Aristotle's Poetics
Aristotle's Poetics is his description of what a tragic play consists of and how a poet should go about constructing a great play. Many times, he refers to Oedipus in relating examples of a great play and form of tragedy. In attept to understand Aristotle's Poetics here is a break down in laymen's terms.
Aristotle thought that "all men wished to know," and that the human spirit lives most fully in truth (Fergusson 10). This is exacatly what king Oedipus also was looking for - truth. In this tragic tale the characteristics of a great play unfolds.
The definition of tragedy is an imitation of action as a whole and is complete with some magnitude. However, the action Aristotle is referring to is not your regular action movie with blood and gore but three different modes of action: the praxis, the poiesis, and the theoria, which are Greek for doing, making, and contemplating within real-life instances/situations (Fergusson 10).
Several other characteristics of a great play are the importation of reversal and recognition, which goes hand in hand making a tragedy more complete. First the reversal, peripetia, is the change to the opposite whether it is a person, or circumstances where a character conforms or adapts out of necessity or probable cause (Fergusson 16). The second, recognition, takes place when there is a change frome ignorance to knowledge that leads to a possible opposite outcome (Fergusson 72 ). The use of both of these characteristics stated by Aristotle was that "the best is that which arises from the incident themselves, where the startling discovery is made by natural means" (Fergusson 17 ).
The tragic hero, again take King Oedipus as example, he is a person in between the extremes and allowed the, hamaritia, error in judgment, in his case the over bearing suspicion and a constant will to action interfere with his better judgment and yet still highly prosperous and well thought of. On the other hand his intelligence, adaptability, and self confidence set him between the extremes, and reversed good to bad. Seneca stated that Oedipus was left as notus nimisomnibus,ignoussibi, "too well known to the world, unknown to self "(Fergusson J. 196).
Precariously enough the play that ends in an unhappy tone is just what Aristotle thought was a great tragedy. Therefore, if our own psych suffers in a way that cannot be controlled or understood and our spirit, energia is left unsettled then we could have experienced a tale of tragedy, leaving us shocked, thrilled, and in awe of what just took place.
Works Cited
- Fergusson, Francis., Aristotle's Poetics. New York: Hill, 1961.
- Fergusson, John., A Companion to Greek tragedy. Texas: University of Texas Press, 1972.