Aristotle Tragedy Essay

Aristotle is one of the greatest ancient Greek philosophers. One of his best works is Poetics. Aristotle defines what is a tragedy …etc.(what talks abt) A tragedy consists of six component parts, which are listed here in order from most important to least important: plot, character, thought, diction, melody, and spectacle. A well-formed plot must be unified, meaning that every element of the plot should tie in to the rest of the plot, leaving no loose ends. This kind of unity allows tragedy to express universal themes powerfully, which makes it superior to history, which can only talk about particular events. This structure of tragedy done by Aristotle was rejected by the neoclassical philosopher Corneille. Corneille argued that

He launched into a stormy and controversial career in the theater. The most important text of his literary criticism is Trios Discours sur le poème dramatique (Three discourses on Dramatic poetry, 1660) that was produced in response to the controversies from critics and French literary and political establishment he had ignited, to explain and justify his own dramatic practice. This attack was based on the play’s alleged failure to observe the rules of classical theater as laid down by Aristotle and Horace. His play violated the classical unities of action time and place. His idea is to adapt classical precepts to modern requirements of the stage and to provide a broader and more liberal interpretation of those precepts. In his third Discourse, entitled “Of the Three Unities of Action, Time, and Place,” Corneille attempts to explain the rationale behind his

While he agrees that “there must be only one complete action,” he insists that “action can become complete only through several others”. He suggests that the end of each act “leave us in the expectation of something which is to take place in the following one.” His own definition attempts to develop the implication of Aristotle’s for the connections between the acts of a play. It also makes the audience’s response an integral component. Regarding the unity of time, Corneille notes Aristotle’s precept that the action of a tragedy must be encompassed within one revolution of the sun. The issue argued by critics and dramatists, of whether it is mean twelve or twenty-four hours. Corneille is content to say that Aristotle’s view must be interpreted liberally, allowing even up thirty hours’ duration of the action, since some subjects do not lend themselves to such brief treatment. He believes that it is not merely Aristotle’s authority but “common sense” that commends such a rule. He recommends compressing the action “into the shortest possible period, so that performance may more closely