Aristotle was not a literary critic in the modern sense of the term. However, he has expressed his views on poetry in his ‘Poetics’. According to Aristotle, tragedy is the greatest form of poetry. It is also the most complex form of poetry. He defines tragedy as “An imitation of action that is serious, complete and of certain magnitude, in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, several kinds being found at different parts of the play, in the form of action, not narrative, through pity and fear effecting proper purgation of these emotions.” Aristotle says that a good tragedy has six parts. In the order of importance, they are
v Plot
v Character
v Thought
v Music or Song
v Diction and
v Spectacle.
Of these, the first three constitute the tragedy proper. The last three are the media through which it is presented. Aristotle says that Plot, the arrangement of incidents, is the soul of the tragedy. And he goes on to say that there can be tragedy without character, but not without plot. A tragedy must arouse the feelings of ‘pity’ and ‘fear’ and purify the emotions of the spectators. Next only to plot is character that is followed by thought. The poet conveys the feelings of ‘pity’ and ‘fear’ through the medium of diction or words “embellished with each kind of artistic ornament” The spectacle “is least connected with the art of poetry”. Though it is the mechanical part of tragedy, it is not less important. The power of tragedy is felt thorough the representation of the actors. He does not agree with Plato, his teacher, that the tragedy has harmful effects on man. Plato feels that constant exposure to the sufferings of others will weaken our ability to endure pain, sufferings and the other feelings associated with them.Aistotle feels that constant exposure to the sufferings of others will arouse the feelings of pity and fear in the spectator and lead to what he calls ‘Catharsis’ or purgation of the feelings in their minds. When the spectators and the readers identify themselves with the hero, they are lifted out of themselves and emerge stronger and nobler that before.