aristotlian tragedy

Question 1

why does he believe the audience feel free in a tragedy

Answer 1

they can envision themselves within a cause and effect chain

Question 2

what is the first principle of tragedy

Answer 2

plot

Question 3

how is plot defined

Answer 3

the arrangement of the incidents

Question 4

which tragedies are superior to others due to plot

Answer 4

those where the outcome depends on a tightly constructed cause and effect chain rather than on the personality of the protagonist

Question 5

what is the role of the beginning (incentive moment) of the plot

Answer 5

to start the cause and effect chain but not be dependent on anything outside the play

Question 6

what is the role of the middle (climax) of the plot

Answer 6

caused by earlier incidents and cause the following incidents

Question 7

what is the role of the end (resolution) of the plot

Answer 7

caused by preceding events

Question 8

what is the cause and effect chain leading from the incentive moment to the climax

Answer 8

the tying up (desis), complication

Question 9

what is the cause and effect chain from the climax to the resolution

Answer 9

unravelling (lusis)

Question 10

why does he view the worst plots as ‘episodic’

Answer 10

episodes, acts succeed one another without probable or necessary sequence

Question 11

how should poets treat coincidence

Answer 11

avoid it unless it contains an air of design

Question 12

why should a plot be universal and significant

Answer 12

poet is more able to catch and hold the emotions of the audience

Question 13

what does he believe complex plots contain

Answer 13

both reversal of intention (peripeteia) and recognition (anagnorisis)

Question 14

how does peripeteia occur

Answer 14

when a character produces an effect opposite to that which he intended to produce leading to a point of no return

Question 15

what is anagnorisis

Answer 15

a change from ignorance to knowledge either from self insight or an understanding of external factors

Question 16

how does the combination of anagnorisis and peripeteia lead to the final scene of suffering

Answer 16

combine as part of C+E chain , this creates the catastrophe leading to final scene of suffering

Question 17

what should the protagonist be

Answer 17

renowned and prosperous so his change of fortune can be from good to bad

Question 18

how does he believe character causes pathos in the reader

Answer 18

pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune, fear by the misfortune of a man like ourselves

Question 19

why does he believe the protagonist will bring about his own demise

Answer 19

not because he is sinful or morally weak but because he does not know enough

Question 20

what does he say about characters being ‘good or fine’

Answer 20

relates it to moral purpose relative to class ‘ even a woman may be good, also a slave, though the woman may be said to be an inferior being and the slave worthless’

Question 21

what else must be a character be

Answer 21

fitness of character (true to type), true to life (realistic), consistency (true to themselves), necessary or probable(logically constructed), true to life and yet more beautiful

Question 22

how does a reader take pleasure or satisfaction from a tragedy

Answer 22

the aesthetic pleasure one gets from contemplating the pity and fear that are aroused from an intricately constructed tragedy