Hello, I am Emisha Ravani, writing this blog for the thinking activity givan by Pro. DilipBarad in Bridge Course:Aristotle's Poetics.Where we shell answer the questions like:
1. What is your understanding about Aristotle's Poetics ?
2.With reference to the literary texts you have studied B.A. programme, write brief note on the texts which followed Aristotelian literary tradition. (i.e. his concept of tragedy, catharsis, tragic hero with hamartia etc)
3. With reference to the literary texts you have studied during B.A. programme , write breif note on the texts which did not follow Aristotelian literary tredition. ( i.e. his concept of tragedy, catharsis, tragic hero with hamartia etc.)
4. have you studied any tragedies during B.A. programme? who was/were the tragic protagonist/s in those tragedies? what was their 'hamartia'?
The first picture is Aristotle himself and second is his work ' Poetics'. Let's know his thoughts by some of his quotes .
We can see that how thoughtful mind he had. He had contributed in many fields by his master mind.
Let's see with which topics he had deal with in his work 'Poetics'.
1.Response to Plato 'The Repblic' 2.Means of Mimesis 3.Discussion on Tragedy 4.Six different aspects of Tragedy 5.Hamartia and Peripeteia 6.Thought and Diction 7.Epic Poetry 8.Tragedy is superior to epic poetry
Aristotle was the disciple of the great Plato, who wrote work 'The Republic' and to response it Aristotle wrote this work ' Poatics'.which is very famous.where he talks about dramatic theories, different kinds of poetry and tragedt and epic poetries are on focus. and as we know that he wrote to response Plato's work ,where Plato says that poetry and poets are meaningless they they are pretending . so Aristotle didnot believe it wrote the Poetics.
Means of Mimesis
Imitative representation of the real world in art and literature.
Discussion on Tragedy
says Aristotle, “is an imitation [mimēsis] of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude…through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation [catharsis] of these emotions.” Ambiguous means may be employed, Aristotle maintains in contrast to Plato, to a virtuous and purifying end.
Six different aspects of Tragedy
After discussing the definition of tragedy, Aristotle explores various important parts of tragedy. He asserts that any tragedy can be divided into six constituent parts. They are: Plot, Character, Thought, Diction, Song and Spectacle. The Plot is the most important part of a tragedy.
Hamartia and Peripeteia
Aristotle also defines the characteristics of a tragic hero as the following; Hamartia, a tragic flaw that causes the downfall of a hero; hubris, excessive pride and disrespect for the natural order of things; peripeteia, the reversal of fate that the hero experiences; anagnorisis, a moment in time when the hero makes ..
Thoughts and Diction
Thought means what the characters think or feel during their career in the development of the plot. The thought is expressed through their speeches and dialogues. Diction is the medium of language or expression through which the characters reveal their thoughts and feelings.
Epic poetry
Aristotle's Definition of Epic in Poetics and his Consideration of Tragedy as Superior to an Epic. To Aristotle, an Epic is a narrative poem written in heroic hexa-metre. It has four constituent parts namely plot , character, thought, & diction. ... Nor should epics be constructed like the common run of histories.
Tragedy is superior to epic poetry
Tragedy contains all the elements of the epic, but manages to present its story in a much shorter span of time and with a greater degree of unity. The concentration of the tragic plot heightens its impact on the audience.
2.With reference to the literary texts you have studied B.A. programme, write brief note on the texts which followed Aristotelian literary tradition. (i.e. his concept of tragedy, catharsis, tragic hero with hamartia etc)
Arthur Miller’s “All my sons” is one of the texts which, in some ways, follow a tradition of the Aristotelian Tragedy as the tragic hero of the play; Joe Keller undergoes every major characteristic that a tragic hero of Aristotle faces.
Joe Keller fits in the frames of Aristotle’s concept a tragic hero- he is true to life, is consistent in his thoughts and actions, and is neither an outright saint nor a wicked criminal but a representative of normal human beings.
Though it is considered as a modern tragedy Joe Keller, like Aristotelian hero suffers from-
Hubris- He has an excessive ambition that leads to his downfall, causing his death by committing suicide.
Hamartia- He makes a terrible error of dispatching the faulty parts in his limited views for his business and his family. This way Joe suffers not as a result of any wise but as a consequence of his error in judgment.
Catharsis- an essential function of tragedy is arousing pity and fear in a way to accomplish Catharsis of emotions. In ‘All my Sons’, pity for characters is felt through the hardships of Larry Keller and the future of family members after Joe’s suicide.
In short, the play can be, in some reference, called a model similar to Aristotelian tragedy but it cannot be an Aristotelian tragedy.
Othello as Tragedy
Another illustration is ‘Othello’- a tragedy of an ideal situation where a rather good man meets a terrible end. The hero is a moor with a higher rank, and speaks acts and does in a very probable way which gives the necessary outcome of his character.
Throughout the story, Othello continuously questions Desdemona’s loyalty as he gets manipulated by Iago. Finally, in the end, he kills Desdemona and later on realizes it was all lies and ends up killing himself. His anger and jealousy grow as more lies are told to him, enough that make him stop listening to Desdemona and others telling him the truth. As all that happens, it allows the reader to realize that Othello has different changes throughout the story as well as different characteristics that show him as a tragic hero. In Othello, William Shakespeare characterizes Othello as a tragic hero and as well includes ways that show how Othello had culpability for Desdemona’s murder. Othello changes because of his actions, which results in his downfall, showing how he changes from a sweet and loving husband and then changes to a cruel and abusive husband who eventually goes on to kill his own wife.
A Tragic Hero with Hamartia- Othello is a man of action; his tragic flaw is extreme jealousy. It is this jealousy that leads to his catastrophic downfall. The villainous deeds of Iago and his constant poisoning of Othello’s ears with monstrous jealousy serve as a medium for murdering his own wife.
Catharsis- Othello’s cruel act of murdering Desdemona arouses pity and fear in reader/spectator’s and causes catharsis in such a way that a group of emotions is disturbed.
3. With reference to the literary texts you have studied during B.A. programme , write breif note on the texts which did NOT follow Aristotelian literary tredition. ( i.e. his concept of tragedy, catharsis, tragic hero with hamartia etc.)
The text which did not follow the Aristotelian literary tradition is ‘The Hairy Ape’ as it does not have a hero of a higher rank; the tragedy is of a layman who suffers from a sense of belonging in the modern world.
According to Aristotle, a tragic hero must suffer because of an error of judgment and this fatal flaw leads to his downfall which causes catharsis.
The play ‘The Hairy Ape’ presents an antihero- Yank, an ideal stoker. He does not have any tragic flaw but he faces conflict with his surroundings and his insult by a wealthy lady Mildred Douglas turns Yank avenge upon her. He feels alienated and an outsider, especially when he is compared with an ape and he is called a ‘hairy ape’. He is constantly reminded that he ‘does not belong’. The subtitle ‘A comedy of Ancient and Modern World’ is a satirical title by Eugene O’Neill which fails to arouse pity and fear and thus catharsis is not as effective as the Aristotelian Tragedy. So it can be considered that “The Hairy Ape” does not follow Aristotelian literary tradition.
4. Have you studied any tragedies during B.A. programme? who was/were the tragic protagonist/s in those tragedies? what was their 'hamartia'?
Tragedies | Tragic Protagonists | Hamartia |
All My Sons | Joe Keller | Shipping of faulty parts |
Tughlaq | Muhammad bin Tughlaq | Idealistic vision of Tughlaq |
Othello | Othello | Extremeness of jealousy, Blind trust on Iago |
The Hairy Ape | Yank | Excessive pride in his dominant nature |
No comments:
Post a Comment