A Comparison Between Aristotle’s Tragedy Theory And That of Boileau

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  [Abstract] In this article, the author intends to illustrate and clarify the differences and similarities reflected from their representative works in both Aristotle’s and Bioleau’s tragedy theory. “Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete and of a certain magnitude”; Aristotle holds that tragedy is composed of six elements: plot-structure, character, style, spectacle, and lyric poetry and that “tragedy should evoke fear and pity”.  According to Boileau, “Tragic art was said to provide an idealizing imitation of the terrifying in which pain is transformed into pleasure” and he believes that “Only the true is beautiful”, reason must be respected”.
  [Key words] Aristotle Boileau Tragedy Theory poetics The Art of Poetry
  
  Literature Review
  Tragedy (by far the most important genre for Aristotle) “is a representation of an action that is worth serious attention, complete in itself, and of some amplitude; in language enriched by a variety of artistic devices appropriate to the several parts of the play; presented in the form of action, not narration; by means of pity and fear bringing about the purgation of such emotions” (39)
  1. Aspects of Tragedy:
  a. Plot--should be unified (42 - 43; 45); should embody poetic “truth” (43 - 44); may be simple or complex (45). It must (46) lead to reversal and recognition, arousing fear and pity through its catastrophe (or calamity). The means of discovery (recognition) should grow directly and inevitably out of the plot and not be merely “manufactured” (53 - 54).
  b. Character (51 - 52)--must be good, appropriate, life-like, and consistent.
  c. The chorus “should be regarded as one of the actors; it should be a part of the whole, and should assume a share in the action, as happens in Sophocles, but not in Euripides” (57).
  Tragedy is the imitation of an action; and an action implies personal agents, who necessarily possess certain distinctive qualities both of character and thought; for it is by these that we qualify actions themselves, and these—thought and character—are the two natural causes from which actions spring, and on actions again all success or failure depends. Hence, the Plot is the imitation of the action—for by plot I here mean the arrangement of the incidents. By Character I mean that in virtue of which we ascribe certain qualities to the agents. Thought is required wherever a statement is proved, or, it may be, a general truth enunciated. Every Tragedy, therefore, must have six parts, which parts determine its quality—namely, Plot, Character, Diction, Thought, Spectacle, Song. Two of the parts constitute the medium of imitation, one the manner, and three the objects of imitation. And these complete the fist. These elements have been employed, we may say, by the poets to a man; in fact, every play contains Spectacular elements as well as Character, Plot, Diction, Song, and Thought.
  Aristotle considered epic poetry, tragedy, comedy, dithyrambic poetry and music to be imitative, each varying in imitation by media, object, and manner.[39] For example, music imitates with the media of rhythm and harmony, whereas dance imitates with rhythm alone, and poetry with language. The forms also differ in their object of imitation. Comedy, for instance, is a dramatic imitation of men worse than average; whereas tragedy imitates men slightly better than average. Lastly, the forms differ in their manner of imitation - through narrative or character, through change or no change, and through drama or no drama.[40] Aristotle believed that imitation is natural to mankind and constitutes one of mankind’s advantages over animals.[41]
  While it is believed that Aristotle’s Poetics comprised two books - one on comedy and one on tragedy - only the portion that focuses on tragedy has survived. Aristotle taught that tragedy is composed of six elements: plot-structure, character, style, spectacle, and lyric poetry.[42] The characters in a tragedy are merely a means of driving the story; and the plot, not the characters, is the chief focus of tragedy. Tragedy is the imitation of action arousing pity and fear, and is meant to effect the catharsis of those same emotions. Aristotle concludes Poetics with a discussion on which, if either, is superior: epic or tragic mimesis. He suggests that because tragedy possesses all the attributes of an epic, possibly possesses additional attributes such as spectacle and music, is more unified, and achieves the aim of its mimesis in shorter scope, it can be considered superior to epic.[43]Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology and zoology. Together with Plato and Socrates (Plato’s teacher), Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. He was the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy, his philosophy had a long-lasting influence on the development of all Western philosophical theories. Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (1 November 1636 - 13 March 1711) was a French poet and critic. Boileau did much to reform the prevailing form of French poetry, and was greatly influenced by Horace, who was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.
  2. Their representative works in terms of tragedy-poetics and L’Art poétique 
  Among all of Aristotle’s contributions to the world, his tragedy of theory is not the least famous and significant, the representative of which is poetics .He wrote his Poetics up to a full century after Sophocles and Euripides wrote the tragedies upon which he based his observations.
  While Boileau, a French writer and critic, published L’Art poétique in 1674, it is a didactic treatise in verse, and it has set out rules for the composition of poetry in the classical tradition. L’Art poétique ,in imitation of the Ars Poetica of Horace, lays down the code for all future French verse, and may be said to fill in French literature a parallel place to that held by its prototype in Latin. Boileau does not merely lay down rules for the language of poetry, but analyses carefully the various kinds of verse composition, and enunciates the principles peculiar to each. Of the four books of L’Art poétique, the first and last consist of general precepts, inculcating mainly the great rule of bon sens; the second treats of the pastoral, the elegy, the ode, the epigram and satire; and the third of tragic and epic poetry. The fifth and sixth cantos, afterwards added by Boileau, rather detract from the beauty of the poem; the last canto in particular is quite unworthy of his genius.
  3. A comparison of Aristotle’s tragedy Theory and that of Bioleau
  3.1 Definition
  Aristotle’s defines “tragedy” in this way: “Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in 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; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its katharsis of such emotions. . . . As far as tragedy is concerned, Boileau reinforced the classical interpretation of the Aristotelian theory held by his contemporaries. Tragic art was said to “provide an idealizing imitation of the terrifying in which pain is transformed into pleasure. The purpose of tragedy is to please and move the spectator by producing a “pleasant terror” and a “delightful pity.”
  3.2 Six Elements in Aristotle’s Theory
  Every Tragedy, therefore, must have six parts, which parts determine its quality—namely, Plot, Characters, Diction, Thought, Spectacle, Melody. Tragedy is the “imitation of an action” (mimesis) according to “the law of probability or necessity.” Aristotle indicates that the medium of tragedy is drama, not narrative; tragedy “shows” rather than “tells.” According to Aristotle, tragedy is higher and more philosophical than history because history simply relates what has happened while tragedy dramatizes what may happen, “what is possible according to the law of probability or necessity.” History thus deals with the particular, and tragedy with the universal. Events that have happened may be due to accident or coincidence; they may be particular to a specific situation and not be part of a clear cause-and-effect chain. Therefore they have little relevance for others. Tragedy, however, is rooted in the fundamental order of the universe; it creates a cause-and-effect chain that clearly reveals what may happen at any time or place because that is the way the world operates. Tragedy therefore arouses not only pity but also fear, because the audience can envision themselves within this cause-and-effect chain. “Plot is the ‘first principle,’ the most important feature of tragedy.” Aristotle defines plot as “the arrangement of the incidents”: i.e., not the story itself but the way the incidents are presented to the audience, the structure of the play. According to Aristotle, tragedies where the outcome depends on a tightly constructed cause-and-effect chain of actions are superior to those that depend primarily on the character and personality of the protagonist. The plot must be “a whole,” with a beginning, middle, and end. The beginning, called by modern critics the incentive moment, must start the cause-and-effect chain but not be dependent on anything outside the compass of the play (i.e., its causes are downplayed but its effects are stressed). The middle, or climax, must be caused by earlier incidents and itself cause the incidents that follow it (i.e., its causes and effects are stressed). The end, or resolution, must be caused by the preceding events but not lead to other incidents outside the compass of the play (i.e., its causes are stressed but its effects downplayed); the end should therefore solve or resolve the problem created during the incentive moment. Aristotle calls the cause-and-effect chain leading from the incentive moment to the climax the “tying up” (desis), in modern terminology the complication. He therefore terms the more rapid cause-and-effect chain from the climax to the resolution the “unravelling” (lusis), in modern terminology the dénouement. “Character has the second place in importance.” In a perfect tragedy, character will support plot, i.e., personal motivations will be intricately connected parts of the cause-and-effect chain of actions producing pity and fear in the audience. The protagonist should be renowned and prosperous, so his change of fortune can be from good to bad. This change “should come about as the result, not of vice, but of some great error or frailty in a character.” Such a plot is most likely to generate pity and fear in the audience, for “pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune, fear by the misfortune of a man like ourselves.”
  Characters in tragedy should have the following qualities(1)“good or fine.” Aristotle relates this quality to moral purpose and says it is relative to class: “Even a woman may be good, and also a slave, though the woman may be said to be an inferior being, and the slave quite worthless.” (2)“fitness of character” (true to type); e.g. valor is appropriate for a warrior but not for a woman. (3)“true to life” (realistic) (4)“consistency” (true to themselves). Once a character’s personality and motivations are established, these should continue throughout the play. (5)“necessary or probable.” Characters must be logically constructed according to “the law of probability or necessity” that governs the actions of the play. (6)“true to life and yet more beautiful” (idealized, ennobled). Thought is third in importance, and is found “where something is proved to be or not to be, or a general maxim is enunciated.” Aristotle says little about thought, and most of what he has to say is associated with how speeches should reveal character. However, we may assume that this category would also include what we call the themes of a play. Diction is fourth, and is “the expression of the meaning in words” which are proper and appropriate to the plot, characters, and end of the tragedy. In this category, Aristotle discusses the stylistic elements of tragedy; he is particularly interested in metaphors: “But the greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor;…it is the mark of genius, for to make good metaphors implies an eye for resemblances”. Song, or melody, is fifth, and is the musical element of the chorus. Aristotle argues that the Chorus should be fully integrated into the play like an actor; choral odes should not be “mere interludes,” but should contribute to the unity of the plot. Spectacle is last, for it is least connected with literature; “the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet.” Although Aristotle recognizes the emotional attraction of spectacle, he argues that superior poets rely on the inner structure of the play rather than spectacle to arouse pity and fear; those who rely heavily on spectacle “create a sense, not of the terrible, but only of the monstrous”. The end of the tragedy is a katharsis (purgation, cleansing) of the tragic emotions of pity and fear. Katharsis is another Aristotelian term that has generated considerable debate. The word means “purging,” and Aristotle seems to be employing a medical metaphor—tragedy arouses the emotions of pity and fear in order to purge away their excess, to reduce these passions to a healthy, balanced proportion. Aristotle also talks of the “pleasure” that is proper to tragedy, apparently meaning the aesthetic pleasure one gets from contemplating the pity and fear that are aroused through an intricately constructed work of art.
  3.3 Boileau ’s Theory in Tragedy-reason must be respected.
  Thus Boileau advocated absolute respect for the three unities of action, time, and place, even though Aristotle confined himself to the unity of action Boileau placed great importance on certain often-repeated key words, such as raison (reason), nature (nature), verité (truth), and vraisemblance (likeness to truth). He believed that “Only the true is beautiful” and that the poet’s role lies in the discovery and presentation of truth. Sincerity and a great desire for ideal truth are necessary to arrive at the essence of things. And once found, truth must be communicated by the poet in a style marked by simplicity, clarity, and grandeur, such as that found in Homer and the Bible.. Also, the representation ought to be submitted to the principle of verisimilitude, since what is historically true but not credible will not produce any emotion in the spectator. Verisimilitude also requires the writer to respect the rules of propriety (Horace’s decorum), whether from an external point of view (agreement between the represented action and the public’s expectations and customs) or from an internal one (internal coherence among characters and the language ascribed to them). These rules on style are similar to those of the Greek philosopher Longinus, whose On the Sublime was translated by Boileau, but are opposed to those advocated by the précieuses. During the 18th century Boileau’s theories influenced literature in England, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Russia. In his masterpiece, The Art of Poetry, Boileau distinguishes himself not by the theoretical argument of the content, but by the witty, succinct phrases that summarize concepts examined previously by others.
  Bibliography :
  [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle
  [2] http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Mathematicians/Aristotle.html
  [3] http://web.whittier.edu/people/WebPages/PersonalWebPages/furmanadams/AristotleandHoraceHandout.HTM
  [4]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Boileau-Despr%C3%A9aux
  [5]http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/71759/Nicolas-Boileau-Despreaux
  [6]http://www.iep.utm.edu/a/aris-poe.htm#H4
  [7]http://www.bookrags.com/research/boileau-nicolas-16361711-eoph/
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