Literary Criticism Long Questions

ARISTOTLE’s
CONCEPT OF PLOT

 INTRODUCTION:
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient
Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy within the
Lyceum and the wider Aristotelian tradition.
Aristotle’s POETICS is the earliest surviving work of Greek dramatic theory and first
extant philosophical treatise to focus on literary theory. The surviving book of Poetics is primarily
concerned with drama, and the ANALYSIS OF TRAGEDY constitutes the core of the discussion.
Tragedy is discussed in much more detail than other forms of drama. Aristotle defines Tragedy
as;

“An imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in

language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds of being found in
separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear
effecting the Catharsis of these and similar emotions.”
In his discussion of the six elements of tragedy, Aristotle attaches great importance to
the plot, putting it even above character and thought. He devotes seven or eight chapters to the
kind of plot which he thinks is most suited to tragedy.
“Plot is the soul of Tragedy.”
By plot he means the structure of the incidents. The incidents and the plot, he says, are
the end of a tragedy, and the end is the chief thing of all, in his view. Without action there
cannot be a tragedy; there may be one without character. The plot, he goes on to say, is the first
principle and, as it were, the soul of a tragedy. A tragedy must arouse the emotions such as pity
and fear and bring about the Catharsis of these emotions. The most powerful elements of
emotional interest in tragedy are the peripeteia (or reversal of the situation) and anagnorisis (or
recognition), and both these are parts of the plot.

 POET — THE MAKER:

The Greek word 'poet' means a 'maker'. The poet is a 'maker', not because he makes
(writes) verses, but because he makes plots. Here, Aristotle differentiates between 'story' and
'plot'. The poet NEEDS NOT TO MAKE HIS OWN STORY; indeed, it would be better if he chooses
a traditional story and then proceeds to MAKE HIS OWN PLOT OUT OF IT. He says that the stories

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taken from history, mythology, or legend are to be preferred, for they are familiar and easy to
understand, and they serve as guide-lines for characterization. After chosen his story or after
inventing it, the dramatist must subject it to a process of artistic selection and ordering. Only
relevant incidents and situations are selected, and they are arranged in a skillful way that they
seem to follow each other necessarily and inevitably. Moreover, the incidents chosen must be
‘SERIOUS’, of some importance, and not 'trivial', as tragedy is the imitation of a serious action.
Therefore, the incidents should be 'serious', likely to arouse the tragic emotions of pity and fear.

 ACTION TO BE COMPLETE, A WHOLE, AND OF A CERTAIN MAGNITUDE:

In his comments on the plot or the proper structure of the incidents, Aristotle first says
that the action which tragedy imitates should be complete, whole, and of a certain magnitude.

A WHOLE is that which has a beginning, a middle, and an end. A well-constructed plot
must neither begin nor end in a haphazard manner. And the plot must not only have an orderly
arrangement of incidents, but must also be of a CERTAIN MAGNITUDE because beauty depends
on magnitude as well as on order. Just as in the case of animate bodies and organisms a certain
magnitude is necessary, so in the plot a certain length is necessary. But just as the magnitude of
organisms should be such as can easily be embraced in one view, so the length of the plot should
be such as can easily be embraced by the mind and the memory. The greater the length of the
plot, the more beautiful will be the tragedy by reason of its size, provided that the whole is clear
and coherent, and provided that the sequence of events obeys the law of probability or
necessity.

 THE UNITY OF PLOT - Essential

Aristotle then speaks about the need of the unity of plot. The unity of plot, he says, does
not consist in the UNITY OF THE HERO. Just because a tragedy has one hero, it does not follow
that its plot would possess unity. Infinitely various are the incidents in one man's life, and all
these cannot be reduced to unity. Similarly, one man performs so many actions in his life that an
author cannot make one single action out of them. It is wrong to think, therefore, that, as
Heracles was one man, the story of Heracles must also be a unity.

In this respect, Homer seems to have rightly understood and acted upon the principle
governing unity. In composing the Odyssey he did not include all the adventures and experiences
of the hero Odysseus; he did not include those incidents between which there was no necessary
or probable connection; he made the Odyssey and also the Iliad centre round an ACTION THAT
WAS ONE. The structural unity of the plot implies that, if any part of the plot is displaced or
removed, the whole will be disjointed and disturbed.

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 THE LAW OF PROBABILITY OR NECESSITY

The law of probability or necessity, as already pointed out, must be obeyed in the
construction of the plot. It is not the function of the poet to relate what has happened, but what
may happen; he has to relate what is possible according to the law of probability or necessity.
The true difference between a historian and a poet is that the former relates what has happened,
while the other relates what may happen. This also is the reason why poetry is a more
philosophical and a higher thing than history: poetry tends to express the universal, and history
tends to express the particular.
Of all plots and actions, the EPISODIC are the worst, says Aristotle. A plot is episodic if the
episodes or incidents follow one another without a probable or necessary sequence. As tragedy
has to arouse the feelings of pity and fear, such an effect will be best produced if the events come
on us by surprise; and the effect will be enhanced if, at the same time, they follow one another
as CAUSE AND EFFECT.

 PERIPEREIA and ANAGNORISIS:

A plot may be simple or complex. It is SIMPLE when the change of fortune takes place
without reversal of the situation, and without recognition. It is COMPLEX when the change of
fortune is accompanied by reversal or by recognition or by both. PERIPEREIA or Reversal of the
situation is a change by which the action veers round to its opposite, but without violating the
rule of probability or necessity. ANAGNORISIS or Recognition is a change from ignorance to
knowledge, producing love or hatred between the persons destined by the poet for good or bad
fortune. Furthermore, the change of fortune should be not from bad to good, but from good to
bad. An UNHAPPY ENDING is the right ending for a tragedy. The best form of recognition is that
which coincides with the reversal situation, as happens in Sophocles' play Oedipus Tyrannus.

These two parts of the plot, reversal of the situation and recognition, turn upon
SURPRISES. LA third part is the SCENES OF SUFFERING which shows death, bodily agony,
wounds, and the like, on the stage.

 ACTIONS WHICH EXCITE PITY AND FEAR

Pity and fear should chiefly be aroused not by spectacular means but by the INNER
STRUCTURE of the play. In this respect, again, Oedipus Tyrannus furnishes a good illustration.
Those, who employ spectacular means to create the effect, do not understand the real purpose
of tragedy. We must not demand of tragedy any and every kind of pleasure, but only that which
is proper to it. Actions which can arouse terror or pity in us are those which happen between
persons who are either friends or enemies or indifferent to one another. If an enemy kills an
enemy, there is nothing to excite pity in the act. The same applies to indifferent persons. But

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when the tragic incident occurs between those who are NEAR OR DEAR TO EACH OTHER, both
pity and fear are aroused as, for example, if a brother kills his brother, or a son kills his father,
or a mother kills her son, or a son kills his mother.

 The Deed of Horror, to Be Committed in IGNORANCE

The action in a tragedy may be done consciously and with knowledge of the facts. It is
thus that Euripides makes Medea slay her children. Or, again, the deed of horror may be done
in IGNORANCE, as happens in Oedipus Tyrannus. And then there is a third case: a person may
be about to act with knowledge and then may not act. The fourth case is when someone is about
to do an irreparable deed through ignorance, but makes the discovery before the deed is done.
These are the only possible ways. Of all these ways, the worst is when one is about to act,
knowing the persons, and then does not act. Such a situation is shocking without being tragic,
because no disaster follows. It is therefore very seldom found in poetry. THE BEST WAY is that
the deed should be committed in ignorance and the discovery be made afterwards.

 THE COMPLICATION AND THE UNRAVELLING

Every tragedy is divisible into TWO PARTS-complication and unravelling (or

denouement). The complication means all that of the story. The action must evolve itself freely
and fully, and the decisive change of fortune must come about through the casual sequence of
events. This rule holds good for both varieties of plot, the simple and the complex. Aristotle
prefers the complex pattern.
In the end Aristotle says that in making their plots, the poets should take great care to
make their denouements or 'resolutions', it should be very effective and successful. While
making the denouements, unravelling of the plot should be done naturally and logically, and not
by the use of arbitrary devices, like chance, supernatural intervention, etc. The unravelling, says
Aristotle, must in every case arise out of the plot itself, not by the use of the deus ex machina or
by the use of accident. According to Atkins,
"Gods should intervene only where it becomes necessary to explain the past, or
announce future events external to the action".
In the same way, Aristotle does not consider POETIC JUSTICE (ideal justice) as necessary
for Tragedy. He regards it more in keeping with the spirit of comedy. Similarly, Aristotle rules out
the use of plots with a DOUBLE END, i.e., plots in which there is happiness for some of the
characters, and misery for others. Such a double-ending plot weakens the tragic effect, and
hence must be avoided. It is more proper to Comedy. Thus Aristotle is against Tragicomedy.

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Literary Criticism Long Questions

 CONCLUSION
Aristotle’s concept of Plot was a guideline for later writers to follow. He discussed the
qualities that should be found in an ideal plot. But these qualities are, by no means, a set of rules
that should be applied to all plots.

SHEHRYAR RIAZ
Email: sherryyrizz@gmail.com