FREE ESSAY ON ARISTOTLE'S POETICS

ARISTOTLE'S POETICS

From POETICS
Aristotle's Poetics is considered the first work of literary criticism in our tradition.
The couple of pages in the book mainly describe tragedy from Aristotle's point of view.
He defines tragedy as being an imitation of an action that is a whole and complete in
itself and of a certain magnitude. Aristotle also points out terms such as catharsis,
which can be said that is the purification of one's soul. He argues in his Poetics that
catharsis is achieved through emotions of pity or fear, which is created in the audience
as they witness the tragedy of a character who suffers unjustly, but is not entirely
innocent. Then he moves on to describing the main elements of tragedy. 
Such elements are: plot, character, language, thought, spectacle, and melody. Then he
classifies these in three parts, the media, the manner and the objects. The language and
melody constitute the "media", in which they effect the imitation. Then there is the
spectacle, which is the "manner", and the remaining three, the plot, character and
thought are the "objects" that are imitated. Aristotle considers the plot to be the most
important of these elements.
He describes the plot as not being a unity revolving around one man. Instead, he states
that many things happen to one man, which may not always go together, to form a unity. At
the same time, he says that among the actions that a character performs there are many
that may be irrelevant to one another, but yet they form a unified action. 
Aristotle continues depicting the plot categorizing it in two manners: simple and
complex. In a simple plot, a change of fortune takes place without a reversal or
recognition. In contrast, in a complex plot, the change of fortune involves recognition
or a reversal or both. To understand these ideas better he defines reversal and
recognition for us. Reversal or peripety is a change from one circumstance to its exact
opposite. Recognition, is a change from ignorance to knowledge leading either to
friendship or hostility depending on whether the character is marked with good fortune or
bad.
There is a phrase used by Aristotle in Poetics, "from the machine," which is basically
any implausible way of solving complications of the plot. An example would be when Medea
escapes from Corinth. She's solving her situation by escaping
in her magic chariot. This "from the machine" phrase should be employed only for events
external to the drama, which lie beyond the range of human knowledge, and which require
to be reported or foretold.
Lastly, Aristotle explains the importance of the chorus in a tragedy. According to him,
it should be regarded as one of the actors. Therefore, the chorus should be integrated
into performance and be considered as part of the whole.