Discuss Aristotle's concept of plot and its relation to character.
Or Plot is the soul of tragedy. " Discuss.
According to Aristotle, there are six parts of tragedy. Muthos ( plot ). Ethos ( character ), Dianoia ( thought ), Lexis ( diction ), Melos ( song ) and Opsis ( spectacle ). Of these six parts plot holds the first place ( The Postics VI ). By plot he means the arrangement of the incidents, it is how the action works itself.
He defines tragedy and lays stress on the importance of the plot. He says, "Tragedy is an imitation, not of man, but of an action and of life ", and life consists in action, and its end is a mode of action, not a quality. Now character determines men's qualities, but it is by their actions that they are happy or the reverse. In this way, action is more important than character and action is nothing but plot.
Characterization reveals action but it cannot produce the same tragic effect as a well-knit plot. The plot is more important than the character because the character comes in as a subsidiary of the actions. " The incidents of the plot are the end of a tragedy, and the end is the chief thing of all. " Character is subordinate to plot as Aristotle asserts, " The plot is the first principle, and . as it were, the soul of a tragedy: character comes second. "
Plot is the nucleus of tragedy. It is the soul of a tragedy and the soul is the formative principle in any living thing. The plot is the soul of tragedy in the sense that it gives meaning, vitality and vigour to the play. In the words of Prof. Else, " For plot is the structure of the play, around which the material parts are laid, just as the soul is the structure of a man. "
Aristotle's theory that plot is of supreme importance is based on the view that tragedy is an imitation not of human beings but of action and life, of happiness and misery. Happiness and misery are realised in action; the goal of life is an action, not a quality. Men owe their qualities to their characters, but it is in their actions that they are happy or the reverse. And so the stage - figures do not act to represent their characters; they include their characters for the sake of their actions. "
Aristotle went to the extent of saying that " without action, there cannot be a tragedy; there may be without character. " This sentence should not be taken to suggest that there can be tragedy without character. In the absence of an agent or character, no action is possible. Aristotle explains himself when he says that there can be tragedies which fail in the rendering of the character.
" Furthermore " if you string together a set of speeches expressive of character, and well finished in point of diction and thought, you will not produce the essential tragic effect nearly so well as with a play which, however deficient in these respects, yet has a plot and artistically constructed incidents. " Or Plot comes first than a character in the sense that plot is the source of emotional interest in a tragedy.
Moreover, the character acts in a given situation and situations are provided by the plot. Without action, we cannot conceive of drama because action is drama. A well-constructed plot can be dramatic despite weak characterization but a weak plot having good characterization will remain undramatic. Some other arguments in favour of plot over character have been advanced by Lascelles Abercrombie.
To quote him, " But says Aristotle, the character itself, however skilfully delineated, will never give tragedy. it is the only character in action that can be tragic ( or, more generally, dramatic ) characterization, is, in fact, as much a part of the dramatist's expressive technique as the prosody or imagery of his language, and what he is expressing is the idea of life which inspires him ..........
It is the plot that expresses the action; all the rest of the dramatist's technique, character, thought, and Literature ' have supported Aristotle's view that the plot is the life and soul language - embodies the plot " . David Daiches in his book ' Critical Approaches tragedy . To quote Daiches, " character is important, too, but important as a casual element in the plot.
So Aristotle's arrangement of the elements of tragedy in an order of importance which puts plot first and character second, with thought third and diction fourth, seems logical enough. " In chapter VII of the Poetics Aristotle discusses the structure of the plot at some length. He makes three general statements about the plot.
( 1 ) it must be of a certain size.
( 2 ) it must have a certain structure.
( 3 ) it is the soul of a tragedy.
We have already discussed how the plot is the soul of a tragedy and now we shall deal with his two other observations about the plot of a tragedy. The plot should be of a certain size, not too long. ( so that the mind cannot retain everything of ) It should not be too short, (to ignore certain interval essentials ) The plot should be of a certain magnitude, because " Beauty depends on magnitude and order " To quote Aristotle, " Magnitude and order are essential to an object of beauty.
As in the case of inanimate bodies and pictures a certain magnitude is necessary and a magnitude which may be easily embraced in one view; so in the plot a certain length is necessary and a length which can be easily embraced by the memory. A well-constructed plot must have an organic unity.
Aristotle explains what he means by unity. " As in the other imitative arts the one imitation must have one subject, so too, the plot, since it is an imitation of an action, must be an imitation of an action that is one and whole, and its separate incidents must be so connected that if one is changed or removed the whole plot is altered and disturbed; for a part which can be added or withdrawn without producing any effect is not a member of the whole. "
There should not be an irrelevant incident anywhere in the plot. A good tragic plot should present a Reversal of the Situation and Recognition or Discovery. Reversal is a change by which action moves around to its opposite. A well-constructed plot should have a beginning, a middle and an end.
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