The Classical Definition of Tragedy
In fourth century B.C., Aristotle, in his work the Poetics, gave Western civilization a definition of tragedy which has greatly influenced writers of tragedy and the form of tragedy over twenty-four centuries. The following are essential facets of Aristotle’s definition.
Aristotle begins his analysis of tragedy with this famous definition: Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of an action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation for these emotions.
Collectively, throughout the Poetics, Aristotle divides his analysis into six basic parts: plot-making, character delineation, thought and language, speech, song, and spectacle. Aristotle confined most of his analysis to play-making, mentioning the final three merely as components of the whole. Therefore, to understand Aristotle’s definition of tragedy more clearly, consider the following facets of his analysis:
1. The writer of tragedy imitates a serious and complete action, of a certain magnitude, represented by what characters on stage say and do.
2. “Action” is the motivation from which deeds emanate, or the rational purpose of the play.
3. The element of pathos is essential to the whole.
4. Plot is the arrangement of carefully selected, carefully sequenced, tragic incidents to represent one complete action.
5. The plot consists of parts or types of incidents in the beginning, middle and end of the play.
a. Quantitative parts: Prologos (introduction to the play), Parados (Chorus, in unison, tells us what has happened before the beginning of the action of the play),
Episodes (The sections of storytelling within the play, usually characterized by what information is revealed in them), Choric Odes (Chorus speaks about
something connected with the theme of the story, but not necessarily about the story itself, and Exodus (As or after the characters leave, the chorus tells us
what we have learned from the story).
b. Organic Parts: Reversal of the situation—a change by which the situation turns around toward its opposite.
1) Recognition—a change from ignorance to knowledge.
2) Pathos (or scene of suffering)—a moment of passion which may be aroused by spectacular means, or may also result from the inner structures of the play.
6. Plots vary in kind:
a. Complex versus simple—Complex plots include reversal and recognition; simple plots do not include these elements.
b. Ethically motivated versus pathetically motivated.
7. The story must seem probable.
8. Plot is divided into two main parts.
a. Complication—the part of the play which extends from the Prologos to the turning point.
b. Unraveling or Denouement-- The part of the play which extends from the turning point to the end.
9. A play can be unified only if it represents one action, and the best plays are unified by a single plot and a single catastrophe.
10. A central action of the play springs from character and thought, manifested in the dialogue.
11. The chorus most directly represents the action (or purpose) of the play.
12. Characters should be carefully delineated to contrast sharply with one another, should be full of life individually, should vary ethically, should be probable, consistent, and should reflect the central action of the play in the development of character.
13. The tragic hero should be a ruler or leader, whose character is good and whose misfortune is brought about by some error or frailty.
14. Language should be elevated and in verse (which in fifth century, B.C. was reminiscent of our blank verse today) and should reflect rhetorical strategies of persuasion (primarily represented in the Episodes and Choric Odes).
15. The special quality of man’s pleasure in tragedy comes from the purgation of the passions of fear and pity felt by the audience as they watch the fate of the tragic hero unfold, recognizing in it the universal human lot.