In the poetics, Aristotle devotes considerable attention to an examination of the nature, structure and constituent elements of the ideal tragic plot. Tragedy is the representation of action: and action consists of incidents and events. Plot is the arrangement or organization of these incidents and events, and without it there is no coherence and hence no tragic effect. We notice a strong predilection towards cause and effect in Aristotle, from which arises this insistence on continuity, plausibility and visible links between various parts of the story. A fantastic, piecemeal jumble of incidents would be unlikely to arouse any pity-fear feeling, or in fact, any feeling other than confusion and irritation. Modern drama has sometimes ignored this rule deliberately, experimenting with the so-called ‘philosophies’ of confusion or absurdity, but the experiments have not usually succeeded in finding consistent votaries. Of course, there is a general movement away from plot towards character in the evolution of western drama, and ‘character’ is plot has sometimes been asserted about the productions of dramatists like Ibsen. Since then, with the introduction of closed halls, good lighting and acoustics, the possibilities in this direction have improved immensely.
Even so, it is probable that Aristotle’s observation still holds true character without plot would produce no drama. The plot is a cause and effect succession, and clearly it has to be a limited one, otherwise the succession could continue to infinity in either direction. In presenting the life history of some person, the dramatist is forced to confine his writings to a selected portion of that person’s life. Aristotle’s rule for making such a selection is that the action should have a beginning, a middle and an end; the beginning is that which is not obviously linked with some proceeding episode, the ending is that which is not linked with some preceding episode, the ending is that which is not linked with anything coming after it, and the middle is that which is linked with both the beginning and the end.
This is necessitated by the limitations imposed by the capacity of the audience to comprehend and sit comfortably through a dramatic performance. If the play is too long, the audience will tend to forget the beginning and will not be able to conceive of it as a whole. If it is too short, it will have little impact and significance.
The plot should be as significant as time and audience-appreciation will allow. The more massive the plot, the more telling will be its effect, and the greater the achievement of tragic magnitude. For the same reason, the plot should be complex rather than simple, allowing for richness and diversity of action within the main framework.
The Unities:
The plot should have unity. This has been a point of debate among critics, but it is now generally agreed that the only kind of unity on which Aristotle insists is that of action, which once again really means that the plot should have recognizable, plausible links leading logically from the beginning, through the middle, to the end. He has mentioned elsewhere that it would be better if the action of the play could be limited to the movement of the sun, which could be interpreted either as twelve hours or as twenty-four, but this statement, thrown off casually as a desirable value, should never have become an authority for the ‘rule’ of the unity of time, as it did later. The third unity that of place, can muster little support in Aristotle’s text, but it is implicit in the forgoing observations. Obviously, unity of place will make achievement of unity of action easier.
To have the conduct hopping from one part of the world to the other would break up the continuity as well as strain the credibility of the audience. Yet, against this, it is fair to state that both in matters of time and place, the audience is capable of stretching a point without effort. No sense of incongruity is felt when the whole life-time of a man is compressed into a performance three hours long or if part of the action takes place in Islamabad and the other in Lahore, London or anywhere.
Peripety and Discovery:
Two other elements are introduced as desirable additions to the plot. One is peripety or the ironic twist: the hero should be shown as expecting one thing and in fact gaining something else. The example given is that of Oedipus, who, in desiring to hear the truth about his antecedents from Tiresius, something which he probably thought would help him to get peace of mind, brings about the tragedy which engulfs his whole family. The other is discovery, in which the identity of a person, hitherto disguised or hidden, is revealed to the other characters. Both peripety and discovery are within the action of the play, that is, the characters that are expected not to have the knowledge which the audience has. The ironic twist in Oedipus is no ironic twist for the audience, which knows fully well what will happen. Likewise, unless the tragedist wishes to introduce an element of mystery into his play, a disguised character is only disguised for the other characters in the play, not for the playgoers. There is a special kind of anticipatory excitement in waiting for the reaction of man on the stage to something which is new for him but not for us. All this helps to build up the emotions in the audience so that by the time the unraveling of the play takes place the mixed bag of emotions contribute one to the other to cause the feelings of pity and fear to boil over and wash away.
The denouement:
While devising their plots, the poets should take great care to make their denouements or ‘resolutions’ effective and successful. Unraveling of the plot should be done, naturally and logically, and not by the use of arbitrary devices, like chance, supernatural intervention, etc. “Gods should intervene only where it became necessary to explain the past, or announce future events external to the action.” Aristotle does not regard Poetic Justice as essential for Tragedy. According to him it is more in keeping with the spirit of comedy. Poetic Justice implies that rewards and punishments are meted out according to the deserts of the dramatic personages, while the essence of tragedy is that suffering is far in excess of the fault or error of the hero.
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