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(N. B. Written approximately 100 years after Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex)

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Presentation on theme: "(N. B. Written approximately 100 years after Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex)"— Presentation transcript:

1 (N. B. Written approximately 100 years after Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex)
Aristotle’s Poetics c. 335 BCE (N. B. Written approximately 100 years after Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex)

2 Imitation (Mimesis) --its origins --the psychology behind it
--the objects of imitation (men in action) --the medium of imitation (rhythm, tune, meter) --the manner of imitation (narration, action)

3 Tragedy vs. Comedy Tragedy: represents men as better than they are. Is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament; in the form of action, not narration; which prompts an excess of pity and fear necessary to the proper purgation of these emotions. Comedy: represents men as worse than they are; an imitation of characters of a lower type; deals not with the bad but with the ludicrous, reflecting some defect or ugliness that is not painful or destructive.

4 The Six Elements of Tragedy
Plot: the soul of the drama, the arrangement of the incidents, the action, to which all the other elements are subordinate Character: determines men’s qualities; that which reveals moral purpose. Four things to be aimed at: goodness, propriety, truthfulness to life, consistency. Thought: the faculty of saying what is possible and pertinent in given circumstances; every effect produced by speech Diction: the expression of the meaning in words; the art of delivery Song: holds the chief place among the embellishments Spectacle: has an emotional attraction for the audience, but is the least artistic of the parts, since it derives not from the poet but from the machinist

5 The Structure of the Plot
Simple: the action is one and continuous with a change of fortune, but not reversal of the situation and without recognition Complex: a single, continuous action including -- Reversal of fortune (peripeteia): from good to bad -- Discovery (recognition): from ignorance to knowledge -- Scene of suffering (these 3 things involve surprise) -- Tragic irony: expectation vs. actual occurrence -- Unity: beginning, middle, end; logical, necessary sequence of each scene -- Probability -- Temporal limitation: “Single revolution of the sun”

6 The Structure of Tragedy
Complication Unraveling or denouement Rising action, complication, climax (catastrophe), falling action, denouement

7 Concept of the Tragic Hero
Noble, but possessed of a tragic flaw (hamartia) that is his undoing Hybris (Hubris)

8 What Happens to the Audience in Viewing a Tragedy
Arousal of pity and fear Pity: evoked by undeserved misfortune Fear: that such misfortune can surely be visited on ordinary people if it can be visited on a person of superior birth and position Catharsis

9 The Quantitative Parts of Tragedy
Prologue Episode Exode Choric song— Parode Stasimon


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