Aristotle Flashcards
organic unity
the idea that in any good work of art each of the parts must contribute to the overall success of the whole
Unified action
with its several incidents so closely connected that the transposal or withdrawal of any one of them will disjoin and dislocate the whole”
The only way of acquiring knowledge at all, according to Aristotle
through the senses and so developing, exercising and sharpening those senses through art was a healthy thing to do
(Successful Tragic) Drama always teaches
morality
pathos
Aristotle defined pathos in terms of a public speaker putting the audience in the right frame of mind by appealing to the audience’s emotions. He further defined emotion as states of mind involving pleasure and pain, which in turn influence our perceptions.
2 functions of the work of art
to imitate nature’s perceptual detail and to imitate nature’s “organic unity.”
Poetry is not equal to
imitation
poetry is more ________ than history
philosophical
Poetry describes “not the thing that has happened” as Aristotle imagines history does “but
a kind of thing that might happen, (i.e, what is possible) as being probable or necessary”
The aim of tragedy, Aristotle writes, is to bring
about a “catharsis” of the spectators — to arouse in them sensations of pity and fear, and to purge them of these emotions so that they leave the theater feeling cleansed and uplifted, with a heightened understanding of the ways of gods and men.
According to Aristotle, tragedy has six main elements:
plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle (scenic effect), and song (music),
which 2 elements are the primary elements of tragedy
Plot and Character
Tragedy is an imitation, not of
men, but of action and life, of happiness and misery.
________________ is the soul of the tragedy
Plot
aim of a tragedy is to arouse
pity and fear through an alteration in the status of the central character, he must be a figure with whom the audience can identify and whose fate can trigger these emotions.
Hero’s error
hamartia
These are ________________ where the opposite of what was planned or hoped for by the protagonist takes place,
“reversal” (peripeteia),
the point when the protagonist recognizes the truth of a situation, discovers another character’s identity, or comes to a realization about himself.
anagnorisis- recognition
3 kinds of unities
time
action
place
chief function of poetry
to give pleasure to the reader
ristotle says that imitation, harmony and rhythm of poetry are made for pleasure.
Aristotle calls poet -
imitator
what is superior - tragedy or epic?
tragedy
Poetics” Aristotle says that tragedy is superior to epic because of various reasons.
Epic is meant only to be read and not to be staged. On the other hand tragedy can be read as well as to be staged.
Secondly, tragedy also appeals to a cultivated audience when merely read.
Finally, when tragedy is performed in the theatre, music is added to it and gets greater pleasure than the pleasure that epic gives to the reader.
The plot is divided into which two parts
They are complications and denouement.
Denouement means the unraveling of a plot or story.
In complication, events are tied up into a difficult knot, but in the denouement, these difficult knots are broken or untied.
poetry depicts two actions-
he noble actions of good men and the mean actions of bad men.
how are nature and epic different
In its nature epic resembles tragedy but in its form epic is different from tragedy.
Plato viewed poetry as
twice removed from reality
Plato firmly believes that poetry must
reform the character of the individual citizen and thereby promote the welfare of the state. In his famous book ”The Republic” Plato says that although poetry pleases the reader, mere pleasure cannot be its object. A poet is a good artist only in so far as he is a good teacher.
According to Plato, poetic truth must be
Poetic truth must be the highest truth – ideal forms of justice, goodness, beauty, and the like
According to Aristotle, what is the highest objective of poetry
giving pleasure
Poetry is originated from two human instincts such as
imitation, and harmony and rhythm.
Action leads to
tradegy
tragedy leads to
catharsis
Aristotles 6 part of tragedy
According to Aristotle, there are six parts in tragedy: Plot, character, thought, diction, song and spectacle.
What is a perfect tragedy
A plot that makes use of both peripeteia and anagnorisis is a perfect tragedy.
Aristotle in his ‘Poetics’ says that comedy is
originated from phallic songs and satirical verses.
In its _______________Epic resembles tragedy
closely but in its form it is different.
two essential principles of good writing and good speech
They are clearness and propriety
Aristotle rejected Plato’s
Theory of Forms
Aristotle identifies ___________as the most refined version of poetry dealing with lofty matters
tragedy
_______________ as the most refined version of poetry dealing with base matters
comedy
explanation of the 7 characteristics of tragedy
Aristotle defines tragedy according to seven characteristics: (1) it is mimetic, (2) it is serious, (3) it tells a full story of an appropriate length, (4) it contains rhythm and harmony, (5) rhythm and harmony occur in different combinations in different parts of the tragedy, (6) it is performed rather than narrated, and (7) it arouses feelings of pity and fear and then purges these feelings through catharsis
Poetry is
mimetic
