who are better than the average, they must be presented well… in portraying men who are hot tempered or phlegmatic or who have other defects of character, must bring out these qualities in them, and at the same time show them as descent people.”
Different Kinds of Discovery
The first is the least artistic and is mostly used from sheer lack of invention, this is discovery by means of visible science or tokens. The second class of discoveries are those which are manufactured by the poet and which are inartistic for that reason. A third kind of discovery is due to memory. The fourth kind is the result of reasoning. Of all the forms of discovery, the least is that which is brought about by the incidents themselves, even the startling disclosure results from events that are probable.
Phallic Songs
Are sung in honor of Dionysus, the God of fertility. Comedy represents men as worse than they are and ridicule the general vices. They are merely men of ugliness. By calling them worse, which Aristotle means that they are men with, “some defect which is not painful or destructive”. Its main function is to provoke laughter; no personal attacks and no kind of malicious pleasure is involved. It represents what has happened but what may happen.
Aristotle’s Style of Writing
He considers two things in the style of writing – clarity and propriety (a suitable way of writing). The objective of writing is to communicate the meaning and must be intelligible. The same mode of writing cannot be used and for this propriety is important. For, intelligibility, current words can be used for the understanding of the people. In order to gain dignity and be stately, unfamiliar words can be used which will surprise the readers as well as gives a kind of novelty to the person. For poetry – compound words can be used, for an epic – rare and unfamiliar words can be used and for drama – metaphorical language that will be close to the everyday use by the people. A perfect poetic style uses words of all kinds in a judicious combination.
Defects of Aristotle’s Poetics There are certain defects in Aristotle’s Poetics as it is fragmentary in nature. There is no proportionate discussion in it. He places a tragedy above an epic and has ignored the lyrical poetry and descriptive poetry. The effects of comedy and epic have been slightly treated and a larger part of the discussion is devoted to tragedy alone. The style is telegraphic and highly concentrated. There is often the signs of hesitation and uncertainty in the use of terminology. His theories are based exclusively on Greek poetry and drama.