ARISTOTLE'S VIEWS ON THE PLOT

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.