Aristotle Poetics Dramatic Elements Dramatic Unities

Aristotle PoeticsDramatic ElementsDramatic Unities

Let there be LIGHT

Six ElementsPlotCharactersThought, motivationVerbal expression, script Song composition music/choralVisual adornment set/costume

PlotPlot-a tragedy cannot exist without a plot; can exist without charactersThe basic principle, the heart and soul, the structure of the events

CharactersCharacters defined by context; actionImitates the persons primarily for the sake of the action; clearly reveals the bent of mans moral choice

Thought

Motivation of characters; the ability to state the issues and appropriate points pertaining to a given topic; the passages in which they (characters) try to prove something is or is not so, or state some general principle.

verbal expression

How do we get rid of the man?What do you mean?A Script:conveyance of thought through language

Song composition

music/choralthe greatest of the sensuous attractions (through language)

visual adornment

Sets/costumewhich has strong emotional effect (least connected with the poetic art)

PLOTSSimple Plots: continuous without reversalComplex plots: reversal-recognition: a shift from ignorance to awareness-peripety what is being undertaken to the oppositePeripeteia- a reversal of fortune, for better or for worse, for the protagonist. Used to describe a characters fall in Greek tragedy.

Aristotles Dramatic Unities

There are two dramatic unities outlined in PoeticsScholars later interpreted Aristotles ideas and as rules and added the third.....

Unity of Time- Aristotle noted that a plays action usually occurs in one day (or a little more)

Unity of Action- Aristotle argued that the plot should reveal clearly ordered actions and incidents moving towards the plots resolution

Unity of Place-

A plays action should occur in a single locale.