Hello, I am Himanshi Parmar. Here i am writing a blog as a part of Thinking activity. In this blog i write about Aristotle's Poetics, about Aristotle, some of the text which are follows Aristotle's concepts, and some texts which are not follows.
Introduction :-
Before discussing about Aristotelian poetics, it is very important to discuss that what is poetics. According to Oxford Dictionary, poetics is :
"The art of writing poetry."
"Poetics is the study of linguistic technique in poetry and literary."
"Poetics is the theory of literary forms and literary discourse. "
Meaning of poetics :-
The term poetics derives from the Ancient Greek word poietikos, it means "pertaining to poetry", also "creative" and "productive".In the Western world, the development and evolution of poetics featured three artistic movements concerned with poetical composition:
1) the formalist,
(2) the objectivist,
(3) the Aristotelian.
During the Romantic era, poetics tended toward expressionism and emphasized the perceiving subject. Twentieth-century poetics returned to the Aristotelian paradigm, followed by trends toward meta-criticality, and the establishment of a contemporary theory of poetics. Eastern poetics developed lyric poetry, rather than the representational mimetic poetry of the Western world.
About Aristotle :-
Aristotle (c. 384 B.C. to 322 B.C.) was an Ancient Greek philosopher and scientist who is still considered one of the greatest thinkers in politics, psychology and ethics. When Aristotle turned 17, he enrolled in Plato’s Academy. In 338, he began tutoring Alexander the Great. In 335, Aristotle founded his own school, the Lyceum, in Athens, where he spent most of the rest of his life studying, teaching and writing. Some of his most notable works include Nichomachean Ethics, Politics, Metaphysics, Poetics and Prior Analytics.
Aristotle's Poetics :-
Aristotle, a greek philosopher wrote a book named 'Poetics', written around 335 B.C. it was a time of classical period. John Dryden said about Aristotle that, "Aristotle is first literary critic." But before him, Plato also used proved as a well known critic. Plato wrote his book called, 'Republic', and in this book he wrote that "All poets are liers". And to the contrast this concept, Aristotle wrote a book named, 'Poetics'.
Aristotle believes that criticism means to judge. But creation is must needed, to criticise something. So according to him creation comes first than criticism. Here again he create contrast with his Teacher Plato. In his work Poetics, Aristotle discuss about dramatic theories, poetry, variations in poetry, Tragedy, Plot, Tragic hero, and epic poetry. Mainly in his book Aristotle wrote about three main forms :
1) Epic
2) Tragedy
3) Comedy
Firstly he wrote about poetry. And qualities and structure of poetry, and also noted that how to divide poetry in various parts. He give one vary famous definition of poetry,
"Poetry is an art of imitation".
It means all poets are imitators. They imitate the things which they found in the world, in the nature, in the human behavior, and what they feel. They reflects that all in their poetry. And thats why poetry also have it's own importance and also poet have certain kind of importance. They are not liers, wrote Aristotle.
Aristotle in his book divided poetry in various parts like,
1) Epic poetry
2) Tragedy
3) Comedy
4) music Poetry
When it origin, it was divided in two parts :
1) for nobles
2) for means
Mainly the poetry which was written in tragedy, focuses on upperclass or noble people. But Poetry which written in Comic way are quite different. It focuses on middle class people and lower class people. And by thik kind of writing they used to mock on lower and middle class people and they mannerless behaviour. But in tragedy, hero or we can say protagonist must taken from upper, noble class. And the end of this kind of hero creats catharsis among audience. And that's why Aristotle tell that tragedy is superior than comedy. Comedy is shown as a vulgar, trivial thing but tragedy has it's own value.
Aristotle also show difference between Tragedy and epic poetry.
Tragedy
1- Limitations of time.
2- Complete in Fix time.
3 - no single miter.
4- plot, Character, thought, diction, song and spectacle.
5- written in various forms.
6- show action in dramatic form
7- superior
Epic poetry
1- no limitations of time.
2- single type of meter.
3- no use of songs and spectacles.
4- not placed in particular place.
5- written in Hexameter
6- speak in verse narration form.
7- less important than tragedy.
According to Aristotle, tragedy is superior than Epic comedy and than any other form of poetry. Because its includes Plot, characters, thoughts, diction, songs, and spectacles. Among which plot is most important in tragedy. Because it is only thing which help to create Hamartia. But if we see in epic poetry, it is not use songs and spectacle. And might be because that reason it seems less interesting.
Tragedy has a limitation of time. But epic poetry is a long poem. Written in hundreds of lines and because of that it is not possible to perform it at one time. So it has no boundaries and time limit. Epic poetry uses single type of meter. But Tragedy use different kind of meters. Epic poetry should written in Hexameter.and speak in verse narration form. But for tragedy, it is not written in one particular form. It must be written in various forms. Tragedy mainly show action in dramatic form. This how Aristotle differentiate tragedy and Epic poetry.
With reference to the literary texts you have studied during B.A. programme, write brief note on the texts which followed Aristotelian literary tradition (i.e. his concept of tragedy, catharsis, tragic hero with hamartia etc)
And
With reference to the literary texts you have studied during B.A. programme, write brief note on the texts which did NOT follow Aristotelian literary tradition. (i.e. his concept of tragedy, catharsis, tragic hero with hamartia etc.)
1) Othello
(1) Hamartia :-
Othello was a powerful leader who deeply loved his faithful wife. He was tricked into believing his wife had cheated on him. His suspicion then overpowered him and he murdered his wife in a jealous rage, never even giving her a chance to defend herself. When he discovers he was deceived, he remains a noble character. He realized everything was his own fault and punished himself by committing suicide. In this case, Othello's hamartia, or internal tragic flaw, is his extreme jealousy. It is this jealousy that enables him to be tricked and allows him to create his own destruction.
(2) Catharsis :-
Othello– while at the time it was written, it was considered one of the best examples of catharsis. However, this may not hold true anymore as, given the importance of relatability, context is also very important to catharsis.
At the end of the play, Othello has a catharsis and realises Iago led him astray, and that it was his own trust, naivete, and jealousy that led him to take Desdemona’s life. His tragic flaw was that he blindly trusted a friend. The Elizabethan audience can immediately relate to it, as in Elizabethan era Britain, war and betrayals were all too common and the common folk were used to seeing monarchs and leaders die at the hands of people they believed to be friends. When they watched Othello, they could relate both to the setting and his betrayal immediately.
Othello’s catharsis results in his suicide, and the audience feels his betrayal– realising that trusting a friend blindly can have severe consequences. The audience thus never needs to experience the feeling of betrayal in reality, as Othello’s catharsis has taught them to be more aware. In a way, they are ‘purged’ of the unhealthy feelings that would result from betrayal. For the present day audience, given the setting of the play, Othello may not be as relatable and his catharsis may not necessarily translate into their own catharsis.
This proved the words of Aristotle that time and plot is most important in tragedy.
Tragic hero and tragedy :-
Shakespeare's play, “Othello, the Moor of Venice,” is a powerful example of a tragedy and it’s main character, Othello, is an excellent illustration of what Aristotle constitutes as a tragic hero. The play imitates life through basic human emotions such as jealousy and rage. In addition, Othello is far from being a perfect character - another quality that meets Aristotle's requirements. Othello also matches Aristotle's ideas of tragic hero because our Othello realizes the error of his ways, causing us to feel sympathy for him. If we carefully examine the third scene in the third act, we can see how Othello fits into Aristotle's definition of tragic hero. This passage reveals how much Othello has deteriorated as far as his ability to reason or consider things with Desdemona logically. Humanity seems to unravel in this scene as we watch Othello experience a myriad of emotions that only push him closer to the proverbial edge. We feel fear, sympathy, and pity as we watch the man transform before our eyes
Not followed Aristotle :-
low the idea of what Aristotle had for the perfect tragedy. Greek tragedies had a musical element that “Othello, the Moor of Venice” lacked.
2) All my sons
Chris sees it as a reminder of his brother, with it standing he cannot live in peace with his fiance, Ann.
Joe ignores the tree because it is a reminder of the son he lost possibly of his own doing. This thing shows peripeteia in 'All my sons.'
Catharsis :-
All My Sons is the epitome of the modern tragedy. While adhering to the elements of an Aristotelian tragedy, Miller expresses new truth and perspective on the original definition of the tragedy. Miller provides us with the common hero to illustrate that tragedy is found in everyday life. The audience understands that tragedy can exist over a two day period in a small suburban town in America. Tragedy is relative to the human experience rather than the aristocratic experience.
Catharsis according to Aristotle, is a release of emotions, especially pity and fear, at the end of the play. In All my Sons, the audience does develop a sense of pity for the characters and their hardships as well as fear for their futures, but there is no clear catharsis. After Joe dies, Chris is left with a sense of guilt for his father's death and the mother is left grieving for both her dead son and now her dead husband. The audience does not get the satisfaction of releasing their emotions, but is rather left with tension and curiosity.
Tragedy in All my sons :-
All My Sons by Arthur Miller has been argued by many to be a modern tragedy while others claim that his play, All My Sons, cannot be considered a tragedy. However, to truly debate if Miller was able to created a modern tragedy, one must first know what a tragedy is. “Tragedy”, as first coined by Aristotle, a famous Greek philosopher, is defined as a play that portrays the fall of a good character because of a catastrophic mistake by the protagonist. A true tragedy must also evoke pity and fear in the audience which is called catharsis. A tragedy incorporates a tragic hero which must be the protagonist who is neither entirely good nor pure evil and this tragic hero or protagonist must be consistent and realistic as to relate to the audience. We find fall of good character in All my son. As fall of father of Chris.
But some how we find that it is not totally a Aristotelian tragedy. Because it fails to create catharsis among people.
Conclusion :-
Here we see that Aristotle in his poetics, give a definition of tragedy, definition is “Tragedy,” says Aristotle, “is an imitation [mimēsis] of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude…through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation [catharsis] of these emotions.” through this definition he give certain rules for tragedy.like importance of Hamartia, Catharsis, Tragedy and end of Tragedy etc. Which we discussed here with reference of several texts.
Words :- 2032
References:-
1) sparksnotes.com
2) Wikipedia.com
3) biography.com
4) 123helpme.com
5) study.com
6) prezi.com
Good described 👌 keep it up 👍
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