Aristotle's Poetics

∆ Khushi Raviya

Question -1

1. To what extent do you agree with Plato's objection to the freedom of expression and artistic liberty enjoyed by creative writers?

Information:

 According to Plato the art deal with illusion or they are imitation of an imitation twice removed from reality. As a moralist Plato disapproves of poetry because it is immoral as a philosophy. According to Plato philosophy is better than poetry.

Main Objections of Plato:

Plato objected to poetry on three objection:

• Education 

• Philosophical 

• Moral view point 

        

- Plato than makes a challenge to poets to defend themselves against his criticism.

His objections:

- In Book II of " The Republic " , he condemns poetry for promoting bad habits and vices in children.

 

- Plato objected poetry on the basis of education, by saying that it cultivates evil habits and not practical. But it is not so about all the poems or all the arts.

- In ' The Republic ' Book X: poetry does not lead to, but drives us away from the realization of the ultimate reality - the Truth.

Conclusion:

            - Philosophy is better than poetry because philosophy deals with idea and poetry is twice removed from original idea. Poetry tends toward the imaginative world, in which poet use alienation to make his content more attractive.

 

Question -2

2. Referring to the literary texts you studied during your B.A. program, write a brief note on the texts that followed the Aristotalian literary tradition.

Information:

             As the great period of Athenian drama drew to an end at the beginning of the 4th century BCE, Athenian philosophers began to analyze its content and formulate its structure.

Concepts of tragedy:

- In the thought of Plato (c. 427- 347 BCE), the history of the criticism of tragedy began with speculation on the role of censorship. 

- Plato is answered, in effect and perhaps intentionally, by Aristotle's Poetics. 

- Aristotle defends the purgative power of tragedy and, in direct contradiction to Plato, makes moral ambiguity the essence of tragedy.

- The effect on the audience will be similarly ambiguous.

-  A perfect tragedy, he say, should imitate actions that excite " pity and fear."

- He uses Sophocles' Oedipus the King as a paradigm. 

Oedipus Rex:

 - Oedipus Rex , play by Sophocles, performed sometime between 430 and 426 BCE. 

-That marks the summit of classical Greek drama's formal achievement , known for its tight construction and perfect use of dramatic devices of recognition and discovery.

- It examines the story of Oedipus.

- At the outset of the play, Oedipus is the beloved ruler of the city of Thebes, whose a citizens have been stricken by a plague.

Question -3:

3. Referring to the literary texts you studied during your B.A. program, write a brief note on the text that did not follow the Aristotlelian literally tradition.

- During B.A. we studied three tragedies: 

• All my sons 

• Tughlaq

• Othello 

- This three tragedies follows all objection of Aristotlelian theory like his concept of tragedy, tragic hero with Hamartia exept the objection of Unity of time , place and action.

- Shakespeare had not followed the unit of time, place and action. 

- In the play Othello, Shakespeare not followed the the unity of time, place and action.

Question -4

4. Have you studied any tragedies during your B.A. program? who was/were the tragic protagonist(s) in those tragedies? What was their 'hamartia'?

 Othello:

- The protagonist tragic hero is Othello himself. In the beginning, we see Othello is reasonable, patient and noble. He faces the anger of Brabantio calmly like a general. 

- He ignore when lago provokes him against Desdemona's father. He is a man of great character and some virtue but brings about his own dooms due to his tragic flaw.

- As a typical tragic character Othello has the terrible fault Hamartia in that he is disturbingly gullible, madly jealous and irrationally quick in his wrong judgement and action.