Plato gives the theory of Mimesis or Imitation.

He thinks the arts deal with illusion or they are imitation

of an imitation, twice removed from reality. He wrote in “The Republic” that “ideas are the ultimate
reality”. Things are conceived as “ideas “before they take practical shapes. So idea is original and the
thing is copy of that idea. Carpenter’s chair is the result of the idea of the chair in his mind. Thus the
chair is once removed from reality. But painter’s chair is imitation of carpenter’s chair. So it is twice
removed from reality. Thus an artist or poet takes a man away from reality rather than towards it. Thus
artist deals in illusion.

Plato’s three main objections to poetry:

1)It is not ethical because it promotes undesirable passions.

2)It is not philosophical because it doesn’t provide true knowledge.

3) It is not pragmatic because it is inferior to practical arts and therefore has no educational values.

Aristotle:

Aristotle agrees with Plato’s idea that it is imitative. He devotes much of the “poetics” to exploring the
methods, significance and consequences of this imitation. In Aristotle’s opinion art’s imitative
tendencies are expressed in one of the three ways :

1)Arts: drawing, painting, sculpturing, creative writing.

2)Practical arts: carpentry, architecture, jewelry etc.

3) performing arts: drama, poetry, singing

According to him, poetry is an imitation of a n action and its tool of inquiry is neither philosophical nor
moral. He examines poetry as a piece of art and not a book of preaching.

A poet attempts to portray our world, as it is, as we think it is, or as it ought to be.

Aristotle believes that there is natural pleasure in imitation, which is in born instinct in men. (because
the children imitate the adults and learn because there is pleasure in it). In poets there is another
instinct for harmony and rhythm which helps him make him a poet.

He doesn’t agree with his teacher in “poet’s imitation is twice removed from reality and hence illusion of
truth”. Aristotle says poetry is entirely different from history. A poet is an imitator because imitation is
inborn instinct of man and a poet like a grown up child indulges in imitation for pleasure, but poets
imitation of life are real. Poetry reveals truth of a universal kind. On the other hand, history is not
universal , history relates what has happened in a particular place, at a particular time to particular
people or person. Poetry relates what may happen anywhere in the world. So poetry is more
philosophical, more permanent and universal than history. Poetry is more philosophical and a higher
thing than the history which expresses the particular, while the poetry tends to express the universal.
Therefore, the picture of poetry pleases all and at all time.

Aristotle doesn’t agree with Plato in function of poetry to make people weaker/emotional. For him
catharsis humbles human beings.
Plato:

The world that we perceived around us, is the world of imitation or shadow of the idea or ideal world.
When poet imitates this world his creation is twice removed from reality. Poets don’t use their own
rationality: they are only forced to use their emotion and passions, making people cowardice which
ultimately disrupt the order of the republic. Literature for plato is acceptable only if they produce
courage, goodness, faith and justice etc. poets are away from using their reason: whereas philosophers
use their reason to get the truth so they are closer to reality. He locates reality in the world of ideal. The
world of ideas is the real world, while the world of things is a mere copy or shadow of the world of
ideas.

As far the moral nature of poetry is concerned, Aristotle believed that the end of poetry is to please,
teaching may be given. Such pleasing is superior to other pleasure because it teaches civic morality.
Therefore, all good literature gives pleasure that is not separated from moral lessons.

“Art gives new knowledge, yields aesthetic satisfaction and produces a better state of mind.

The standard of poetic judgment:

Aristotle thinks the tendency to criticize a work of art for factual errors such as lack of historical
accuracy, is wrong. He believes that:

The art work should be judged according to its success at imitating the world. If the imitation is carried
out with integrity and if the artwork’s “unity” is intact at its conclusion, a simple error in accuracy will
not effect the success of the work, in other words, Art should be judged aesthetically, not scientifically.

Definition of tragedy:
“ A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious having magnitude, complete in itself; in appropriate, asurable language,
in a dramatic rather than narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish a catharsis of
emotion”.

Elements of tragedy:

Plot characters thought diction melody spectacle

(thought, diction, melody and spectacle are least important)

Plot:

According to Aristotle, the action can be called the plot or sequence of events, which is of the primary
importance in a tragedy.

Seriousness of the action is related with the concept of unities given by Aristotle, the unity of action
implies that a tragedy must a complete tragedy and a comedy must completely be comedy, there should
be no mixing of two, nor there should be digression in the action. As tragedy is a story of imitation of a
hero’s life dealing with a change from happiness to misery, there is no room for comic relief.

“All human happiness, or misery, takes the form of action, character, gives us qualities, but it is in our
actions, what we do, that we are happy or miserable”.
Recognition: When Hamlet sets up a mouse and trap play after that (when King was murdered) Claudius leaves the room, then
his guilt is confirmed. He was sent to England and Claudius conspires against Hamlet.

There must be unity of place, it should talk about one complete action. Any events, which are necessary
for the main issue, should be portrayed, in a plausible or believable manner.
When Hamlet sees Claudius praying alone, he had the opportunity to avenge his father and kill Claudius. His hesitation caused
the death himself and his mother.

Good plot has Peripety or Peripeteia. Peripety is change from one state of things at the beginning of the
play to the exact opposite state by the end of the play, like a change from the rich to being poor, or from
being powerful to being powerless. The change that takes in a Tragedy should take place, in a main
character.

Recognition/ Anagnorisis (Knowing again): It is a change from ignorance to knowledge. This often
happens to a tragic hero, who starts out “Clueless” and slowly learns, how he himself, created the mess
and he ends up in it, at the end of the play.

Change by itself is not enough. The characters involved in the change must have specific characteristics
to arouse the tragic emotions of folly and fear.

THREE FORMS OF PLOT:

1- A totally good man must not pass from happiness to misery because the audience would be
angry when bad things happen to him, so they wont pity him so much as they would be angry
2- A bad man must not pass from misery to happiness. This would not appeal to the audience at all
because they would not want to see evil be rewarded.
3- A bad man cannot pass from happiness to misery because the audience wont feel sorry for him
because they will believe that he got what he deserved.

The true tragic hero cant be too good or too bad but he must end up in misery.

Aristotle concluded the best tragedy centers on a (basically) good man who changes from happiness to
misery because of some great error or flaws. For example; he may have good qualities but one flaw like
pride can get out of hands.

4- The plot of a tragedy also involves some horrible horrors or evil deeds. The tragic hero does it
either “consciously” or out of “ignorance” or “mediates” it. The audience would be horrified by
the deed, the evil must be done to importance to the tragic hero.

If hero kills his enemy, the deed won’t look so bad.

If hero kills someone, he doesn’t care about, the audience wont be moved. To make it really horrible for
audience Aristotle suggested that evil deed should be done to a family member.

Characters:

Characters is of secondary importance after plot. Characters come second. Characters include all
qualities we associate with individuals represented in the play. The thought indicate the processes of
reasoning that lead characters to behave as they do. Each character has an essential quality that is
revealed in the plot. The moral purpose of each character should be clear to the audience. The character
should have four qualities:

1) No matter who they are (hero/slave), the characters must be good in some way.
2) The characters should act appropriately for their gender and station in life.
3) The characters have to have believable personalities.
4) Each character must act consistently throughout the play, in other words, nothing should be
done or said that could be regarded as “acting out of character”. (doing something contradictory
to his character).
The most important character in an Aristotelian tragedy is the “tragic hero”.(traits)
The tragic hero must be essentially admirable and good usually of noble birth. He is not an
ordinary man, but a man with outstanding quality and greatness.
A fatal error/tragic flaw on the part of protagonist that eventually leads him to his downfall(final
eatastrophe). The tragic hero doesn’t recognize his or her flaw and its consequences but it only
after when it is too late to change the course of events.
(peripeteia- a reversal of fortune brought about by the hero’s tragic flaw, he will fall from high
to low).
His actions result in self-awareness and self-knowledge.
A moment of “tragic recognition” or “insight” “anagnorisis” comes in the mind of tragic hero as
he suddenly understands the web of fate in which he is entangled.
Catharsis: a feeling of emotional purgation on the part of the audience during a tragedy, the
audience must feel pity and fear for this character. Pity and fear are natural human responses to
pain and suffering which can strike anyone at anytime, in the end they feel relieved.
In Aristotle’s time the critics considered epic poetry to be supreme art form, but to Aristotle,
tragedy is the better of two forms. Aristotle believes tragedy like epic can entertain in its written
form but also has another characteristics of being able to translate onstage into drama of
spectacle and music and capable of being understood in one setting.
Aristotle identifies tragedy as the most refined version of poetry dealing with lofty themes and
ideas and comedy is also the most refined version of poetry dealing with baser matters. He
briefly traced the history of tragedy as it evolved from ”dithyrambic” hymns in praise of God
Dionysus. Dithyrambs were sung by a large choir, sometimes with a narrator. Aeschylus
invented tragedy by bringing a second actor into dialogue with a narrator. Sophocles innovated
further by introducing a third actor, gradually tragedy shifted to its contemporary dramatic
form.
Thought: is the power of saying whatever can be said and should be said at each moment of
plot. Do the lines spoken by the actors make sense? Are they saying what should be said at each
particular moment in the play?
Diction: is the actual composition of lines that are recited. Thoughts deal with what is said and
diction deals with how it is said. There are many ways to say something. In a good play, some
lines are so well constructed that the audience can leave the play, quoting the lines exactly.
Music and spectacle: music and spectacle are accessories. Aristotle said the music has to blend
with the play appropriately. Spectacle refers to the staging of the play. The spectacle should be
appropriate to the theme of the play.