Aristotle's Poetics(384-322 BC, Poetics c. 335 BC)

Literature, theatre and music are imitative processes (mimesis);  different genres vary by means (genre differentiation), objects (goals/telos), methods/modes (narrative vs. dramatic)

Greek tragedy:  imitates superior people, characters use dramatic mode
Greek tragedy's poetic meter: iambic trimeter

Definition of tragedy: "Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action which is serious, complete, and of some magnitude; in language which is beautiful, with each of its varieties found separately in the parts; enacted by the persons themselves and not presented through narrative; through a course of pity and fear effecting the purgation of those emotions."

6 elements of tragedy, in descending order of importance:

• plot
• character
• thought/theme
• verbal expression/diction
• song composition/music
• visual adornment/spectacle

Principles of plot

• character and theme serve plot
• whole
• unified
• not describe what is but what can be
• simple vs. complex
• anagnorisis and peripeteia should happen at once
• single vs. double
• best plots: recognition happens to prevent an action; 2nd best: recognition happens after action
• recognition is best if it unfolds from plot, 2nd best: from reasoning

• morally good
• appropriate to type (women and slaves)
• like real people
• consistent

• tragedy does not require a super human hero, but someone who represents us all
• in contemporary democracy, and given the psychological approach to character that finds commonality among people, the "common man or woman" is easily generalizable by today's audiences
• the crux of the "stature" of the hero is that s/he battles for dignity against impervious forces. While an individual can not win, contemporary tragic characters gain nobility in their effort
• While Greek heroes battles fate, the gods, etc., forces against which a contemporary tragic hero battles are: government, law, religious law, social forces like racism or bougeois conformity