Aristotle Tragedy

The six elements that belong to every tragedy are the plot, characters, diction, thought, spectacle, and melody. The most significant elements of tragedy are the plot and character. The plot is the arrangement of the incidents in the story, whereas, the character is the morality given to the characters of the tragedy. Although the character defines the qualities of the character, the action of the plot itself makes them feel the emotions. Therefore, the characters contribute to the action of the tragedy. Furthermore, without a plot there cannot be a tragedy, however, there may be one without character. Thus, the plot is the most significant element of a tragedy. In addition to plot and character, the element thought is expressed through the …show more content…
The art proper is the expressing of an emotion and becoming fully conscious of that peculiar emotion. However, in a tragedy, the artist induces fear or pity in the audience by directly describing the general emotion that is typical to arouse such emotion as fear and pity. As the performance continues, the fear and pity the audience feels reaches a point of revelation and as a result, a state of catharsis. Moreover, the art proper is the expression of emotion in which by expression the audience achieves a state of clarity and focus, intensifying the emotion to fully understand it. On the contrary, Aristotle’s catharsis in tragedy is the arousal of such emotions that one does not fully understand and identifies it as an unknown distress. Although catharsis is meant to rid the mind of the emotion all together, it causes a sense of oppression and confusion as to what was being felt to begin with. In conclusion, the artist proper is the expression of emotions, which as a result, allows the reader to fully understand how the artist feels, whereas, catharsis rids the mind of the emotion all together but leaves a sense of confusion behind because the arousal of such emotion was an effect of the description of the emotion rather than experiencing one feel it …show more content…
Furthermore, the expression of emotion individualizes, whereas, describing the emotion generalizes it into an emotion of a certain kind instead of a unique emotion. The describing of emotions is used in tragedies to arouse emotions such as pity and fear. Therefore, generalizing the ending of the tragedy and the emotions into a certain kind rather than an individual end or emotion. Evidently, this reveals that Aristotle was not concerned with the art proper but instead of representative art. Representative art is art of a certain kind, generalizing the craft itself. In addition, Aristotle’s tragedy not only describes emotions but arouses them by presenting the audience with general features of a certain emotion. In conclusion, Collingwood is concerned with the art proper which is the individualization of art by expressing emotions, whereas, Aristotle is concerned with representative art that generalizes the craft by describing and arousing