Analysis of The Poetics - Chapter 13

For a tragedy to be successful, it is important for it to have a good structure. The structure should not be simple instead it should be complex. The plot of the tragedy should be designed in such a manner that it arouses the emotions of pity and fear in the audience. This pity and fear is not aroused by the downfall of a great man from happiness to misery because such a change in fortune will only shock the audience. Again an evil man should not be shown to become prosperous from the state of misery. Such a plot would be the most untragic because it would not have any tragic element. It will neither arise pity nor fear. The change of fortune of an utterly bad person from prosperity to misery will also not arise pity or fear instead the audience will consider it as justice. Pity is aroused when someone who is great and noble has to face misery and hardships owing to certain flaw in his character. Fear is aroused in the audience when someone behaves in a manner unlike his own. The three situations mentioned above do not arouse the tragic emotions of pity and fear and hence should be avoided.
Aristotle has given his views on the tragic character of a tragedy. This character should be a great man but not saintly because if he is so then his doom will not arouse pity in the audience instead his downfall would be regarded as a spiritual victory and would be associated with martyrdom. The tragic hero must be a man of eminence and his downfall should not be because of any bad quality in him but because of some tragic flaw or hamartia on his part as was the case with Oedipus and Thyestes.
Thus, an ideal tragedy, according to Aristotle would be one in which there is a single plot instead of a double plot. It should arouse the emotions of pity and fear by the reversal of the fortunes of the tragic character from prosperity to misery. Earlier tragedies were written on any story which came to the minds of the poets but now the best tragedies are the one which are based on the story of the reputed families, for example the tragedies related to the story of Alcmaeon, Oedipus, Orestes, Meleager, Thyestes, Telephus and others.
Aristotle tells us that Euripides was criticised because most of his plays had a happy ending. However Euripides was justified because tragic or unhappy ending is the proper ending and this is evident because if such plays would be organised in a dramatic contest, they will appear to be the most tragic. These plays are the ones which arouse the emotions of pity and fear in the audience. There is also a different structure practiced by the poets in tragedies such as Odyssey. In such tragedies, there is a double thread of fable where the tragedies end in an opposite manner for both the good as well as the bad character. However these tragedies have more resemblance to comedies where bitterest enemies like Orestes and Aegisthus become friends and nobody is killed.