Name: Mital M. Raval
Roll No: 26
M.A. SEM: 1
Year: 2016 - 2018
Paper Name: Literary theory &
Criticism
Email Id: ravalmital5292@gmail.com
Assignment Topic: Six part of
tragedy
Submitted to: Dr. Dilip Barad
Department of
English
M .k. Bhavnagar
University
Six part of tragedy
Introduction :
Aristotle provides a definition of tragedy that we can
break up into seven parts : (1) it involves mimesis ; (2) it is serious ;(3)
the action is complete and with magnitude; (4) it is made up of language with
the “ aesthetic ornaments” of rhythm and harmony ; (5) these “aesthetic
ornaments” are not used uniformly throughout , but are introduce in separate
parts of the work ,so that,for instance some bits are spoken in verse and other
bits are sung; (6) it is performed rather than narrated; and (7) it arouses the
emotions of pity, fear and accomplishes a catharsis of these emotions.
Aristotle asserts that any tragedy can be divided into six component
parts and there is (A) the spectacle (opsis), which is the overall visual
appearance of the stage and the actors .The means of imitation can be divided
into (B) melody (song) and (c) diction (lexis) which has to do with the
composition of the verses of dialogues. The medium of action can be understood
in terms of (D) character (ethos) and (E) thought (dianoia). Thought seems to
denote the intellectual qualities of an agent while character seems to denote
the moral qualities (ethics) of an agent. Finally there is (f) the pot (fable)
which is the harmonious combination of incidents and action in the story.
Six part of tragedy
Aristotle divided tragedy into six component parts, there
is,
The plot
Plot is the “First principle” the most important
feature of tragedy and also soul of tragedy. Aristotle defines plot as “the
harmonious arrangement of the incidents” not the story itself but the way the incidents
are presented to the audience, According to Aristotle, “tragedies where the
outcome depends on a tightly constructed cause and effect chain of actions are
superior to those that primarily on the character and personality of the
protagonist”.Prof.Else rightly observes
“For plot is the structure of the play
and around
Which the material parts are laid as
the soul is
The structure of a man”.
(A.G.
George: Critic and Criticism)
Plots that meet this criterion will
have the following qualities:
(1)The plot must be “a whole” with a beginning,
middle, and end. The beginning called by modern critics the incentive moment
must start the cause and effect chain but not be depended on anything outside
the compass of the play. The middle or climax
must be caused by earlier incidents and itself cause the incidents that follow
it. The end or resolution must be caused by the precending events but not led
to other incidents outside the compass of the play.
(2) The plot must be “complete,” having
“unity of action”By this Aristotle means that he plot must be structurally
self-contained with the incident bound together by internal necessity, each
action leading inevitably to the next which no outside intervention .According
to Aristotle, the worst kinds of plot are “episodic, in which the episodes or
acts succeed one another without probable or necessary sequence”. Playwrights
shod “has an air of design”similarity the poet should exclude the irrational or
at least keep it “outside the scope of the tragedy.”
(3) The plot must be “of a certain
magnitude” both quantitatively and qualitatively. Aristotle argues that plots
should not be too brief; the more incidents and theme that the play Wright can
bring together in an organic unity, the greater the artistic value and richness
of the play.
(4)The plot may be either simple or
complex .simple plot has only a “change of intention”. Complex plots have both
“reversal of intention”. And “recognition” connected with the catastrophe. Both
peripeteia and anagnorisis turn upon surprise. Aristotle explains that
peripeteia occurs when a character produces an effect opposite to that which he
intended to produce or reversal of fortune, while an anagnorisis “is change
form ignorance to knowledge, producing love or hate between to the persons
destined for good or bad fortune.
(5) Aristotle goes to the extent of
saying that ‘without action there cannot be a tragedy; there may be without
character’. He explains it by saying that there can be tragedies which fail in
the rendering of character. Furthermore ‘if you string together a set speeches
expressive of character and well finished in point of diction and thought , you
will not produce the essential tragic effect nearly so well as with a play which
,however, deficient in these respects yet has a plot and artistically
constructed incidents.
(6)Aristotle argues that if you put
together group of speeches will not make a tragedy though the reading and
performing may be entertaining.
(7)Greek plays-man doomed before his
birth character is not destiny.
(8)Play without good plot is a play
without action, there would be no drama at all.
Character:
In a perfect tragedy, character will support plot. For
example, personal motivations will be intricately connected parts of the cause
and effect chain of actions producing pity and fear in the audience. Characters
in tragedy should have the following qualities
.
(1)Good
or Fine: Aristotle
relates this quality to moral purpose and says it is relative to class. “Even a
woman may be good, and also a slave, though the woman may be said to a slave,
though the woman may be said to be an inferior being and the slave quite
worthless”
.
(2)Fitness
of character: -
example valor is appropriate for a warrior but not for a woman.
(3)True
to life: true to
human nature.
(4)Consistency:
once a character’s
personality and motivation are established, there should continue throughout
the play.
(5)Necessary or probable: characters must be logically constrtucted according to
“the law of probability or necessity” that governes the actions of the play.
(6)True
to life and yet more beautiful.
Tragic hero :
Characteristic of tragic hero;
· A good man coming to bad end.
· A bad man coming to good end.
· A bad man coming to bad end.
· A rather good man coming to bad end.
Aristotle disqualifies two
Type of characters,
one is purely virtuous and another is thorough bad. There remains but one kind
of character, who can best satisfy this requirement. A man who is not eminently
good and just yet whose misfortune is not brought by vice or depravity but by
some error of frailty. His misfortune excites pity because it is out of all
proportion to his error of judgment and his overall goodness excites fear for
his doom
Tragic hero should
be a man of mixed character, neither blameless nor absolutely depraved. The
protagonist should be renowned and prosperous, so his change of fortune can be
form good to bad. The fall of such a man of eminence affects entire stat action
‘heaven themselves blazon forth the death of a king’.
Thus, it may beside by some writer to be the ‘tragic
flow’ of Oedipus that he was hasty in temper; of Samson that he was sensually
uxorious; of Macbeth that he was ambitious; of Othello that he was proud and
jealous; of Hamlet that he was man of inaction – these things do not constitute
the ‘Hamartia’ of those characters in Aristotle’s in sense.
Thought :
Thought is third important part of tragedy. It is found
“where something is proved to be or not to be, or a general maxim is about
thought and most of what he has to say is associated with how speeches should
reveal character. However we may assume that this category would also include
what we call the theme of a play.
The plot and character are
not important on their own account. There is the central thought in the play
towards which they other point. Says Aristotle: ‘Thought, on the other hand, is
shown in all they say when proving or disproving some universal point.
A play embodies the vision or the ideas of the
playwright. They are expressed through the characters and their speeches. It
must be noted that to ancient Greeks, literature was good only if it taught
some moral truth. There were differences among them as to what was truth. But
there was unanimity in that the function of literature was to teach along with
pleasing.
Diction :
Its means “The expression of the meaning in words” which are
proper and appropriate to the plot, characters and end of the tragedy. It is
also choice of words to embellish language with beautiful ornaments. In this category,
Aristotle discusses the stylistic elements of tragedy; he is particularly
interested in metaphors, but the greatest thing by far is to have a command of
metaphor; … it is the mark of genius, for to make good metaphors implies an eye
for resemblances”. In the modern since it means ‘choice of words’. He meant by
it use of various kinds of verses fit for evoking emotions which the poet
wanted to evoke.
Song or melody :
It is the
musical element of the chorus. Aristotle argues that the chorus should be fully
integrated into the play like an actor, chorus odes melodious lyrical dialogues
should not be “more interludes”, but should contribute to the unity of the plot
.It is, in a sense, a part of diction itself because its purpose is also that
of evoking and sometimes intensifying the emotional pitch of the spectators.
Choral melodious lyrical dialogues were
singular feature of the Greek tragedy. In fact, they were a necessity too in
the Greek technique of presentation and in the Greek open air theater. The
Greeks did not have painted scenery, or any other means of developing and
maintaining the grip of interest over the spectators. Poetry profoundly moving
lyrical poetry was all they have to arrest the attention of the audience. The
songs and dialogues sung out loud would pin the attention of the spectators in
the vast Greek theater on the spectacle, spur their imagination.
Spectacle :
“The production of spectacular effects
depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that on the of the
poet”. It is the technique of presentation in drama. It means that the medium
of tragedy is dramatic action; is it not narration. Tragedy is a matter of
stage-performance not of more closet-reading. Although Aristotle recognizes the
emotional attraction of spectacle, he argues that superior of the play rather
than spectacle to arouse pity on spectacle” create a sense, not of the terrible,
but only of the monstrous.
Conclusion :
Thus, we can say that plot is most important feature of
tragedy. Character reveals the individual motivations of the characters in the play,
what they want or don’t want. Thought which deals on more universal level with
reasoning and general truths. Melody and spectacle are simply pleasurable
accessories, but melody is more important than spectacle.
Reference:
The
Poetics; translated with a critical text by S.H.Butcher
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