13 April, 2013

Aristotle's Poetics VIII

In this book, Aristotle speaks to the Unity in a Plot. He argues that while a Plot should be well unified, it also shouldn't focus exclusively on an individual character. He praises Homer's Odyssey as a prime example of the integration of multiple character focus, as well as keeping it unified. He also says that both the characters and the events of the Plot should be well correlated and relevant to each other.

"For a thing whose presence or absence makes no visible difference, is not an organic part of the whole."

1 comment:

  1. Unity and a sort of "pre-ordained" correctness (!) seems so important to Aristotle! He is a deep lover of structure and logic. He certainly lays the theoretical groundwork for us a literary scholars, by creating a framework from which to objectively judge the success or otherwise of plot. However, there are more contemporary playwrights who turn this structure on its head and yet are able to create masterpieces. However, could they have done this without having prior knowledge of what a unified plot feels like...probably not, or their inversions might be meaningless without reference to unity?

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