Aristotle’s Poetics

Aristotle’s Poetics Deciphering one of the Quintessential Works Written about Theatre and Acting

The Three Unities 1. The Unity of Action 2. The Unity of Time 3. The Unity of Place

The Unity of Action • The Unity of Action is essentially Aristotle’s notion that the play should contain only a single plot or story line so that the audience can remain focused on the idea that it presents rather than being confused with multiple messages and subplots. • Shakespeare’s multiple plots in his plays would have defied Aristotle’s Unity of Action principle.

The Unity of Time • Aristotle was convinced that audiences gained the most pleasure from plays in which the action occurs during a single and consecutive course of time. • Flashbacks and abbreviated scenes would not fit well into Aristotle’s second unity. • “Real time” performances in which the action reflects the actual time of the events would be most preferable.

The Unity of Place • Aristotle felt that the greatest comprehension and audience empathy could be evoked if a play were to take place in only a single setting. The use of different settings would be difficult to portray and might confuse the audience. • The use of acts and scenes in contemporary theatre often indicates a departure from Aristotle’s unities.

Contemporary Use of the Unities • Some theatre thrives upon the abandonment of Aristotle’s Unities in the modern setting. Audiences desire experimental manipulation of all of the unities, and this may be due, in part, to the more contemporary trend of writing and presenting information and stories in disjointed and fragmented forms.

The Six Elements of Theatre

1) Plot 2) Character 3) Thought 4) Diction 5) Music 6) Spectacle

Plot • Aristotle suggests that this is the “life and soul of the drama.” • The most important element of drama • Called the “arrangement of the incidents” by Aristotle • Considered in a linear form by Aristotle to proceed from beginning to end.

Character • Aristotle called this element “the agent for the action.” • This was considered by Aristotle the second most important theatrical element. • Used to bring forth a plot • The embodiment of action on a stage • The necessary element for identification with the play

Thought • Sometimes referred to as the “message” • Usually understood as a universal or clear meaning to be comprehended by the audience who view the play • Third, in importance as a theatrical element • Aristotle called this “dianoia,” or “the process of thought.” • Can sometimes be the moral of a play

Diction • This refers to the words used and their placement in the text of a play. • Often, differences in diction within a play indicate differences in characters. • Diction can also differ from playwright to playwright or play to play because of the playwright’s purpose of language in each play. • Aristotle enjoyed plays written in clever verse, or poetry.

Music • Aristotle’s definition of music included all of the audio elements of theatre, not just instrumental or vocal songs. • Included in this concept of music are all of the noises made by actors (sung and spoken), sound effects, and even instrumental accompaniment. • The tone, pitch, rate, volume and inflection are used to create a musical element in voice.

Spectacle • This is the visual element of theatre, considered least important of the elements by Aristotle. • Aristotle felt that well-written and wellperformed theatre could even be enjoyed by the blind. • Radio drama suggests that the spectacle is, as Aristotle purported, least important.

Against Aristotle’s Hierarchy of Elements • The spectacle has become far more important to playwrights and play producers, who spend a great part of their financial resources on sets, costuming, and special visual effects to entertain audiences. • Experimental theatre tends to manipulate the elements and distort their importance in an attempt to reach the audience on a different level than the obvious.

Aristotle, Why? • Aristotle was writing at a time when props and sets would have been difficult to construct and expensive to present in a theatrical setting. • Aristotle was a man who had diverse knowledge and deep understanding of the world. He would not have likely enjoyed many of the “distractions” apparent in much of today’s entertainment.

Aristotle’s Subject of Study • Aristotle considered Sophocles’ Oedipus the King to be among the greatest plays ever written, so it should come as no surprise that the play epitomizes the Aristotelian Unities and elements.

Bibliography • Another Opening, Another Show by Tom Markus and Linda Sarver • http://www.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/poeti cs.html