MAE601-eL3, 4

IDOL Institute of Distance and Online Learning ENHANCE YOUR QUALIFICATION, ADVANCE YOUR CAREER.

2 M.A.English Literary Criticism and Critical Approaches- I Literary Criticism and Critical Approaches- I Course Code: MAE 601 Semester: First e-Lesson: 3 SLM Unit: 3&4 https://www.google.com/search?q=Greek+theatre www.cuidol.in Unit-3&4 (MAE601) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

Aristotle OBJECTIVES 33 Student will be introduced to social background INTRODUCTION of Aristotle In this unit the student will be able to Student will be introduced to the literary understand the great philosopher, Aristotle background of Aristotle Student will be able to understand Aristotle Student will be introduced to Aristotle’s Criticism contribution as a great thinker Student will also be able to understand what Aristotle has written in Poetics I & Poetics II www.cuidol.in Unit-3&4 (MAE601) INSTITUTE OF DAIlSlTAriNgChEt aArNeDreOsNeLrvINeEd LwEiAthRNCIUN-GIDOL

TOPICS TO BE COVERED 4 Aristotle : Social Background Literary Criticism and Critical Aristotle : Literary background Approaches- I Aristotle : Poetics I & Poetics II www.cuidol.in Unit-3&4 (MAE601) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

ARISTOTLE 5 www.cuidol.in Aristotle - Philosophy & Life - HISTORY All right are reserved with CU-IDOL Unit-3&4 (MAE601)

ARISTOTLE 6 Aristotle (c. 384 B.C. to 322 B.C.) was an Ancient Greek philosopher and scientist who is still considered one of the greatest thinkers in politics, psychology and ethics. When Aristotle turned 17, he enrolled in Plato’s Academy. In 338, he began tutoring Alexander the Great. In 335, Aristotle founded his own school, the Lyceum, in Athens, where he spent most of the rest of his life studying, teaching and writing. Some of his most notable works include Nichomachean Ethics, Politics, Metaphysics, Poetics and Prior Analytics. www.cuidol.in Unit-3&4 (MAE601) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

ARISTOTLE 7 Early Life, Family and Education:- Aristotle was born circa 384 B.C. in Stagira, a small town on the northern coast of Greece that was once a seaport. Aristotle’s father, Nicomachus, was court physician to the Macedonian king Amyntas II. Although Nicomachus died when Aristotle was just a young boy, Aristotle remained closely affiliated with and influenced by the Macedonian court for the rest of his life. Little is known about his mother, Phaestis; she is also believed to have died when Aristotle was young. www.cuidol.in Unit-3&4 (MAE601) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

ARISTOTLE 8 Early Life, Family and Education:- After Aristotle’s father died, Proxenus of Atarneus, who was married to Aristotle’s older sister, Arimneste, became Aristotle’s guardian until he came of age. When Aristotle turned 17, Proxenus sent him to Athens to pursue a higher education. At the time, Athens was considered the academic center of the universe. In Athens, Aristotle enrolled in Plato’s Academy, Greek’s premier learning institution, and proved an exemplary scholar. Aristotle maintained a relationship with Greek philosopher Plato, himself a student of Socrates, and his academy for two decades. Plato died in 347 B.C. Because Aristotle had disagreed with some of Plato’s philosophical treatises, Aristotle did not inherit the position of director of the academy, as many imagined he would. After Plato died, Aristotle’s friend Hermias, king of Atarneus and Assos in Mysia, invited Aristotle to court www.cuidol.in Unit-3&4 (MAE601) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

ARISTOTLE’s POETICS 9 www.cuidol.in Aristotle - Philosophy & Life - HISTORY All right are reserved with CU-IDOL Unit-3&4 (MAE601)

ARISTOTLE’s POETICS I 10 Plato loved poetry but felt that because of Socrates teachings, that poets were imitators without access to reality or truth. Imitation was a self-defeating and sterile activity.  Poetry is twice removed from reality and caters to emotions and UN-reality. Aristotle then argues for poetry. He defends it, although not perfectly, from Plato’s attack. Aristotle believes poets imitate the way things are/were, or the way people see them, or the way they ought to be.  The image ought to out-do the originals; therefore, imitation is OK www.cuidol.in Unit-3&4 (MAE601) Aristotle - Philosophy & Life - HISTORY All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

ARISTOTLE’s POETICS I 11 Men take pleasure in imitation, and it comes naturally. There are things we see with pain, but whose images we view with pleasure. Comedy is an imitation of inferior persons but not full villains - it is the imitation of the ugly and ludicrous. Tragedy is imitation with serious implications through a course of pity and fear (catharsis), language made sensuously attractive (rhythm and melody), and structure (plot). Tragedy is imitation of life and action but not men because a tragedy can exist without characters, but it must have a plot. Aristotle - Philosophy & Life - HISTORY www.cuidol.in Unit-3&4 (MAE601) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

ARISTOTLE’s POETICS I 12 Tragedies must have a beginning, middle and end. It doesn’t include everything in the life of one character, just those events which further the plot. Tragedies have 6 elements - plot, character, verbal expression (poetic language like metaphor), thought, adornment, and song. The best tragedies have complex plots, fearful and pitiable happenings, and should be good moving to bad. It doesn’t make us feel the same when bad moves to good - not tragedy. www.cuidol.in Unit-3&4 (MAE601) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

ARISTOTLE’s POETICS II 13 Plot and transformation – a character moves from good circumstances to bad through a mistake of great weight and consequence [Hamartia (tragic/fatal flaw often hubris or great pride)]. Pity and fear [Catharsis] may be engaged by performing an act knowing and wittingly (murder), by refraining from performing the deed (not saving someone), or by performing a fearful act unwittingly and then see the blood relationship (murder in Oedipus). Tragic characters must be a good, appropriate, likeness to human nature, and consistent. One must strive for the necessary or probable -- it is necessary or probable that a person do a thing. www.cuidol.in Unit-3&4 (MAE601) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

ARISTOTLE’s POETICS II 14 Tragedy is superior to epic because it attains its goals better than epic does. It is better to have impossible but plausible evens than possible but implausible ones. Thus Aristotle would consider the play Agamemnon to be a higher form than the Epic of Odysseus. www.cuidol.in Unit-3&4 (MAE601) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

ARISTOTLE’s POETICS 15 Analysis:- Aristotle's Poetics seeks to address the different kinds of poetry, the structure of a good poem, and the division of a poem into its component parts. He defines poetry as a 'medium of imitation' that seeks to represent or duplicate life through character, emotion, or action. Aristotle defines poetry very broadly, including epic poetry, tragedy, comedy, dithyrambic poetry, and even some kinds of music www.cuidol.in Aristotle's poetics All right are reserved with CU-IDOL Unit-3&4 (MAE601)

ARISTOTLE’s POETICS 16 Analysis:- According to Aristotle, tragedy came from the efforts of poets to present men as 'nobler,' or 'better' than they are in real life. Comedy, on the other hand, shows a 'lower type' of person, and reveals humans to be worse than they are in average. Epic poetry, on the other hand, imitates 'noble' men like tragedy, but only has one type of meter - unlike tragedy, which can have several - and is narrative in form. www.cuidol.in Aristotle's poetics All right are reserved with CU-IDOL Unit-3&4 (MAE601)

ARISTOTLE’s POETICS 17 Analysis:- Aristotle lays out six elements of tragedy: plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle, and song. Plot is 'the soul' of tragedy, because action is paramount to the significance of a drama, and all other elements are subsidiary. A plot must have a beginning, middle, and end; it must also be universal in significance, have a determinate structure, and maintain a unity of theme and purpose. www.cuidol.in Aristotle's poetics All right are reserved with CU-IDOL Unit-3&4 (MAE601)

ARISTOTLE Analysis:- 18 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL Plot also must contain elements of astonishment, reversal (peripeteia), recognition, and suffering. Reversal is an ironic twist or change by which the main action of the story comes full-circle. Recognition, meanwhile, is the change from ignorance to knowledge, usually involving people coming to understand one another's true identities. Suffering is a destructive or painful action, which is often the result of a reversal or recognition. All three elements coalesce to create \"catharsis,\" which is the engenderment of fear and pity in the audience: pity for the tragic hero's plight, and fear that his fate might befall us. Aristotle's poetics www.cuidol.in Unit-3&4 (MAE601)

ARISTOTLE 19 Analysis:- When it comes to character, a poet should aim for four things. First, the hero must be 'good,' and thus manifest moral purpose in his speech. Second, the hero must have propriety, or 'manly valor.' Thirdly, the hero must be 'true to life.' And finally, the hero must be consistent. www.cuidol.in Aristotle's poetics All right are reserved with CU-IDOL Unit-3&4 (MAE601)

ARISTOTLE Analysis:- 20 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL Tragedy and Epic poetry fall into the same categories: simple, complex (driven by reversal and recognition), ethical (moral) or pathetic (passion). There are a few differences between tragedy and epic, however. First, an epic poem does not use song or spectacle to achieve its cathartic effect. Second, epics often cannot be presented at a single sitting, whereas tragedies are usually able to be seen in a single viewing. Finally, the 'heroic measure' of epic poetry is hexameter, where tragedy often uses other forms of meter to achieve the rhythms of different characters' speech. www.cuidol.in Aristotle's poetics Unit-3&4 (MAE601)

ARISTOTLE Analysis:- 21 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL Aristotle also lays out the elements of successful imitation. The poet must imitate either things as they are, things as they are thought to be, or things as they ought to be. T he poet must also imitate in action and language (preferably metaphors or contemporary words). Errors come when the poet imitates incorrectly - and thus destroys the essence of the poem - or when the poet accidentally makes an error (a factual error, for instance). Aristotle does not believe that factual errors sabotage the entire work; errors that limit or compromise the unity of a given work, however, are much more consequential. www.cuidol.in Aristotle's poetics Unit-3&4 (MAE601)

ARISTOTLE Analysis:- 22 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL Aristotle concludes by tackling the question of whether the epic or tragic form is 'higher.‘ Most critics of his time argued that tragedy was for an inferior audience that required the gesture of performers, while epic poetry was for a 'cultivated audience' which could filter a narrative form through their own imaginations. www.cuidol.in Aristotle's poetics Unit-3&4 (MAE601)

ARISTOTLE Analysis:- 23 All right are reserved with CU-IDOL In reply, Aristotle notes that epic recitation can be marred by overdone gesticulation in the same way as a tragedy; moreover, tragedy, like poetry, can produce its effect without action - its power is in the mere reading. Aristotle argues that tragedy is, in fact, superior to epic, because it has all the epic elements as well as spectacle and music to provide an indulgent pleasure for the audience. Tragedy, then, despite the arguments of other critics, is the higher art for Aristotle. Aristotle's poetics www.cuidol.in Unit-3&4 (MAE601)

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS 24 1. When was Aristotle born?? c) 426 B.C. in Athens a) 4384 B.C. d) 425 B.C. in Athens b) 427 B.C. in Athens 2. When did Aristotle die? c) 321 B.C. a) 323 B.C. d) 322 B.C. b) 325 B.C. 3.What does Aristotle say about tragedy? c) Tragedy is an Art a) Tragedy is an imitation d) Aristotle argues that tragedy is, in fact, superior to epic b) Tragedy has a strong plot 4.What is the relation between tragedy and epic according to Aristotle? a) They do not match c) They are different b) They are same d) They fall into the same category Answers: 1.a) 2. d) 3. d) 4.d) www.cuidol.in Unit-3&4 (MAE601) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

SUMMARY 25 Plot and transformation – a character moves from good circumstances to bad through a mistake of great weight and consequence [Hamartia (tragic/fatal flaw often hubris or great pride)]. Pity and fear [Catharsis] may be engaged by performing an act knowing and wittingly (murder), by refraining from performing the deed (not saving someone), or by performing a fearful act unwittingly and then see the blood relationship (murder in Oedipus). Tragic characters must be a good, appropriate, likeness to human nature, and consistent. One must strive for the necessary or probable -- it is necessary or probable that a person do a thing. www.cuidol.in Unit-3&4 (MAE601) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 26 www.cuidol.in FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions ... All right are reserved with CU-IDOL Unit-3&4 (MAE601)

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 27 1.Q Discuss Aristotelian concept of tragic hero. 2.Q Is Aristotelian tragedy meaningful in contemporary society? Critically evaluate. 3.Q How does Aristotle employ 'imitation' as an aesthetic term? 4.Q How does Aristotle's definition of \"poetry\" differ from our own? What problems do you perceive in the limitations set by Aristotle's definition? 5.Q What, according to Aristotle, is the primary purpose of tragedy? What problems might there be with this point of view? www.cuidol.in Unit-3&4 (MAE601) FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions ... All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

REFERENCES 28 David Daiches : Critical Approaches to Literature, 2nd ed., Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 2001. M. H. Abrams : A Glossary of Literary Terms, Singapore: Harcourt Asia Pvt. Ltd., 2000. Rene Wellek : A History of Modern Criticism: 1750-1950, Vols. I-IV, London: Jonathan Cape, 1958. M.A.R. Habib : A History of Literary Criticism: From Plato to the Present, Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. Patricia Waugh : Literary Theory & Criticism: An Oxford Guide, Delhi: OUP, 2006. The Republic: Book X - SparkNotes www.sparknotes.com › philosophy › republic › section10 www.cuidol.in Unit-3&4 (MAE601) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL

29 THANK YOU www.cuidol.in Unit-3&4 (MAE601) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL