Aristotle's definition of Tragedy , six parts of Tragedy and Catharsis

Aristotle's definition of Tragedy

Aristotle was a philosopher. He was philosopher of ancient Greece. He was highly philosophical idea and views. He asks and tried to show reality of the world. The search for ideal forms laid Aristotle to explore many subject. His analysis of the ideal form of tragic play became a guideline for later playwrights in western civilization. Many we western writer used to follow ideals of Aristotle’s model. Shakespeare also tried to follow rules of Aristotle’s.

Drama was not invented by Aristotle. In fact, he used examples from the works of famous Greek playwright such as Sophocles to illustrate his main ideas. The Greek believed that tragedy was the high form of drama and Aristotle’s ideas about tragedy were based on his belief.

Tragedy: -

- An event in life that evokes feelings of sorrow of grief.

- A disastrous circumstance or event.

“A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself;  in appropriate and pleasurable language…in dramatic rather than the narrative form; with incident arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish a catharsis of this emotion.

                                                                                                -  By Aristotle

Let’s clarify the definition of the Aristotle’s……

* “The imitation of n action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself”

            This lines shows that a good tragedy should have one issue that is very serious. You can’t have a tragedy about something trivial breaking a fingernail. Magnitude deals with the importance. The issue has to be serious and very important. So tragedies deal with sorrow or someone’s death. Complete in itself means that play must stick to the one issue; otherwise, the audience will get lost in the plot.

* “In appropriate and pleasurable language”

            In ancient time, chorus was used to narrate story of some parts of play, their role was to comment on the action of the play. Sometimes they sing a song. Language which is used by chorus should be rhyming and pleasurable to the audience. So the language should be appropriate and pleasurable.

* “In dramatic rather than the narrative form”

The language which is used by chorus should be dramatic language, because narrative form becomes complicated and suitable form. So, chorus has to use dramatic form rather than narrative form. To narrate a story is simply to tell the story, like weekend. In a play, the story must be dramatized or acted out.

* “With incident arousing pity and fear”

The ancient of play would be having some element of sorrow. The audience has to sympathy with main character. In a tragedy, the events or episodes in the play should lead the audience to feel very sorry for the main character - The tragic hero. The audience should also feel afraid for the hero as he moves toward destructive end.

* “Wherewith to accomplish a catharsis of this emotion”

Catharsis: -  

                 A purifying of the emotion s that is brought about in the audience of               

Tragic drama through the evocation of intense fear and pity

Means that during and after watching play audience has to feel catharsis, the audience has to successfully felt pity and fear. As the play moves along, the event should build up the emotion of pity and fear. A catharsis is a purging, or cleansing of emotion - a release of tension, in a tragedy. This is often a moment of revelation when the tragic hero “falls flat on his face” and the audience can finally “explode”.

So, as per above clarification, we can analyze the definition of Tragedy.

Aristotle’s Element of Tragedy

·         Element of Tragedy (six parts of Tragedy)

(1)        Plot:-

(2)        Character:-

(3)        Thought:-

(4)        Diction:-

(5)        Melody:-

(6)        Spectacle:-

Let’s discuss all element of tragedy one by one. And discuss importance and role of them into tragedy.

                     

(1) Plot:-

Plot is soul of tragedy. It was the most important of six elements. The plot must be complete having unity of action. Aristotle said that plot must be structurally self contained, with the incident bound together by internal necessity, each action leading inevitably to the next with no outside intervention. No deu ex machine. There must be good chain of unity of action.

(i)                 Time

(ii)        Place

(ii)               Action

The episode or acts succeed one another without probable and necessary sequence. The only thing that ties together the events in such a plot is the fact that they happen to the same person. Playwrights should make all scenes which depend on past accident. They have to exclude coincidence from their plot. Plot may be either simple or complex, although complex is better.

(2) Character:-

Character is another important element of tragedy. Character may be mouthpiece of writer. Every character may have their own contribution to develop plot and play, their quality or nature that is revealed in the plot. The purpose of each character must be clear to the audience.

-           Character should have following qualities.

 “Good or fine”

 This quality shows morality of character. That whatever protagonist is, it should have moral values. The character must be good and fine someway.

“True to Type (Fitness of Character)”

 This quality tells that character should be true type. That his body and physique would be suitable as per requirement of character.

e.g. – Valor is appropriate for a warrior bit nit for woman.

“True to Life (Realistic)”

According to this quality character should be realistic. They have to avoid fancy matter in character. The character ha to o live in real life and near surroundings and it must have reality.

“Consistency (True to Himself)”

Each character must act consistently throughout the play. In other words, nothing should be one or said that could be seen as ‘acting out of character’.

(3) Thought

It is also called ass theme of play. Theme of play is considered as thought. There is also useful theme in every play. Thought is the power of saying whatever can be said and should be said at each moment of the plot. Do the lines spoken by actors make sense? Are they saying what should be said at each particular moment in the play?

(4) Diction:-

It is fourth and important elements of tragedy.

Diction means Composition of dialogue - Choice of word.

The word contains meaning the clarity with which somebody pronounce words of the meaning in the words which are proper and appropriate to the plot, character, and end of the tragedy. In this category artist discusses the stylistic elements of tragedy; is particularly interested in metaphors; but the greatest thing by far is to have a comment of metaphor….It is the mark of genius, for to make good metaphors implies an eye for resembles.

- Application to Oedipus the King.

(5) The Spectacles (Opsis):-

(6) Melody (Melos):-

Both elements are accessories. The ancient Greek writer used melody songs sometimes. They used musical accompaniment. Aristotle said that the music has to blend in the play appropriately. Writer should include the musically expressive quality of something in the pay., especially like Poetry….

-          Spectacles is last; for it is least connected with literature; “the production of spectacular effects depends machinist than on that of poet.

-          It is somebody or something that attracts attention by being unpleasant or ridicules.

-          Aristotle recognizes the emotional attraction of spectacle, he argues that superior poet rely on the inner structure of the play rather than spectacles to arouse pity and fear; those who rely heavily on spectacle “crate a sense, not of the terrible, but only monstrous.

*catharsis*

Catharsis is a function of literature. It is a process to viewer or reader.

-          The aesthetic pleasure one gests from contemplating the pity and fear that are aroused through an intricately constructed works of art.

-          According to Aristotle, a purifying of the emotion that is brought about in the audience of a tragic drama through the evocation of intense fear and pity.  Catharsis as moderating or Tempe fulfillment or satisfaction.

The meaning of Catharsis

“First there has been age-long controversy about Aristotle’s meaning, though it has almost always been accepted that whatever he meant was profoundly right. Many, for example, have translated catharsis as ‘purification’, ‘correction refinement’, ‘reingung’ or like. It has been suggested that our pity and fear are ‘purified ‘in the theatre by becoming disinterested. It is  bad to be selfish sentimental, timid and querulous; but it is good to pity Othello or to fear for Hamlet. Our selfish emotion has been sublimated. All this is most edifying; but it does not appear to be what Aristotle intended.”

§  By F. L. Lucas

-          There is strong evidence that catharsis is not ‘purification’ but ‘purgation’. Purgation has become radically misleading to modern minds. Inevitably we think of purgatives and complete evacuation of water products; and then outraged critics ask why our emotions should be so ill treated.

-        

  But catharsis means purgation, not in the modern, but in the older, wilder English sense which includes the partial removal of excess ‘humor’. To translate catharsis as purgation is misleading meaning. The theory of humor is outdated in the medical science. “Purgation” has assumed different meaning. It is no longer what Aristotle has in mind.

The passions to be moderated are these of pity and fears to be moderated are again, of specific kind. There can never be an excess in the pity that results into a useful action. But there can be too much pity as an helpless feeling, and there can be also too much of self pity which is not a praise worthy virtue. The catharsis or moderation of such pity out to be achieved in the theater otherwise when possible, for such moderation keeps the mind in a healthy state of balance.  

“There are Besides fear and pity the allied impulses which is also are to be moderated Grief, Weakness, Contemplate, Blame these I take to be the sort of thing that Aristotle meant by feelings of that sort. “

§  By F. L. Lucas

As per above discussion we can say that the element of Tragedy is useful to develop plot. It gives contribution to raise action off drama.