Aristotle

 Aristotle 

✓Aristotle was one of the greatest philosophers in the history of mankind

✓Born in the 4th century at Stagira in Macedonia

✓ At the age of eighteen, he enrolled himself in Plato’s Academy in Athens.There, he exhibited outstanding intellect and wit

✓Aristotle’s ideas and concepts had such profundity that even intellectual revolutions like the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment were not able to abate their influence on Western thinking. 

✓His other works like, The History of Animals, On the Parts of Animals, and On the Generation of Animals, have garnered much praise from scientists of all ages. 

✓In his lifetime, Aristotle wrote around four hundred books, the topics of which span over various aspects of human knowledge.

✓Some of his notable works were: Categories, De Interpretation, Prior Analytics, Posterior Analytics, Sophistical Refutations, Physics, Metaphysics, De Anima, History of Animals, Generation of Animals, Meteorology, Progression of Animals,Generation of Animals. 

SUMMARY OF THE POETICS

The Poetics is one of the most seminal texts written in ancient times. While the exact date of the text remains contested, researchers, scholars and critics believe that Aristotle wrote Poetics around 330 BCE. 

In this work, Aristotle has tried to elucidate on the fundamental issues concerning art and aesthetics. Aristotle has tried to elucidate on the fundamental issues concerning art and aesthetics. While defining and explaining art, he has also given ways on how the quality of a particular artwork can be determined. 

The Poetics was a reply to Plato’s theory wherein he propounded that poetry was a misrepresentation of the actual world, and, therefore, misled the people and made them immoral. He argues that a poet’s or an artist's work should not be seen just as a mere imitation of the material world, but should be considered as an artist’s or poet’s individual view of this world. He believed that poetry had the ability to purge the emotions of human beings and purify their souls, serving as an emotional balance in their life. 

•Chapter 1-5

Aristotle said that poetry was an umbrella term that included the following under its domain: epic poetry,tragedy, comedy, dithyrambic poetry and music (especially, flute and lyre). 

He elucidated on different kinds of poetry and what quality each poem could hold. He discussed the features of a meritorious poem, and also deliberated on the methods in which the poem is divided.He defined poetry as a medium to imitate life or a way of representing life as per the poet’s approach towards the physical world. There are various ways through which poetry could mirror life, by representing character, emotion, action or daily things. 

Aristotle gave the following points to differentiate between various kinds of poetry: 

1) Medium of Imitation

There are various ways through which life can be imitated, and poetry is one of the most fundamental mediums of imitation. Poetry alone, through the mode of language, veritably imitates life. 

2) Object of Imitation

What does poetry, dance, music, drama or any other form of art imitate? They imitate the actions of human beings. He argues that while imitating the action, the art must represent the action of men as more refined than they are in actual life, and, in case of representing vicious men, they should be portrayed in a more negative light. 

3) The Mode or Manner of Imitation

Firstly, the poet can employ the technique of narration, wherein the poet assumes another personality and acts as an observer. Secondly, the poet speaks his own mind and narrates as the first-person narrator.Thirdly, the poet in his work brings characters to life, thereby, adopting the technique of a third person narrator. 

Chapter 6 to 9 

Tragedy is the imitation of actions of noble men, and has the following characteristics.

I. It follows a specific time line, and has a proper beginning and an end. In other words,it is complete in itself.

II. As it imitates actions of noble men, there are no trivialities, and, hence is serious in nature.

III. The language used is decorated in its style and is also rhythmic.

IV. It is not narrative in form, but represents actions.

V. It brings about a catharsis within the audience, and purges their soul by arousing the emotions of pity and fear. 

Aristotle then states six parts that define tragedy:

I. Plot

II. Character

III. Diction

IV. Thought

V. Spectacle

VI. Song 

Chapters 10-12

The complexity and simplicity of a plot depends on the actions that they imitate. What determines the simplicity and complexity of the plot are the following essential features astonishment, reversal or peripeteia, recognition and suffering. Astonishment is an essential feature of a tragedy as it helps to arouse the feelings of pity and fear among the audience.These feelings are experienced by the audience when the events unfold by surprise, and astonish the audience. Reversal means when a change occurs in the situation and the action moves in the opposite direction. Recognition means acquiring knowledge about something that so far remained ignored. This recognition determines the fortune of the character. 

Chapters 13 to 16

Aristotle then reveals what elements are prerequisite for making a tragedy a successful one.Firstly, the best kind of tragedy is the one that has a complex plot. It should employ the techniques of reversal and recognition to imitate actions which arouse the feelings of pity and fear within the audience. However, the tragedy should not merely project a virtuous man being subjected to limitless sufferings, for that merely shocks the readers instead of giving them a chance to empathize with the character. A plot is considered as a well written one when the change of the fortune of the character is from bad to good, instead of good to bad. According to Aristotle, the second kind of tragedy is the one that has a double thread of plot and shows unhappy ending of good characters. Aristotle then points that the circumstances that make a good tragedy must include those incidents that involve close relations.

While talking about character, Aristotle points to four prerequisite factors that the hero must possess. Firstly, the hero must be virtuous in character, and thus exhibit goodness in his character. Secondly, the hero must be courageous and have propriety. Thirdly, a character must be true to his life. Lastly, the character must have consistency in his action. For instance, if he is inconsistent, then he should be consistently inconsistent. 

There are also various types of recognition. The first kind is the one where the recognition takes place by signs- marks on the body, jewelry or ornaments, some other spot or mark that reveals the secret identity of the person. This kind of recognition is the least artistic of all. The second kind of recognition is the one that is invented by will or which takes place by sudden recognition. The third one is where recognition happens from memory. For instance, a character sees an object and this triggers or stimulates his memory, and recognition takes place. The fourth type is the one where the characters use their reasoning abilities and recognize the secret identity. In the fifth one, recognition takes place when a third party, for instance a messenger, interferes and reveals the identity. 

Chapters 17 to 20 

Aristotle states that the poet’s envision should be as such that he could imagine every scene before his eyes. This helps the poet in not letting any gaps or inconsistencies come in his play. He should place himself in the shoes of the spectator and not just imagine but try to work out the scenes before his eyes. 

The four kinds of tragedy that Aristotle points at are:

I. The Complex Tragedy: This kind of tragedy depends completely on the reversal of

the situation and on recognition.

II. The Pathetic Tragedy: In this kind of tragedy, the primary motive is passion.

III. The Ethical Tragedy: When the motives are ethical, they are known as ethical tragedy.

IV. The Simple Tragedy: This kind of tragedy neither has reversal nor recognition. 

Aristotle further suggests that a tragedy should not assume the structure of an epic. An epic holds multiple plots, and each part has a distinct magnitude. But, as a tragedy is bounded by time, it should not follow the tenets of an epic. As the aim of a tragedy is to arouse catharsis within the audience, it should primarily follow unity of action and not focus on multiple episodes. 

Diction is another important aspect of a tragedy. As diction expresses thought through

the medium of language, it becomes one of the most vital components of a tragedy. Speech

can be divided into the following parts:

I. Proof and refutation

II. The stimulation of emotions like pity, fear and anger.

III. The suggestion of importance. 

Chapters 21 to 24 

Aristotle then discusses different kinds of words. He classifies words into simple and compound words. But a word may be multiple in form as well. He then classifies words into different categories. A strange word is the one which is alien to one land but is used frequently in another land. A metaphorical word is the one that link two unlike things. A newly coined word is the one that has not been employed in day-to-day conversation by the people but has been adopted by the poet. Other words are a lengthened word, a contracted word, or an altered word. If the poet uses unusual words, then the style becomes lofty, and this forms a disconnect between the poet and the audience. However, Aristotle states that a poet should have the liberty to lengthen, contract and change words to suit his style of writing. The usage of ordinary words creates a distinct language, and serves the purpose of maintaining clarity among the readers. 

Aristotle then charts out the following requirements of a good epic poem: single meter, a dramatic plot, unity and all the other features of a tragedy. Unlike tragedy that focusses on a single action, an epic includes a series of episodes or a period. According to Aristotle, in an epic poetry there should barely be any first-person narration by the poet, and the poet should not make appearances in the scenes. Also, in an epic poetry, the elements of absurdity or irrationality are allowed so as to create the factor “wonderment” for the readers. 

 Chapters 25-26

Aristotle states that it is important for the poet to know that his works will be subjected to criticism, which can be good or bad. Therefore, it becomes important for the poet to learn the art of replying back to the critics. 

Aristotle gives three important rules for poets to consider

while imitating actions of real life:

I. The poets must imitate either things as they are in actuality, things as they are

imagined to be, or things as they should be.

II. The poet must also be true to language that is being imitated. He should mostly

employ current terms or metaphors. The use of rare words should be occasional.

III. The poet must always make sure that whatever he copies, he does it in the correct manner. Only when he correctly imitates the actions that the poet holds its true essence. In case, the poet mistakenly commits an error, the work does not get ruined,for it’s a human folly. However, in a nutshell, if any error that takes away the essence of the poetry is the one that actually makes a difference. 

In conclusion to his work, Aristotle engages with the question of which form of writing is better- the epic or the tragedy. During his times, most of the critics contested that tragedy was meant for inferior class of people. On the other hand, epic poetry was meant for a cultivated audience. However, Aristotle gives a starkly opposite view of this debate. 

ARISTOTLE’S POETIC THEMES

1) Tragic Hero: flawless character. He, much a like human, has flaws that determines his fall towards the end of a tragedy. In Aristotle’s view, a tragic hero is neither a good man nor a bad man. He has qualities that are likeable but there also exists a vice which is overtly visible from the beginning of the play. Most importantly, the audience must be able to identify with this tragic flaw.

 2) Tragedy vs Epic poetry: As per the critics and scholars of Aristotle’s period, epic poetry was considered to owing more weight and significance vis a vis the tragedy, which was considered a genre for the entertainment of lower class. But Aristotle viewed tragedy from a different lens and considered it to be a higher written form. He believed that tragedy, along with entertainment and pleasure, is capable of instructing as educating its readers and audience. More so, unlike epic poetry, which cannot be performed on the stage, tragedy can be converted in the form of drama as it is not as lengthy as epic poetry. 

3) Purging of Emotions: Catharsis

Tragedies, as Aristotle believes, are able to arouse the feelings of pity and fear, which purify the underlying emotions of human, and hence releasing them of an emotional baggage. He argues that the best tragedies are those wherein the poet employs the techniques of reversal and recognition. Aristotle considers catharsis a form of redemption. 

4) Poetics as Literary Criticism

Aristotle’s Poetics in every sense qualifies to be an important document for literary criticism. Aristotle’s popularity primarily lies on his reply to Plato who had vehemently objected to poetry and other fields of arts as he believed them to be an imitation of an imitation. Aristotle, on the other hand, gave a new perspective to mimesis (imitation) and believe that every artist viewed the world through his individual lens, and, therefore, his work then becomes not a mere copy but a representation of his own perspective of the world.