Aristotle’s Poetics versus Modern Theories of Drama

Abstract

The Polish version of the article was published in “Roczniki Humanistyczne,” vol. 57 (2009), issue 3.

This paper seeks to prove that there are no grounds in the Poetics to ascribe to Aristotle the views identified with the literary theory of drama because he does not identify drama with a verbal work. On the contrary, the spectacular dimension of tragedy is for Aristotle one of the distinctive feature of tragedy vis-à-vis epos, which for him is only – to use our modern terms—a literary work. Thus, the visual element (ὄψις or ὄψεως κόσμος) is not only very important for Aristotle, but it is even a necessary component of tragedy. Indeed there are some remarks in the Poetics that suggest tragedy may exist without ὄψις, but this is only regarded as a hypothetical situation, analogical to the one when he argues that tragedy may exist without characters. In fact, however, both ὄψις and characters are regarded by Aristotle as necessary components of tragedy. He makes his considerations assuming both components. At the same time, he treats tragedy not as a text but a theatrical work in which mimesis can be conducted by the “acting persons” (πράττοντες). They are understood not as literary figures, but as stage embodiments of the heroes whose psychophysical ontic paradigms are actors.