Aristotle's poetics

Thinking activity

Worksheet: Aristotle's poetics

Introduction:- 

             This blog is in response to the bridge course assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir. This blog contains critical evaluation of Aristotle's poetics. It deals with 5 questions regarding Aristotle's poetics and concept of tragedy. 

      Q-1  How far do you agree with plato's objection to freedom of expression and artistic Liberty enjoyed by creative writer. ( Name the texts, novels, plays, poems, movies, TV soaps, etc  which can be rightfully objected and banned with Plato's objections.)

             A Greek philosopher Plato levied objections on poetry are creative work. He says that poetry is imitational,  not rational or moral, it is inspirational and argues that it leads to the arousal of emotions which is inappropriate or harmful. Poetry is normally harmful depiction of Greek Gods. 

           To rectify misconception of Plato, his disciple Aristotle makes counter arguments. In his work poetics, he defences the term Mimesis and presents that poetry mimetic, which means 'to make' not 'to copy'. Poetry doesn't represent what is or what was, but what ought to be.

          In some points of Plato, I do not agree with him and his objection to freedom of expression and artistic Liberty enjoyed by creative writer. It is true that poetry is inspirational but at the same time we can't tell it neither irrational nor inappropriate nor harmful nor dangerous to the soul. Creative writers are not liars. They present their views, emotions and suggestions through their work of art. It has not direct message of morality but in depth it also depicts how to make world better. They give an idea of what should be. 

         At some point I will be agree with Plato that they are enjoying freedom of expressions and artistic Liberty. Sometimes they presents the things which has no meaning at all, we can call it useless and which not even presents any kind of aesthetics delight. So in that sense Plato is right with is objections on creative writers.

           For example, some movies like Kabir Singh, Robot, ek villain, Murder, me tera hero, etc. do not present any sense. It is not so that creative works should teach or have moral values but at least it should have a single idea of Aristotle says - what ought to be. We can not say that there is a single idea behind these movies by which writer wants to presents what ought to be as Aristotle argues about creative works. There are lots of movies which were banned for this artistic Liberty. The movie Padmavat is the best example of it.

                The same thing which can be seen in Advertisement like, Sab ud gaya fog nahi - where  after cyclone everything got destroyed but a girl says that everything has gone but not the smell of Fogg. Centerfruit chewingum- where a boy to make an impression chew Centerfruit and girl is also impressed and kaisi jibh labalabai, pears soap - Teri ek jhalak dikh Jaye to din ban jaye - where kids are waiting for one kid's mother to make their day special as she takes bath of  pears soap. 

All these advertisement don't make any sense at all. It has no connection with even reality.

      

Q-2 With reference to the literary texts you have studied during B.A. programme. Write brief note on the texts which followed Aristotalian literary tradition (tragedy, catharsis, tragic hero with hamartia)

                There are four literary texts which we have studied in B. A. Programme and which contains Aristotalian literary tradition. Which are...

1. All my sons
2. Othello
3. Tughlaq
4. Ghashiram kotwal

    

1. All my sons:-

             "All my sons", a play by Arthur Miller is in some ways can be fitted in the frame of the concept of Aristotle's tragedy.

Tragic hero:- Joe Keller. He neither belong from category of Saint nor from sinner, he is a normal human being, normal businessman.

Hubrics:- The trick Joe Keller has excessive Pride or ambition to be wealthy, as he was shipping from his factory defective aircraft engine cylinder heads for Curtiss P-40 fighters during World war II and it causes the death of his elder son Larry Keller and 20 other person, and thus he commits suicide at the end.

Hamartia:- Joe Keller was knowingly supplying defective aircraft engine cylinder head in terms of ignorance and careless view, which takes 21 lives including his son Larry.

Catharsis:- Catharsis according to Aristotle, is a release of emotions, especially pity and fear, at the end of the play. In All my Sons, the audience does develop a sense of pity for the characters and their hardships as well as fear for their futures, but there is no clear catharsis. After Joe dies, Chris is left with a sense of guilt for his father's death and the mother is left grieving for both her dead son and now her dead husband. The audience does not get the satisfaction of releasing their emotions, but is rather left with tension and curiosity.

2. Othello:-

             "Othello" is a very well known domestic tragedy of William Shakespeare. Shakespeare's play, “Othello, the Moor of Venice,” is a powerful example of a tragedy and it’s main character, 

Tragic hero:-  Though it is a Shakespearean tragedy, Othello, is an excellent illustration of what Aristotle constitutes as a tragic hero. The play imitates life through basic human emotions such as jealousy and rage. In addition, Othello is far from being a perfect character - another quality that meets Aristotle's requirements..

Hamartia:- Othello was a powerful leader who deeply loved his faithful wife. He was tricked into believing his wife had cheated on him. His suspicion then overpowered him and he murdered his wife in a jealous rage, never even giving her a chance to defend herself.

              In this case, Othello's hamartia, or internal tragic flaw, is his extreme jealousy. It is this jealousy that enables him to be tricked and allows him to create his own destruction.

  Catharsis:- Othello catharsis is he realises that Iago led him astray, and that it was his own trust, naivete, and jealousy that led him to kill Desdemona.

               Othello’s catharsis results in his suicide, and the audience feels his betrayal– realising that trusting a friend blindly can have severe consequences. The audience thus never needs to experience the feeling of betrayal in reality, as Othello’s catharsis has taught them to be more aware.

3. Tughlaq:-

               Thughlaq is a play by Indian playwright Girish Karnad. The play more or less has an element of Aristotle's tragedy.

Tragic hero:- Muhammad Tughlaq is the protagonist in the play 'Tughlaq'. According to Aristotle, the tragic hero must be highly placed individual. Tughlaq appears a fit tragic hero from this perspective. He is a highly prominent person who has some great qualities of head and heart.

         

Hubrics:-  Tughlaq was a great king who had an excessive Pride and ambitions regarding equality between Hindu and Muslim. In this path he commits many crimes and becomes cause of suffering of other people of the kindom.

Hamartia:- Thughlaq's hamartia is his idealism. Like he treats Hindu and Muslim alike, make five time prayer compulsory, introduces Copper currency equal to silver currency and shifting his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad. All of his actions led him to his tragic end, and it led him alone.

Catharsis:- Tughlaq is play which doesn't end with the death of hero or the protagonist but with so much calamities and at the end of the play Sultan becomes lonely as he killed his courtiers and sentenced his step mother to death for her act to kill his fellow. At the end of the play, audiences sinks in pity towards Sultan and people of his kingdom. 

Q-3 With reference to the literary texts you have studied during B.A. programme, write brief note on the texts which did NOT follow Aristotelian literary tradition. (i.e. his concept of tragedy, catharsis, tragic hero with hamartia etc.)

                     There were two literary texts which doesn't follow Aristotalian literary tradition. Which are,

1. Ghashiram kotwal
2. The hairy ape

1. Ghashiram kotwal:- 

             This play is written by an Indian dramatist Vijay Tendulkar. The play presents Ghashiram kotwal as a result of socio-political result. This play doesn't follow Aristotalian literary tradition.

                Downfall of the protagonist is not his own faults but socio-political aspects makes him cruel to kill innocent people of Puna. He becomes blood thirsty as he was humiliated by Puna Brahmins and exchanges Kotwali of Puna with his daughter Gauri to Nana Phadanvis. At the end of the play Ghashiram is sentenced to death by Nana because Ghashiram is of no use to him as Gauri is no more which was the center of lust for Nana.

                 Yes, the play has an element called Catharsis of Aristotle's literary tradition. At the end audience feel pity for Ghashiram for his struggle to earn livelihood in Puna city and after getting humiliation from Puna Brahmins he goes on the way to take revenge in exchange of his daughter to lustful Nana. The end of Ghashiram is very pitiful when Ghashiram admits that,.. "hit me, bit me, cut off my hands, i gave my lovely daughter to lustful Nana to due."  

               Last words of Ghashiram makes everyone emotional and there is an element of purgation feeled by audience.

2. The Hairy ape:- 

                 The Hairy Ape is a penetrating and concentrating tragedy on human predicament in the modern age. The subtitle 'A Comedy of Ancient and Modern Life' is  ironical. It points the satirical intent of the playwright.

              The Hairy Ape is a tragedy of modern times, having no conventional hero of the classical or Aristotelian tradition. The play presents an antihero, possessing no extraordinary quality or tragic flaw. The protagonist, Yank - Bob Smith is not a man of high position. He is from lower or middle class.

                  He is a humble stoker in a ship whose duty is to shove fuel into the furnace of ship's engine. He works long hours in the ship’s low roofed stokehole and  dominating figure among the stokers by virtue of his superior physical power. Aristotalian concept of tragedy is not found in our hero Yank, who doesn't have his own fault. But rather he is conflicted with his environment. He struggled hard against the forces but he could not win. Mildred Douglas's reaction to Yank, which makes Yank come to know about class awareness. Yank is especially affected by Mildred because she presents a world and class which he cannot belong to.  

                 Yank's downfall is his search for identity. All these aspects are causes of finding indentity and at the end to the death.

 Q-4 Have you studied any tragedies during B.A. programme? Who was/were the tragic protagonist/s in those tragedies? What was their ‘hamartia’?

                Yes, I have studied tragadies during B. A. And it has tragic protagonist and all the heroes has their own hamartia for their downfall.

All my sons:-

Tragic hero: Joe Keller

Hamartia:- He was supplying defective aircrafts in jeans cylinder head in terms of ignorance and careless view.

Othello:-

Tragic hero: Othello

Hamartia: Extreme jealousy that enables him to kill his very loyal wife Desdemona and Blind trust on Iago.

Tughlaq:-

Tragic hero: Muhammad bin Tughlaq

Hamartia: His idealism

Ghashiram kotwal:-

Tragic hero: Ghashiram kotwal

Hamartia: His way to take revenge of humiliation by Brahmins through very cruel way. And also imprisonment of Brahmin and their death by suffocation.

The Hairy ape:-

Tragic hero: Yank / Bob Smith

Hamartia:- His extreme dominant nature

 5. Did the ‘Plot’ of those tragedies follow necessary rules and regulations proposed by Aristotle? (Like chain of cause and effect, principle of probability and necessity, harmonious arrangement of incidents, complete, certain magnitude, unity of action etc)

General definition of plot by Aristotle:-

Tragedy is an imitation of an action, that is serious, complete, and of a certain manitude; in the language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear affecting the proper purgation of these and similar emotions.

             According to Aristotle, plot is the ordering of action and plot is the soul of tragedy. Through the unity of time, place and action in plot and continuity of action tragedy is created. He also says that without characters- in moral sense, tragedy can be created but without plot it is impossible. 

             Yes, plot of those tragedies follow necessary rules and regulations proposal by Aristotle. Like in Othello, Tughlaq, All my sons, Ghashiram kotwal - there is unity of plot.

                 In Othello, there is unity of time, place and action. From the beginning Iago starts to spoil Othello's ear for his personal jealousy of Othello - a moor get married with Desdemona- a white girl. To prove Desdemona's betrayal, Iago becomes successful to give an evidence of that. All these events and causes makes plot of the tragedy what Aristotle's opinion is about tragedy. There is harmony in incident which led perfect consequences.

                      In Tughlaq, incidents of the downfall of Sultan takes place one by one in harmony. Like his whimsical decisions, compulsory 5 time prayer, equality between Hindu and Muslim, shifting the Capital, introduces copper currency, murder of his courtiers, murder of his step mother.., the chain of incidence takes sultan to the climax and thus leads towards his downfall.

                       All my sons, is also follows Aristotle's theory of tragedy. In this play, all incidents are connected with the final consequences of the play that because of Joe Keller his elder son and other 20 warriors died, thought it stays secret one till the end. In the beginning there incidents of Chris and Annie's marriage (beloved of Larry) as Chris knew that his brother is no more. After one by one, all the facts of plane crash come out and finally they come to know that Joe was shipping defective aircraft engine cylinder to the army, and as a result of it he becomes cause of death of 21 armyman including his son. It lead Joe to do suicide. So all the incidents are deeply connected with each other in harmony. 

               In short, all these tragedies follow path of Aristotalian literary tradition.

Conclusion:-

                   To sum up, we can clearly say that Aristotle's poetics and concept of tragedy both are very important aspects and elements of literature.

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