Aristotle’s Theory of Poetics

Aristotles Theory of Poetics Research denomination Aristotle bases his theory of poetics on greek tragedy. He defines tragedy as the imitation of an action that is serious and as well as as having magnitude, complete in itself. (Melani, 2009) He views that, Tragedy is a form of drama exciting the emotions of clemency and attention. Its action should be single and complete, presenting a reversion of fortune, involving persons renowned and of superior attainments,and it should be written in poetry embellished with every kind of artistic expression. . (Melani, 2009) Usu everyy the writer would present the emotions of poignancy and fear inwardly tragedy which interprets purging. Aristotle viewed the term catharsis as the purging of emotions such as pity or fear which are triggered with tragical action within greek plays Aristotle draws a difference between tragedy and separate genres, as the audience watches the tragedy, they feel a tragic pleasure of pity and fear. In rais e for the tragic hero to arouse these feelings in the audience, he cannot be either all good or all evil but must be someone the audience can identify with however, if he is superior, the tragic pleasure is intensified.His disastrous end results from a mistaken action, which in turn arises from a tragic flaw or from a tragic error in judgment. Often the tragic flaw is know as hubris, pride that causes the hero to ignore a warning. It has been suggested that because the tragic heros suffering is greater than his offense, the audience feels pity because the audience members perceive that they could behave similarly, they feel pity. An example of this is evident within the tragedy Oedipus Rex. (Melani, 2009) Catharsis Aristotle argues that the dress hat tragedies and some of the best plays, since Aristotle considers tragedy to be the highest dramatic form, when the use of reversal and recognition to achieve catharsis is present during a tragedy or a play, he finds that with this aspec t in perspective they are the best. Aristotle often writes reversal works with a storys spine or center in order to guarantee that the hero comes full circle.An example of this is highlighted in the play Oedipus Rex, a hero who undergoes such a reversal and thus has cathartic self-recognition. Aristotle considers catharsis to be a form of redemption such that even though Oedipus recognition is tragic it still redeems him he no longer lives in ignorance of his tragedy but sooner he decides to accept his fate. He sees that redemption is not the only result of catharsis the audience in addition undergoes a catharsis in a good drama.The heros catharsis induces both pity and fear in the audience, they pity the hero, and fear that his fate could possibly happen to us. Mimises Aristotle believes that there are two main aspects to turn over of art some would consider art to be an expression of what is original and unusual in tender behavious whilst Aristotle argues that art is mimetic , it is a representation of life, and this idea motivated Aristotle. He devotes much of the Poetics to exploring the methods, significance, and consequences of the imitation of life.Aristotle concludes that arts imitative tendencies are expressed in one of three ways a poet attempts to portray our world as it is, as we think it is, or as it ought to be. (Zuern) Aristotle believed that all poetry is an imitation or mimesis. Aristotle imagines that poetry springs from a basic human delight in mimicry. Humans learn through imitating and are fascinated by looking at imitations of the perceived world. The mimetic dimension of the poetic arts is, always representational. This was known as mimesis.During Aristotles time, critics considered epic poetry to be the supreme art form, but Aristotle though differently, he viewed tragedy as the better of the two forms. Aristotle believes that tragedy, can entertain its written form, but also can translate onstage into a drama of spectacle and mus ic. Aristotle often felt that the use of the word unity, was sometimes misunderstood. He considers that unity is the energy of the best dramatic plots to revolve around a central axis that unites all actions within a play.Aristotle believed that a unified drama will have a spine a main idea which motivates all the action, character, thoughts, diction and spectacle in the play. (Gradesaver, 2012) Work Cited Aristotles Poetics Study Guide. . 4Shared, n. d. Web. 6 Sep 2012. . Aristotles Poetics Themes. GradeSaver . N. p. , n. d. Web. 6 Sep 2012. . Melani, Lilia . Tragedy. . N. p. , 13 manifest 2009. Web. 5 Sep 2012. . Zuern, John . Aristotle Poetics. CriticaLink. University of Hawaii, 1999. Web. 6 Sep 2012. .