Roll No: -52
Study: -
M.A Sem-1
Year: -
2017-2019
Topic: -
Six part of tragedy
Sub: -
Literary theory & criticism
Submitted
to: - Pro.Dilip Barad
Department of
English
Uni: -
Bhavnagar University
Six part of tragedy
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
Introduction:-
Aristotle
was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist born in the city of Stagira. His
father Nicomachus died when Aristotle was a child. Whereafter proxenus of
Atarneus became his guardian at seventeen or eighteen years of age he joined
Plato’s academy.
His
writing cover many subjects like physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics,
poetry, theater, music, politics, and government.
Aristotle's theory of tragedy is completely based on
induction. The ample examples or citations that Aristotle uses in his text from
the tragedies of Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides, make the idea clear that
his theory of this literary genre comes from his extensive reading of their
tragedies, and the ideas are mere generalizations of the commonalities in their
tragedies.
Thus,
it is interesting to see a theory that followed the genre for which it is
actually theorized. But in modern times this theory has lost its importance
with the development of different sorts of tragic plots ending with a
catastrophe. Now its significance is limited to the level of differentiating
Aristotelian mode of tragedy from non-Aristotelian mode.
Definition of Tragedy:-
Aristotle’s
famous definition of tragedy says “ A tragedy is the imitation of an action
that is serious and also has having magnitude complete in itself in language
with pleasurable accessories each kind brought in separately in the parts of
the work in a dramatic not in narrative form with incidence arousing pity and
fear where with to accomplish its catharisis of such a emotion.”
The
definition clearly falls into two parts. The first part tell us about the
nature of tragedy it is object, manner and medium of imitation. The second part
is points out the function of tragedy. The aim of tragedy, Aristotle writes, is to bring
about a "catharsis" of the spectators to arouse in them sensations of
pity and fear, and to purge them of these emotions so that they leave the
theater feeling cleansed and uplifted, with a heightened understanding of the
ways of gods and men. This catharsis is brought about by witnessing some
disastrous and moving change in the fortunes of the drama's protagonist
Tragedy is an imitation, not of men, but of
action and life, of happiness and misery. And life consists of action, and its
end is a mode of activity, not a quality. Now character determines men's
qualities, but it is their action that makes them happy or wretched. The
purpose of action in the tragedy, therefore, is not the representation of
character: character comes in as contributing to the action. Hence the
incidents and the plot are the end of the tragedy; and the end is the chief
thing of all. Without action there cannot be a tragedy; there may be one
without character The plot, then, is the
first principle, and, as it were, the soul of a tragedy: character holds the
second place.
Aristotle
asserts that any tragedy can be divided into six parts and that every tragedy
is made up of these six parts.
·
The Plot
·
The Thought
·
The Diction
·
The Character
·
The Spectacle
·
The Melody
1. The
plot:-
Aristotle
argues that, Among these six parts the plot is the most important the
characters serve to advance the action of the story not vice versa the ands we
pursue in life our happiness and our misery, all take the form of action. That
is according to Aristotle
The
Plot is most important part of tragedy the plot means ‘The Arrangement of the
Incidents’. Normally the plot is divided into five acts and each act is further
divided into several scenes. The unity of a plot dose not consist as some
suppose, in it is having one man as its subject. An infinity of thing befall
that one man some of which it is impossible to reduce to unity and in like
manner there are many action of one man which cannot be mad to from one action
the truth is that just as in the other imitative arts one imitation is always
of one thing.
Aristotle
is arguing that a plot is not unified simply because it concerns a single
person since many unrelated or trivial actions will obscure the development of
the drama.
2. The
Thought
Thought
means what characters think or feel during their career in the development of
the plot. The thought is expressed through their speeches and dialogues
Concerning
thought, we assume what is said in the rhetoric to which inquiry the subject
more strictly belongs. Under thought is included every effect which has to be
produced by speech. The feelings such as
pity, anger, fear, and like, the suggestion of importance or its opposite.
Thought
comprises both the rational processes through which characters come to
decisions as represented in the drama, as well as the values put forward in
form of maxims and proverbs.
3. The
Diction
Aristotle
says diction should be clear in conveying meaning and use language from day to
day life but should also have unusual language to emphasize certain important
sections because that is what the audience remembers the most. Diction can also
be used to stir emotion and empathy in the audience for the character plights
in a tragedy.
Diction
has alredy been defined as the metrical composition of the play, the way
language is used to convey the representation.
diction (lexis)
Lexis is better translated according to some as "speech" or
"language." Otherwise, the relevant necessary condition stemming from logos in the definition (language) has no followup: plot could be done by dancers or pantomime
artists, given Chs 1, 2 and 4, if the actions are structured (on stage, as
drama was usually done) just like plot for us can be given in film or in a
story ballet with no words.
4. The
character
Character is second in
important after plot, tragedies depict characters as they relate to the action
which is the main object of representation. Characters represent their moral
qualities throught the speeches assigned to them by the dramatist
Aristotle says that
characters being ‘like the reality’. It is clear that his sense of character
has more to do with dramatic types accurately portrayed than with what we think
of us densely imagined individuals.
5. The
Spectacle
Aristotle
lists spectacle last in order of importance, pointing out that the power of
tragedy is not fully dependent upon its performance (we can read a tragedy and
still appreciate its message), and that the art of the spectacle really belongs
to the set designer and not to the poet.
Spectacle
includes all aspects of the tragedy that contribute to its sensory effect: -
costumes, scenery, the gestures of the actors, the sound of the music and the
resonance of the actors voice. Aristotle ranks spectacle last in importance
among the other components of tragedy remarking that or tragedy does not need
to be performed to have its impact on the audience, as it can be read as a
text.
6. The
Melody
Music
is described as an embellishment of language. The lines assigned to the chorus
in a tragedy are usually conveyed in melody accompanied by rhythmical movement.
Melody
and spectacle are simply pleasurable accessories but melody is more important
to the tragedy than spectacle a:- a pretty spectacle can be arranged without a
play and usually matters of set and costume are not the occupation of the poet
anyway.
melody (melos) "Melos" can also mean
music-dance as some musicologists recognize, especially given that its primary
meaning in ancient Greek is limb (an arm or a leg). This is arguably more
sensible because then Aristotle is conveying what the chorus actually did
·
Conclusion
This theory of tragedy later developed through Castlevetro to
neo-classical theorists like Cornellie in 16th and 17th centuries. But where
Aristotle is descriptive in his own right, the neoclassical theorists developed
it as a rule of tragedy with an addition of two other elements to make up three
unities of drama assimilating Aristotle's emphasis upon the unity of action.
Aristotle concludes by tackling the question of whether the
epic or tragic form is higher. Most critics of his time argued that tragedy was
for an inferior audience that required the gesture of performers, while epic
poetry was for a 'cultivated audience' which could filter a narrative form
through their own imaginations. In reply, Aristotle notes that epic recitation
can be marred by overdone gesticulation in the same way as a tragedy moreover,
tragedy, like poetry, can produce its effect without action - its power is in
the mere reading. Aristotle argues that tragedy is, in fact, superior to epic,
because it has all the epic elements as well as spectacle and music to provide
an indulgent pleasure for the audience. Tragedy, then, despite the arguments of
other critics, is the higher art for Aristotle.
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