Analysis of The Poetics - Chapter 6

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Aristotle has given his famous definition of the tragedy in The Poetics - “Tragedy is imitation of an action that is significant, complete in itself and of a magnitude in language embellished by a variety of artistic devices proper to the various parts of the play, presented in the form of action, not of narration, and by means of pity and fear it brings about the katharsis of such emotions”. Tragedy is an imitation of action. These actions are enacted on the stage by the stage players who reveal the thoughts and qualities of the characters of the play. There are a total of six constituent elements of a tragedy. These are fable, character, diction, thought, song and spectacle. All of these are essential for a tragedy because every play has these elements. However the most important element among them is fable or the plot of the play. The plot is a series of actions which determine the theme and the progress of the play. There has been a lot of controversy on the superiority of action over characterization or vice versa. According to Aristotle, action is superior to characters. It is the action which decides the characters and their roles. There can be a tragedy without characters but there cannot be any tragedy without action. Aristotle gives an example to clear his views. He says that if certain speeches of very high language and diction are given to be spoken by some stage artists, it would not produce the effects of tragedy. It would be better if a proper plot is taken with well knit incidents regardless of the fact that it’s other constituent elements are present in a haphazard manner. Aristotle gives another example. He says that a painting which has a number of colors spread in a chaotic manner would be much less liked than a painting which only contains an outline of a portrait. Similarly the plot works as an outline of a play without which everything becomes a bundle of chaos.
After plot and character, the next important element of tragedy is the thought. These thoughts are expressed by the speeches assigned to the characters by the dramatists. In the past, the dramatists made their characters speak like statesman while in the present, the dramatists make their characters speak like rhetorician. The fourth constituent element of tragedy is diction. Diction according to Aristotle is the metrical arrangement of words in a proper manner. After diction comes song and spectacle which are the unique elements of tragedy missing in an epic poetry. However the songs and spectacle are just an additional feature of a tragedy and they are just included to enhance the effect of tragedy. The spectacle includes the spectacular objects which are used in order to please the audience. This work comes more within the field of stage manager than the dramatist. 

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