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[amazon_link id=”0472061666″ target=”_blank” ]The Poetics[/amazon_link]: Simple and Complex Plots

“Among the simple plots and actions the episodic are the worst. By ‘episodic’ I mean on in which there is no probability or necessity for the order in which the episodes follow one another. Such structures are composed by the bad poets because they are bad poets" 34

“Furthermore, since the tragic imitation is not only of a complete action but also of events that are fearful and pathetic, and these come about best when they come about contrary to one’s expectation yet logically"

“Some plots are simple, others are complex" By ‘simple’ action I mean one the development of which being continuous and unified in the manner stated above, the reversal comes without peripety or recognition, and by ‘complex’ action one in which the reversal is continuous but with recognition or peripety or both. 35

” ‘Peripety‘ is a shift of what is being undertaken to the opposite in the way previously stated"[that is, as defined in a note] the events do not just ‘happen,’ as was intimated" but are initiated by the hero with a certain purpose in mind a purpose which is then frustrated by the outcome"and this in accordance with probability or necessity.

I just realized another error in my construction of The Empiric, namely, that the action is not undertaken consciously by the protagonist, Jacoba, everything in the play just happens, passively, the only acting person is Nicolas, who is acting to do harm to the main character.

Example: “In [amazon_link id=”0140444254″ target=”_blank” ]Oedipus[/amazon_link], the man who has come thinking that he will assure Oedipus, that is, relieve him of his fear with respect to his mother, by revealing who he once was, brings about the opposite. 36

“And ‘recognition’ is, as indeed the name indicates, a shift from ignorance to awareness, pointing in the direction either of close blood ties or of hostility"

So, the point being, that Jacoba should undertake whatever action she is undertaking consciously and with an intention, a defined and known purpose, the consequence of which turns out to be the opposite of what she had expected or intended, and the ultimate recognition, therein, of what has befallen her in the course of her action and the world’s response to it.

“The finest recognition is one that happens at the same time as peripety, as in the case with the one in Oedipus.

“But the form that is most integrally a part of the plot, the action, is the one aforesaid; for that kind of recognition combined with peripety will excite either pity or fear (and these are the kinds of action of which tragedy is an imitation according to our definition), because both good and bad fortune will also be most likely to follow that kind of event.

These then are the two elements of plot: peripety and recognition; third is the pathos" a pathos is a destructive or painful act, such as deaths on stage, paroxysms of pain, woundings, and all that sort of thing. 37

[From the notes] “The pathos is the foundation stone of the tragic structure. Its emotional potentialities will be explored" Peripety and recognition are limited to complex plots, indeed they constitute the definition of a complex plot. The pathos, on the other hand, can equally well be embodied in a simple plot (e.g., [amazon_link id=”1446076407″ target=”_blank” ]The Medea[/amazon_link]). In fact it appears that the happening or threatened happening of a pathos is the sine qua non of all tragedy.

[amazon_link id=”0472061666″ target=”_blank” ]The Poetics[/amazon_link]: Summary of Imitation:

Elements = 2 = Verbal Expression and Song Composition
Manner = 1 = Visual Adornment
Objects = 3 = Plot, Characters, and Thought
Total = 6 = Elements of Tragedy

The greatest of these elements is the structuring of incidents (plot). Thus the structure of events, the plot, is the goal of tragedy, and the goal is the greatest thing of all. Tragedy cannot exist without plot, but it can without characters.

If one strings end to end speeches that are expressive of character and carefully worked in thought and expression, he still will not achieve the result which we said was the aim of tragedy; the job will be done much better by a tragedy that is more deficient in these other respects but has a plot, a structure of events. 28

Besides, the most powerful means tragedy has for swaying our feelings, namely peripeties (reversals) and recognitions, are elements of plot.

This is where my play, The Empiric, likely fails. And until reading Poetics I was not entirely sure what was wrong, could not put my finger on it. Aristotle notes that “an indicative sign is that those who are beginning a poetic career manage to hit the mark in verbal expression and character portrayal sooner than they do in plot construction.” 28 Which is promising, because the verbal expression piece is down hard, the characterization is strong as well. The plot, however, is common; I think. It comes closer to history than drama: that is, a linear accounting of facts than drama; although it has a plot and consistent movement, yet no real peripeties or recognitions, signs for Aristotle of complex drama.

So plot is the basic principle, the heart and soul, as it were, of tragedy, and the characters come second–it is the imitation of an action and imitates the persons primarily for the sake of their action.

Third in rank is thought. This is the ability to state the issues and appropriate points pertaining to a given topic– 28 Character is that kind of utterance which clearly reveals the bent of a man’s moral choice (hence there is no character in that class of utterances in which there is nothing at all that the speaker is choosing or rejecting). 28

Fourth is the verbal expression of speeches. “Verbal expression” is the conveyance of thought through language.

(5) The song-composition–and “the visual adornment of the dramatic persons–is the least artistic element (6th).