Epic is older than tragedy. Epic evolved out of hymns to Gods and songs sung in praise of heroes. It has many things in common with tragedy. Tragedy came out of epic. Aristotle says that an epic is an imitation of action that is serious, whole and complete. Aristotle has said that one who knows tragedy also knows epic. Unlike tragedy an epic is meant to be read. An epic has plot, character, thought and diction. The plot may be simple or complex, just as the plot of a tragedy. The objective of an epic also is to produce catharsis in the readers by arousing the feelings of pity and fear in their minds. Though Aristotle does not say so explicitly, the plot is the most important constituent of an epic. However, an epic involves narration not dramatic action. It must have a beginning, a middle part, and an end. However, the parts are not to be organized as in the case of historical writings. In the case of historical writings the focus is not on a single action but a particular period of time. The historian refers to all the important persons and events in the period .The relations between the persons and events or between the persons may not be very clear. In an epic the poet focuses his attention on a particular action. According to Aristotle Homer is the best epic poet as he did not include everything that happened during the Trojan War. An epic can be long or short as there is no limit to narration. The poet has the freedom to move from place to place as he likes.
The poet may stay back and let the characters to speak. As the poet does not have to convince the audience in theatre as in the case of tragedy, he can indulge in his imagination and narrate things as he thinks. Aristotle also says that the heroic hexameter is the appropriate meter for the epic as it has the greatest stability. It helps the poet to employ various metaphors in his narration. The trochaic and iambic tetra meter is appropriate for dancing. Only the literate can read and enjoy epics. Anyone even if the person is illiterate, can watch and enjoy a tragedy. However, those who can read will be able to watch a tragedy and enjoy it. Aristotle believes that a tragedy can produce more pleasure than an epic can. And hence tragedy is the best form of poetry.

In his, book ‘Poetics’, Aristotle has enumerated the characteristics of a tragic hero. To arouse the feelings of pity and fear in the spectators, the tragic hero should not be a perfect man or a bad man. The picture of a perfect man falling from grace will not arouse the feelings of pity and fear in the spectators. It would just shock them. They would think if a perfect man suffers and dies like that they with their defects could never hope for a good life. They would not benefit from that state of mind in any way. The fortune of a bad man turning from bad to good also is unacceptable. The tragic incidents in the life of a bad person will not arouse the feelings of pity and fear in the spectators. Besides, a bad person does not deserve a good fortune. The fall of a wicked and cruel person will lead to a sense of satisfaction and a sigh of relief in the spectators. In between these two extremes there is a kind of man who is neither remarkably good nor a worthless person. He is “a man who enjoys property and high reputation like Oedipus”. The fall of such a person, says Aristotle, due not to his vice or an intervention from outside, but to an error of judgment or a fatal flaw in the person, will lead to the arousal of the feelings of pity and fear in the spectators. This happens because the misfortune is out of proportion to his error in judgment. The suggestion that a great misfortune can befall even a good man due to an error in his judgment will arouse the feeling of fear. And the essential goodness makes the spectators to identify themselves with the hero and take pity for him.

According to Aristotle, poetry is imitation or imaginative reconstruction of life. As he sees it tragedy is the “greatest form of poetry”. The Plot is the most important part of a tragedy. Plot may be defined as the logical combination of the actions. It expresses the casual relationships among the incidents. According to Aristotle, the plot must have ‘unity of actions’. It must have a beginning, a middle part and an end that cannot be interchanged. The playwright is to present the actions of the hero alone. He must be careful enough not to present the actions of other characters in the play. All actions of the hero need not be presented. Only those actions that have something to do with the tragedy that befalls the hero need be presented. These actions must be intimately connected with each other and must create an organic whole. It seems that Aristotle does not attach much importance to the ‘unity of time’ and the ‘unity of place’. He insisted that the plot must arouse the feelings of pity and fear in the spectators. The undeserved sufferings of the hero arouse the feelings of pity. And the fears of the worst that may happen to the hero arouse the feeling of fear. The ending of the tragedy must be sad. Only sad endings can create a sense of tragedy. The feelings can be aroused by way of theatrical effects such as physical torture, piteous lamentations and beggarly appearance. The two parts of the plot namely, complication and dénouement must be convincing. Aristotle speaks about two kinds of plots. Simple and complex. In a simple plot, there is no complication or confusion. The change of fortune comes about without a reversal or recognition. In a complex plot, the change of fortune comes about with recognition or reversal or both. The reversal in the play is referred to as ‘Peripetia’. It involves mistaking a friend for a foe and killing him, and a change of fortune from good to bad. Recognition is referred to as ‘Anagnorisis’. It involves the discovery of the nature of past actions and a change from ignorance to knowledge. Both of them have an element of surprise in them and are capable of moving the spectators.