UNIT 1 FEATURES OF CLASSICAL

CRITICISM
Structure
Objectives
Introduction
What Do We Mean By Classical Criticism?
1.2.1 Introduction to Plato and Aristotle
1.2.2 Plato's Main Ideas
1.2.3 Aristotle's Main Ideas
1.2.4 Concept of Dialogue
Oratory and Rhetoric /
1.3.1 ' The Beginnings
1.3.2 The Flowering
Poetry as Iaspiration
Myth
Three Styles of Poetry
Music as Integral to Literary Composition
1.7.1 The Monophonic Nature of Grsek Music
1.7.2 The Greek Musical Scales .
1.7.3 Emotions, Ethics and Musical Modes
The Concept of Mimesis
Let Us Sum Up
Questions
Glossary
Suggested Reading

1.0 OBJECTIVES
~ f t ereading
r this unit, hopefully you will
I

9 know what classical criticism means

o learn about Plato and Aristotle, their lives, their works, their ideas
o be able to appreciate the oral tradition of classical times
o understand the basics of ancient literary criticism .
.-
1.1 INTRODUCTION '

The difference between our culture that appreciates literature, and even the
performing arts through printed or electronically stored documentation and the
ancients (for whom a performance was hardly repeated the same way), is precis'ely
this: we can store a work of art and postpone our response to it. The ancients had
to-performand respond at the same time.
This resulted in a special aesthetics in which nearness between the
speaker/actor/poet/singerand hisher audience became crucial. Because of this
immediacy of communication in all ancient arts, whether poetry, music, or even
philosophical dialogue, a strong emotional response from the audience also
became inevitable. Emotions therefore, acquired a primary importance in all the
ancient literary concepts such as those of imitation (mimesis), inspiration, ethics
or pleasure (hedone).
When one thinks about the Greek art of imaginative creation, there are a couple of
concepts that are very different from our present day ideas. For the Greeks, the
Classical Criticism individual poet, playwright, dramatists, or musician was not supposed to make
hisher mark by novelty or individual style that departed from tradition in a big
way. The ancients liked new things but as a continuation of tradition and the
established norms. Also the ideas of the artists were not welcome if they were
. shocking or very individualistic in thought. The poet merely claimed that hisher
products were only transmitted by h i d e r . The credit of originality of creative
going to the Muses.
. Not only the inspiration to create came from the Muses, the creation of the artist
was also a copy of the world that had been created by a force much greater than
h i d e r . Theories of art for this reason believed the artist to be an imitator.
Mention has already been made of them earlier on but we shall look at this in
greater detail shen we analyse the ideas of Plato and Aristotle keeping the
concept of imitation in mind.

Another significant concern of the Greeks was the ethical value of art. Not only
must the poet, an imitative painter of this world created by the gods, acknowledge
hisher lower place, s h e must also ensure that whatever s h e produces is good and
useful. The ancients left room for innovation but not for experimentation of
doublful worth. There was no room for a philosophy that advocated art for art's
sake. Sometimes this \concern for social worth of art,led to a severe censure of
the artist as in the caseqf Plato who thought that no art can be good as, all of it
consists of unreality and untruth. Or, as in the case of Aristotle, it led to a
patronisation of theartist, because for Aristotle the artist brought us knowledge
and a deeper understanding of the world.
Last but not least, the capacity of art to please by emotional arousal was also a
demand on the poetic imagination. The emphasis in ancient times was not so such
on m m n g an a vehicle for ideology or social reform but more on its capacity to
Poetry and drama must please in a healthy way and provide an
emotional outlet from the daily state of tension. This aim of art as emotional cure
was best developed by Aristotle through his concept of catharsis. In the following
units we shall see how all these ideas combine to create the value system of
ancient literary criticism.

1.2 WHAT DO WE MEAN BY CLASSICAL

CRITICISM
The Longman's Dictionary of Contemporary English defines 'classical' as being
in accordance with ancient Greek or Roman models in literature or art or with
later systems and standards based on them, particularly with reference to balance,
regularity and simpleness of art, The eight to the fourth centuries B.C.a period yet
to be paralleled in the history of human civilization, for its brilliance in literature,
philosophy and the visual arts, is normally known as the 'classical age'. Even as
chikjren in school, we are often advised to ready 'classics'. What do the teachers
mean by the 'classics'? 'Classics' are works of fiction, like Shakespeare, Jane
Austen, Thomas Hardy, that are relevant to all ages, through all times. 'Classics'
are books that have stood the test of time for their relevance, their universal
appeal, simplicity, regularity of form ahd a sense of beauty and balance. Would
you agree with this view? Long before the term literary criticism came into
practice, literary theory existed as far back as fourth century B.C. In fact the
earliest work of literary theory is considered to be Aristotle's Poetics, where in he
offers his famous definition of tragedy. Plato and Aristotle in Greece and Horace
and Longinus in Rome formed the core of classical criticism in ancient times. It
should however be remembered that the Greeks influenced the Romans as is
obvious from the works of Seneca, Virgil and the later twentieth century Graeco-
Roman models used by writers of the French and German courtly romances.
Learners should note at this stage, that though the term 'classical criticism'
denotes both the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome, this block will
 Features of Classical
concentrate only on Greek critical theory, for practical purposes and also because
Criticism
Greek civilization is older than its Roman counterpart, and the latter were greatly
influenced by the former.
Most Universities would normally offer Plato, Aristotle, Horace and Longinus, as
a part of classical criticism. But the focus would be limited to just the Republic,
Poetics, Ars Poetica-and On the Sublime. What we have done instead is to offer
you a detailed understanding of ancient Greek thought as, the impact of this
school of thought is to be felt even today. We have already mentioned that the
Greeks influenced the Romans so much so that the Roman dramatist Seneca,
imitated the Greek tragedians and Vigil was influenced by Homer. Aristotle's
influence is to be felt, over much drama of the 16" century, right till the 18"
century. Classical influence was strongest in France and England in the 17' and
18' centuries, and in German writers like Goethe, and Schiller, towards the end of
the 1 8 century.
~ In the 20" century, the influence was considerable in French
drama, in the plays of Sartre amang others.

1.2.1 An Introduction to Plato and Aristotle

In ancient Greece, the schools of Philosophy and Rhetoric were theoretical

training grounds for the young men of these city states.' Moreover for them, their
interests were not specialised, they applied their knowledge of philosophy and
rhetoric to every kind of subject matter. Rhetoric was more widely studied than
literary theory or 'poiesis' as some would (like Richard Harland), prefer to call it.
Moreover it was the rhetoricians who studied rhythm, diction and figurative
language, all with a view to create educated young men well trained in the powers
of oration. At this juncture, we need not go into a detailed study of the socio-
political life in those times, suffice it to say that young Greek men were trained .
under two main schools that of philosophy and rhetoric, the rhetoricians studied
'poiesis' or what can now be termed literary theory or criticism.

1 . 2 Plato's Main Ideas

For Plato (429-397 B.C.), 'poiesis' or what we call literary theory or even
criticism was an imitation or, 'mimesis'. ('Poiesis' (GK) translates into poetry, in
English, but the focus of these two term is very different, for the Greeks lyric
poetry had a very small part to play as compared to the epic or drama. Plato and
Aristotle moreover theorised not about lyric poetry, but about tragedy and
comedy, about drama, so Richard Harland suggests the more appropriate use of
the terms literary theory/criticism for the Greek 'poiesis'). Plato called 'poiesis'
an imitation or 'mimesis' because he believed drama to be a reproduction of
something that is not really present, and is therefore a 'dramatisation of the
reproduction' (Richard Harland, p.6). What he means is that in a play or an epic,
what happens is this - the poet recreates an experience, the audience watch that
re-created experience, they are in fact encouraged to live through that experience .
as if they are physically within the time and space of that experience. Not only
this, Plato, also goes on distinguish between 'mimesis' and 'digenesis'.
"Mimesis' is the speech of a character directly reproduced,' whereas 'digenesis' is
'a narration of doings and sayings where 'the poet speaks in his own person and
does not try to turn our attention in another direction by pretending that soineone
else is speaking .' [Plato, quoted in Harland, p.7). With this distinction between
'mimesis' and 'digenesis', it is easy for us to discern that drama is entirely
'mimet~c', whereas epic is mi metic only where dialogue is reproduced rii t e%:!' t.
where the poet t r l l s (lie ~ [ O I, il I , di 'r I V . / $ C ' . I!] .iiurt, this is what larv
called ' s h c ~111~:' , 1 1 1 t i 'tcllii~g're:,pet>l~\.l; l1l*zi~however disapprt .
imitation, and i)1 tit~ln,ltiscdd~alogue.

But why did Plato disapprove of mimesis? Plato was a firm believer of the true
form. He believed in only the most red reality. He obiected to dramatised
Classical Criticism dialogue on the grounds that such dramatisation encouraged people to live lives
other than their own. Something, parents tell children even today regarding the
invasion of cable T.V. Plato was merely warning people against the danger of
aping roles blindly, he feared that the influence of mimesislimitation could be so
great that it could take over the minds and lives of young impressionable people
completely and become of primary importance. Plato was not comfortable with
the idea of grief caused by scenes of suffering in the plays. He assumed that a
temporary catharsis could infect the audience so strongly that they could become
emotionally uncontrollable.

His basic argument against mimesis was the fact that both drama and epic imitate
the world of perceptual appearances. For him, the only reality was that of
. abstractions. The poet in his eyes, imitated an appearance of the abstraction and a
playlan epic was hence a derivative of the derivative., hence thrice removed from
reality. 'They are images, not realities.' (Plato, Republic, p.67, quoted by R.
Harland p.9). While the rhetoricians never questioned society on philosophy,
Plato was the first serious thinker to question society along theoretical lines, all
this is clearly to be seen when one reads his Republic.

Continuing from Plato's thought processes and his theory, the Neo-Platonists of
the fourth and fifth centuries A.D. interpreted Plato's reality of abstractions to be
the Thoughts of God. These theorists seemed to imply that the artists as a whole
could perhaps bypass the world of sensory appearances and achieve direct access
to the true. Though they did not really contribute to 'poiesis' as such, their
interpretations paved the way for the claims of the poets as missionaries and the
poet's words as missionary wordsltruth.

Plato's works include the Republic, Ion, Cratylus, the Dialogues of Plato and
Phaedms among others. Plato has dealt at large with the notion of the poet as
divinely inspired in the Phaedrus, and has tafked about the place of the poet in a
good society in the Republic. In fact in Book I1 he discusses the education of the
good citizen, he also examines the nature of poetry and the value of imaginative
literature. Book X of the Republic discusses the nature of poetry at length. His
most important contribution to literary theory lies in the form of his objections to
'poiesis'. He presents this argument brilliantly with reference to a painter. As we
said earlier, Plato believed in true reality, in the ideal, in abstractions. For him
objects were nothing more than an imitation of the reality or the ideal, he felt that
an individual imitating an imitation would produce an imitative form that was
thrice removed from the ideal. Similarly, poetry for Plato did the same thing - it
was inferior because it was the imitation of an imitation.

His pupil Aristotle was to later examine the nature and differentiating qualities of
'poiesis' and to prove that 'poiesis' was true, serious and helpful, whereas Platb
had maintained that it was false, trivial and harmful, and that the poet should be
kept out of his republic.

1.2.3 Aristotle's Main Ideas

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) as mentioned in the previous section, was Plato's pupil.
But he differed from his master Plato, in that he was more interested in describing
and classifying things as they were. Though he followed Plato in defining poetry
as 'mimesis' he did not condemn it like Plato did. He regarded 'mimesis' as a
natural healthy impulse. Aristotle differed from Plato because, for the former, the
world was dominated by the model of the biological organism. He believed that
each living being strove to realise the ideal, the true within himself/herself/itself.
For Aristotle, 'Art initiated Nature'. This would imply that the arts, like 'Nature'
work towards the unfolding of inherent potential. Aristotle did not consider
'mimesis' to be mere copying. Whereas Plato believed poetry to be cut off from
 Features of Classical
the universal, it being removed from the true, Aristotle devised a higher truth for Criticism
poetry - that of understanding the underlying generalities of the species. At this
point, it would be helpful for us to stop and think about what is being said. We
have here two opposite and differing views between the two grand masters of
classical criticism. He also made a distinction between the type of narrative
chronicle written by Greek historians like Thucydides and poetry. He believed
poetry to be 'something more philosophical and more worthy of serious attention
than history; for while poetry is concerned with universal truths, history trats of
particular facts, [Poetics, ch ix, p. 33-34, trans. [Link]]. He also propounded
that 'probable impossibilities are to'be preferred to improbable possibilities' and
that 'a convincing impossibility is preferable to a nonconvincing possibility.'
[Ibid., ch 24, p.68, ch. 25, p.731 Aristotle's theories are related to biological
organisms. Just as each species of plant, has its own distinctive principles of
growth and fulfilment, so does each genre, thereby suggesting that an epic does
not need to live up to the tragedy, or tragedy to comedy. Each genre evolves in
itself as do species of plants. What Aristotle does by classifying poetry in this
manner, is that he avoids the judging of all works by the same standards and
avoids attributing uniquely individual qualities to individual works, but he himself
ends up considering tragedy to be superior to epics and the like. While stating that
tragedy is superior to the epic, he is largely guided by Sophocle's Oedipus
Tyrannous, and he makes distinctions even within the genre of tragedy. Aristotle
believed that both tragedy and the epic should have unity of action whereby the
'various incidents must be so arranged that if any one of them is differently placed
or taken way the effect of wholeness will be seriously disrupted.' [Ibid, ch 8, p.431
He also said that a work of art should be such that it takes into account the
capacities and limitations of the spectatorslthe audience. In other words what
Aristotle proposed for the tragedy was unity of action, place and time, which was
to become famous later as the three unities. Yet another contribution of Aristotle's
was the notion of 'Katharsis' (in English it is spelt catharsis) or a 'distinctive
emotional response' to be aroused in the audience. What is to be aroused is a pity
that arises out of fear, and that too fear with pity as opposed to self-centred fear.
He believed that such an evocation of 'pity-charged fear' (Harland, p.13) would
imply a sense of awe and of something terrible about to befall the hero. Such
contemplation was directly opposed to Plato who rejected both the poet and poetry
from his republic, as he felt their presence and their capability in arousing such
powerful emotions would render the citizens of the Greek city states emotional
basket-cases. Aristotle on the other hand believed the evocation of pity and fear to
be therapeutic to the audience, to serve as purgation or cleansing and therefore
healthy.

Aristotle classifies the various genres of poetry, discusses their nature, the goals to
be followed, the appropriate effect of tragedy and then goes on to talk about the ,

type of tragic hero who could produce this effect. The description of the tragic
hero is to be found discussed at length in his Poetics. The appropriate type of
hero is 'a man remarkable for neither virtue nor vice, for neither justice nor
depravity, but a man whose fall is due to some error or weakness, some hamartia.'
[Ibid., ch 13,]. We can hereby conclude that according to Aristotle's theory, the
status of the character must fit in with the actions that are attributed to him, so as
to produce the desired emotion effect. Aristotle's discourse is all about the
establishing of set goals, and once that has been achieved, he imparts instructions
on how to achieve them. The two, Master and Pupil differ largely in their
perceptions and understanding of the notion of mimesis. Classical Criticism is
fairly objective, it is an "attempt at expressing infinite ideas and feelings in a finite
form, whereas romanticism is an attempt to express a kind of universal poetry in
the creation of which the [Friedrich Schlegel(1772-1829), qtd. J A Cuddon,
p.1231 poet made his own Laws." Romanticism is a response to classicism in
Romanticism, the individual or the subject is more important. It is easy enough
for us to see how this course itself has been structured in the form of a dialogue, as
 /
Classical Criticism one movement is a response to another movement in the history of literary
criticism.

Aristotle's other works include On Rhetoric, On Soul, On Metaphysics,Analytics,

Physics, De Anima, Nichoman Ethics, to name a few.
1.2.4 Concept of Dialogue
Dialogue will be discussed at length in the later units of this block, what I would
like to draw your attention to at this stage is the fact that this course, Literary
Criticism and Theory too is in the form of a dialogue. We begin with classical
criticism whereby we have two grand masters Plato and Aristotle. Aristotle's
theorising as we have seen is a response to Plato's thesis, every unit in this block
has been structured on the lines of a dialogue. The world dialectics appeared in
English, in the 14Ihcentury. Dialectics is the art of discussion and debate, or the
investigation of truth by discussion. Extending from Plato's dialogues, dialectics
plays a very important and influential role in German idealist philosophy. Kant
and Hegel were contributors and propounders of dialectical criticism. Fichte
propagated the thesis, antithesis and synthesis version of the dialectical process.
Arising out of this dialectics was an indication of a "progressive unification
through the contradiction of opposites," (R. Williams, p.107). Here we have just
given you the basic definition of the dialectical process which does not move in a
linear fashion, but progresses as thesis, antithesis and synthesis. However, you
will find out more about the concept of dialectics in Block V. Also closely related
to dialectics is the notion of dialogues made famous by the Russian theorist
Mikhail Bakhtian (1895-1975). David Lodge has expressed Bakhtianian dialogies
wry aptly. He says that Bakhtian perceives the use of language as being
essentially 'dialogic'. "Every speech act springs from previous utterances and
being structured in expectation of a future response." According to Bakhtian, the
Novel is a product of the 'dialogic imagination' and the novel rather than
embodying a single voice is made up of a 'polyphony' of voices. With this basic
introductory background, let us now take you to the forms of ancient Greek
thought:

oratory
rhetoric

1.3 ORATORY AND RHETORIC

1.3.1 The Beginnings
The art of oratory is one of the well-noted skills among the heroes of Homer's
Iliad. Speeches of Nestor, Menelaus and Odysseus were considered to be models
of good speaking by the later rhetoricians of antiquity. Although there is not
much in terms of formal system in these speeches, it is quite obvious that the art
of public speaking as a potent instrument of swaying public opinion through
argument was successfully practised very early. But there is also not much doubt,
as Aristotle later observed, that the need for public speaking became most
pronounced with the rise of democratic states in fifth century B.C. (particularly irh
the city states of Athens and Syracus). At this time, the first ever manuals
(technai) were composed by Corax and Tisias showing the differences between
forensic speech and other subjects and how to exaggerate and underplay facts and
arguments. Another major figure of the period was Gorgias. As an ambassador td
Athens (for some time) he prescribed a system for using rhymes, assonances and
figures of speech to make declamation impressive. And so was Thrasymachus.
who composed model speeches for different applications. In short, the art of
rhetoric had a basis in practical usage. Thus developed the institution of speech-
writers who were comparable to the advocates and solicitors in the legal forums
of our time.
 Features of Class;cal
Criticism
A student of Gorgias and Tisias called Isocrates became very famous at the
beginning of the fourth century as a rhetorician and speech-writer, though he
himself was a poor orator. A good number of the works of Isocrates were
witten as tracts that contained arguments for political causes of the period.
Isocrates besides adding to the art of rhetoric infused a sense of moral validity
departing~fromthe earlier vogue of keeping oratory and rhetoric purely utilitarian.
The introduction of an educative purpose into rhetoric was a trademark of that
period. The movement was taken up by Plato who emphasised in his tracts,
Gorgias and Phaedrus, the moral value of good and effective speech.

1.3.2 The Flowering

The most detailed treatise on the subject is by Aristotle, and is called the Rhetoric.
It is in three parts. He first puts forth the idea that the theory' of rhetorical
argument. It is distinct from the philosophical argument, then he goes on to deal
with the art of appealing to the emotions and prejudices of the audience and
finally with the subject of the style to be adopted. Aristotle's Rhetoric is the most
exhaustive text that not only gives an account of the style that an orator or a
rhetorician may employ, it is also the most detailed analysis of human emotions
found in antiquity. For Aristotle, it was very important to effectively carry
through one's argument relying not merely on logic but on the emotional
manipulation of the listeners. In ancient times the reaction to the speech was
required to be more or less immediate, hence the moulding of the mind during
communication was crucial. In the courts as well as in the political assemblies,
emotional appeals were decisive. Aristotle was clearly keeping in mind the
speaker, the logiographos and the stage actor.

A detailed account of the Aristotelian theory of emotions will be made in Unit 5.

Here we may mention his observations on style. According to him, qualities of
style to be cultivated are clarity, appropriateness, urbanity and elaboration.
Metaphor was a preferred figure of speech for him.

Among the great practioners of the art, though not a composer of manuals on it,
was Demosthenes (384-322). Though of noble birth, rnistfortune struck him and
he was disinherited. Through his legal skills he not only recovered the family
property he had missed out on but also became a great speech writer, public figure
and military general.

In general the Greek rhetorical tradition prescribed that an oration should be

divided into "parts of speech" such as introduction, narrative, statement, proofs
and epilogue. All the subjects were made to follow this pattern whether it was a
speech for legal, forensic or literary purpose. This structure formed the basic
pattern of writing essays of all kinds in the later cultures of the western world and
is still followed in legal and other formal writing.

1.4 POETRY AS INSPIRATION

As pointed out earlier, in ancient Greece, poetry was regarded as a gift of the
gods. The poet was considered a special person who was different from other
,humman beings because s h e received communication from the Muse of poetry. In
this sense slhe was the "prophetes" of the Muse. S h e was thought of as a person,
more or less, in a state of possession. This placed himher in a position of power
as well as privilege but denied himher the modem credit for individual
innovation. Hisher creations were not credited with making new contributions to
the wealth of literature because of hisher personal talent but because of hisher
capacity to be a medium.
Classical Criticism It was also a matter of cultural belief that poetic "knowledge" is not cultivated by
technique but by divine endowment. Although, as in all traditional systems,
technical perfection was attained after undergoing a very rigorous discipline, it
was not regarded as a necessary product of personal exertion. In simple language,
for the ancients, poets were neither made, nor bom, but chosen by the gods.
Poetry was not considered to be entirely within the control of the poet.

The poet could, therefore, also produce poems-which were not quite rational or
seemingly true. Poetry could not always be explained empirically. It could be a
true tale or a false one and yet both were believed to be efficacious. The retention
of old myths which in later times seemed barbarous or unjust was thus justified as
poetic inspiration and licence. But opposed to this view was another school of
thought, the more empirical one, for which the flights of imagination were not to
cross the limits of observation. Very early in the literary criticism of the Hellenic
world, these two streams of thought became evident. The followers ofcone valued
inspiration and prophetic utterance, said, "the deceiver is wiser than the deceived".
Art was a meaningful deception which conveyed a knowledge which may not be
seemingly rational but has a logic of its own. In this way, they upheld the
irrational aspect of the myths, while others criticised them on grounds of moral
infirmity. The myths do not seem either good socid examples nor instructive.
The conduct of gods shows them in poor light. Plato was among the critics of
poetic inspiration. For him, the ancient myths did not fit the rational scheme of a
perfect republic nor of a political order. Even though his concept of the Forms is
rather mystical and not quite rational, he was suspicious of emotional fervour in
any form as he was convinced that it destroyedceason. His analytical disciple
Aristotle, on the contrary, conceded the educational and aesthetic worth of
emotion in art.

But the quarrel between poetry and philosophy was a continuing one. The
philosophers used language to investigate into the nature of thines, while the poet,
the orator and the rhetorician were aiming at creating an effect on the audience for
establishing emotional truth. Literary criticism hovered in between favouring the
w
poets sometimes and the philosophers at other.
-

1.5 MYTH
Myth is the core of all Greek poetry, drama, narrative, prose q d lyric. The Greek
word 'mythos' simply means story. But the kinds of stories that have been
preserved from the very start of racial and collective memory of the Greek culture
were already distant from the life of an ordinary Greek by the fifth century B.C.

In all cultures myths are narratives that have been preserved in racial memories
through ritual enactments on religious days or representations in sculpture,
pottery, temple walls, special seals, shields, vases, holy objects and all other kinds
of artifacts including toys. In poetry, plays, music they found the most explicit
statements.

There are various modem theories about what is the purpose of myths and what
practical utility they have in a culture. All these theories me ways of looking at
the history and literature (oral and written) of the non-European cultures such as
the African, native American and Asian, or ancient Mediterranean through the,
eyes of the the Euro-American nations that have lost their own myths and faith in
the religious cosmology of Christianity. In all these ways of making meaning out
of myths, a basic methodolgy is followed whereby all myths are reduced to a
symbolic way of representing a single idea.

Thus myths are seen by modems as narratives showing conflict of natural .

elements, or indicating a cycle of seasons, or the cycle of fertility, growth and
12
decay, or the cycle of desire, obstruction, fulfillment, partial satiation or Features of Classical
Criticism
frustration, or of racial migrations of linguistic or religious groups, or a clash of
civilisations. But whatever may be the theorising about myths in our times, in
ancient cultures myths were practically used by them as part of their belief
systems to govern the lives of people who had a close emotional relationship with
the gods, goddesses, ethereal beings, fantastic creatures; heroes, kings and
ancestors that figured in the myths. .

In the Greek world, this preservation of the myths and their transmission was done
by poets, paean and dithyramb singers, dramatists, players of ancient harps called
kithars and rhapsodists. The last of these sang the epics in earlier times with
musical instruments and kept alive the ancient Homeric pronunciation till the
Alexandrian times. Their rendering brought them very close to theatre actors and
there is little doubt that their style influenced the singing of the chorus in Greek
theatre. Like all performing artists they kept alive the close connection between
poetry and music.

The study of mythology and its interpretation, or rather its attempted reduction to
philosophical message also came into vogue rather early. Heraklitos and
Palaiphatos are among the first mytho-analysts who thought that certain
philosophical ideas were perverted in the transmission of myths. The controversy
was part of the quarrel between poetry and philosophy, between creative truth and
the analytical mind. But the most significant aspect of myth employment for the
Hellenic people was its ritual use. It formed the basis of a large number of cults,
mysteries, hero-worships and the celebration of days sacred to the temple gods.
Artists, ancestors, medicine men and oracles were also elevated to the level of
demi-gods through the agency of myth. Thus it was the cause behind various
community actions of a wide range. It is not possible for us to appreciate the
value of myths in ancient Greek life if we think of them as stories used in theatre.
The emotional appeal of myths in theatre was based on their connection with the
daily life of rituals and religion.

1.6 THREE STYLES OF POETRY

It seems that in the fifth century B.C. there were two major styles, high and low,
which Aristophanes had ridiculed. Aristotle mentioned the virtues of diction we
have mentioned above. But full-scale categorisation began with Theophrastus for
whom the major "characteristic" styles were austere, elegant and majestic. This
distinction was upheld for nearly five hundred years with Longinus supporting it
in his famous tract on the Sublime. As a purifier of tradition he insisted that the
emotional impact should not be overlooked by authors in their pursuit of
ornamentation.

The matter of style was largely dependent upon the audience targeted. Aristotle as
we shall discover in the later unit emphasised audience receptivity and the
manipulation of their emotions. Much of this theory rested in the Greek idea of
"leading the psyche" to be described in Unit 4.

1.7 MUSIC AS INTEGRAL TO LITERARY

COMPOSITION
The simply spoken word or the silently read word that passes for lit,: ,.%

composition today was nowhere to be found in ancient times. Poets, , ,,. ,> . i
dithyramb singers, actors, chorus singers, Kitharodes and rhapsodes either sar?g,
chanted or enunciated their words. Enunciations of verses in the speeches of
orators or parts of drama also employed the musical element. Thus, music and the
word were constantly united for any performance or public expression. It is
Clussical Criticism important, therefore, that the nature of the music of antiquity in terms of its
generic shape, scales and theories of relationship to emotions is properly
understood by us today.

1.7.1 The Monophonic Nature of Greek Music

In Europe around the time of the Renaissance, a new musical system started to
develop which made the understanding of the ancient musical system impossible.
The new polyphonic harmony set to a tempered scale where the octave is divided
into twelve equal intervals, was an entirely new European innovation. This
system, in which many instruments play the same tune or its parts in different
chords to create a symphony, was a marvelous creation. But it also engendered a
mrlsical opaqueness; those with ears attuned to it are prevented from enjoying the
monophonic music of other lands, ancient or modem.

Before the innovation of European polyphony only the monophonic line was
recognized as the base for constructing patterns of notes. A large number of
instruments or voices followed the same line. The musical score of Greek classical
theatre has hardly survived except for a single fragment revealing a line from
~ u i p e d e s Oresteia.
' And so, we are virtually without any evidence, and are
dependent upon a few passages of the writers who just refer to it in passing
(Pickard-Cambridge 257). But the records on Greek musical grammar have
survived and it can be presumed safely that even though what is available to us
today was put down on paper centuries later by Aristoxenus (a disciple of
Aristotle) it was more or less the same system as was practised by the Greek
dramatists of the fifth century B.C.

1.7.2 The Greek Musical Scales

The Greek scales were derived from the notes as placed on harps like kithara and
phorminx. Here, one string (chord) was fixed for one note. The scales (systema)
were constructed from a building block of four notes (tetrachords) which were
brought together in conjunct or disjunct manners. There was no standard pitch for
notes then as is the practice in European music today. Like the Indians do even
now, the ancient Greeks, it seems, varied the pitch of their tonic. A given
tetrachord was divided into three, diatonic, chromatic and enharmonic, according
to the position of tones on it. Each kind was called a genos. The first and the last
tones of a tetrachord were fixed, the middle two shifted their positions to make the
genos. Each of the genos was further varied by a change of position of notes. The
diatonic had two positions, high and soft, chromatic had three, tonic, hemiolic
and soft, and the enharmonic had just one position. The variations of genera were
called colours (chroai).

Among the many puzzles of the ancient musical system is the position of the
tonic. Its position in a System or the harmoniai is difficult to ascertain today. In a
given mode change of tonic from one note to another would have changed the
melody. We cannot be sure today if such modulation was practised. Another
puzzle is the existence of seven note scale or heptachordon which was also called
harmoniai, as is mentioned by Aristoxenus. Perhaps Plato was referring to the
heptaehordon harmoniai tradition which for him had names such as Ionian and
Syntonolydian and which are not to be found in the list of Aristoxenus.

.1.7.3 Emotions, Ethics and Musical Modes

Froni the variation of scales, harmoniai and genos-chroai one can see that the
wealth of melodic intonation available to the Greeks was immense. The chroai
can be .found paralleled only in the Indian system of shruti variation and it must
have provided for the expression of a very wide and subtle rz(hge of emotians. Of
h
 Features of Classical
the relationship between harmoniai and emotions a few celebrated sayings have
Criticism
survived which indicate for sure the Greek belief that music was regarded as the
most effective means of emotional arousal and character formation. Theophrastos,
, Aristotle's nephew explained them on the grounds that both music and e~liotions
' were the result of movements, music being caused by physical vibrations, emotion
by vibrations in the psyche. They also believed that the main sources of music
were grief, joy and enthousiasmos (Plutarch, Moralia, Stanford p.50).

Aristotle made the observation that rhythms and melodies very clearly represent
emotions like anger, softness, temperance and all their opposites emotions
(Politics V (viii) 5. 1340a 18 qtd. Butcherl29). He went on to clarify that musical
tunes even without words have the power to change the ethical nature of man
(Problems xix 27.929b qtd Butcher 131). Regarding the harmoniai and their
association to specific emotions there is no description in the works of later
musicologists like Aristoxenus but in the opinion of Plato, melodies such as the
the Dorian melody scale is manly and heroic, and the Phyrgian melody scale is
ecstatic. Scales like the Mixolydian and the Syntonolydian, he felt were
mournful, and Lydian and Ionian scales were fit for revelry. On the whole there
seems to have been three categories of the harmonai or the musical scales, namely
the Lydian, Phrygian and Dorian for the pathetic, ecstatic and heroic feelings
I respectively, and the mixed forms such as the Ionian scale and the Mixolydian
scale were ramifications of the first, the Hypophrygian of the second and
Hypodorian of the third.

1.8 THE CONCEPT OF MIMESIS

The concept of 'mimesis' or imitation was not formulated in the Homeric or pre-
classical period. Hesiqd and Thucydides did not dwell upon the imlpications of
'mimesis' because the use of myths was an unquestioned traditional practise. By
the time of Plato, discussions on the content of truth in myths acquired not only a
currency but the myths themselves came to be debated upon and analysed. The
distinction between the actual and the fictional or imaginary seemed to have
arisen when the skills and arts (technai) were classified into two categories, the
useful arts and the creative arts. We shall go more deeply into this problem later.
Very early in classical times, the concept of 'mimesis' itself came under the focus
of a major debate which had so far centered around the myth. The crux of the
debate was the question, did 'mimesis' provide us with truth or with falsehood in
art. Plato, who suspected artistic inspiration, thought that mimesis was a
misleading copy of the real world, whereas Aristotle propounded that it was the
most natural way, not only to learn but to create a better world than the one we
have.

On the two major views of Plato and Aristotle, we shall expound them in the Units
2, 3 and 4. They are not given here to avoid repetition.

There can be no underestimation of the importance of the idea of 'mimesis' or

imitation in western art. Right from the ages of the Greeks and through the
European revival of the Renaissance till present times, the concept of 'mimesis'
has been discussed and practiced by poets, dramatists, novelists and philosophers.
The central question that has taxed all minds has been, what is the relationship of
f l to the .world we live in and experience? Is art going to create a form unrelated
to the cosmos around us and if not so is it going to be faithful in its represent~tion
or does it have the liberty to be totally fanciful and self occupied. The answer to
these questions have depended upon the diverse philospohies that have been
entertained during the course of history. For the moralist, art, and therefore
artisitstic representation, must be promotive of ethical values and portray the
world ip'a manner that helps us lead better lives. Some would even say that art is
suppded to promote social and political change and even establish certain
Classical Criticism utopias. For the patrons of artisitc imagination and expermentation art is meant to
explore experiences that are not easily available in everyday life. It is not meant to
reaffirm the moral commandments. It should question established notions of all
kinds and show the limitations of morality and social doctrines. It should point out
the ineffable and the mysterious and also represent the world in such a manner.

The Greeks had examined these questions very early and hence their ideas,
particularly of Plato and Aristotle, are the starting point of this debate.

1.9 LET US SUM UP

Thus we see that in classical times the main issues were different from our modem
concerns not only because of major cultural differences but because of a different
technology that governed the conditions of communication. As in the ancient
world literary compositions were not entirely secular, but often part of religious or
semi-religious activities, the spoken word was constantly associated with the
physical movements of the orator, minstrel or the actor, the dancing chorus, the
religious procession or a political assembly. The lone reader pouring over a
manuscript was an exceptional situation and discussion among the intellectuals
were again very limited. Literature as dialogue as we shall see in the last unit was
a development of the symposium situation which was dominated by the orator in
the beginning but came to be commanded by the teaching analyst after Socrates.
Thus the aesthetics that comes to be developed is that of nearness of the sender
(poet, actor, writer) to the receiver (listener, audience reader), of a familiarity of
codes ,qnd of known conventions. With a lesser degree of intellectual exertion
required to appreciate the familiar modes of art a surer and stronger emotional
response from the receiver was ensured. In the following units we shall see how
theatre in particular depended upon a familiarity with myth, costume, music and
other artistic conventions to achieve the desired result.

1.10 QUESTIONS
1. How did the quarrel between poetry and philosophy develop in classical
criticism?

2. What is the contribution of inspiration in Greek poetic creation?

3. How does music combine with use of words conceptually and practically
in
ancient literature?

4. What are the standard styles recommended for good writing?

1.11 GLOSSARY
Aristophanes ( about 457- 385 B.C.)
The most famous composer of plays of the period called Old Attic Comedy. He
was highly skilled in parody and satire which he pushed to the limits of fantasy
made dramatically very convincing. He was democratic in thought but supported
rather traditional values of life suitable to the common man. He satirised famous
personalities of his times like Cleon, Socrates, Aeschylus and Euripides. Of the
thirty two plays he is said to have written, only eleven survive. His earliest works'
Banqueteers and Babylonians (427-6 B.C.)are lost. Achamians, Knights, Clouds,
Wasps, Birds, Lysistrata, Plutus, Frogs, Ecclesiazusae (425 - 392 B.C.) are among
the great surviving ones.
Aristotle (384-322 B.C. )
Aristotle was the son of a well known medical practioner, Nicomachus who came
from the Asklepian tradition located in Macedonia. At the age of seventeen,
Aristotle became a student of Plato. After Plato was succeded by Speusippus, he
left the Academy along with Xenocrates to form a study circle in the island of
Assos and stayed there till 345 B.C., and then moved to Mytilene in Lesbos
where he researched deeply in zoology. In 342 B.C., he was invited by Phillipos
of Macedonia to tutor his son Alexander but after three years he returned to
Athens.

In Athens, he established his school near the Mt. Lykavitos with a big covered
courtyard (peripatos) by the name of which his philosophy came to be known. A
wide variety of research, funded by Alexander and others, was conducted by his
many brilliant disciples under his guidance. Aristoxenus researched on music,
Theophrastus on botany, Meno on medicine, Eudemus on mathematics. Likewise,
many histories in cosomology, phyiscs, astronomy and theology were complied at
his academy. After the death of Alexander, he was asked to leave Athens in 323
B.C. Aristotle went to Chalcis where he died of a stomach disease within a year.

His early works in dialogue form are mostly lost and so are the data base
manuscripts of much of his scientific research. The dialogues now lost were
modelled on Plato's and were perhaps called On Rhetoric, On Soul, On
~ h i l o s o ~ hOn
~ ;Metaphysics and the like. Known from other ancient references,
the lost works include Pithiioicai ( accounts of victors at Pythian games),
Nomima (tract on barbaric customs), Politeia ( constitutions of the Greek states),
and Didascaliai (reords of Athenian drama events).

Of what the subsequent ages found most useful and have therefore better survived,
the prominent works [Link], Physics, De Aniima , Metaphysics, Nichomian
Ethics, Politics, Rhetoric and Poetics (fragment). Aristotle was a great classifier
and more of an empiricist but less a revelatory thinker as compared to Plato.

Aristoxenus
Philosopher and musical theorist, a student of Aristotle. He wrote many works
dealing with the lives of Pythagoras, Socrates and Plato. He is a major source of
information on ancient performing arts.

Catharsis
Catharsis (Gk Katharsis, 'purgation') Aristotle uses the word in his definition of
tragedy in chapter VI of Poetics. 'Tragedy through pity and fear effects a
purgation of such emotions'. In this sense, it would imply that tragedy, having
aroused powerful feelings in the spectator, has also a therapeutic effect; after the
storm and climax there comes a sense of release from tension, of calm.

Dithyramb .
Initially a song in the rituals of Dionysus which according to Archiolochos was
brought from Corinth to Athens. Later it developed into a choral genre for which
competitions were held.

Dorian
Believed to be the last of the invaders from Northern Greece who overpowered
the Mycaeneans in around 1000 B.C. They occupied the regions of Argos,
Sicyon, Megara etc., and then moved down to Crete.

Hellenic and Hellenes

"Hellenic" refers to the culture and history of the ~ellenes,the name by which the
Classical Crificism Greeks be known by even today. Greece is, therefore, also called Hellas.
Originally the Hellenes belonged to the region around Dodona, a part of South
Thessaly. Along with the Dorians they spread all over Greece. In Homer, the
Greeks are called Achaeans, Argives and Danai. The Hellenes as a name became
popular for all Greeks only after seventh century B.C.

Hesiod
Believed to be prefer as old as Homer, his Theogonia is an account of the conflict
between the Olympian gods and their predecessors. His other important
composition called Works and Days gives rules of social conduct, the concept of
five ages, and homely advice for good living.

Longinus
The name or perhaps the pen-name of an author who composed a literary treatise
called On the Sublime (Peri Ipsous). This incomplete, yet very influential work
emphasises the literary theory that grandeur and sublimity are hollow without the
impact of emotions.

Muses
The Greek goddesses of music, literature, poetry, painting, tragedy, comedy hnd
philosophy and other branches of art were categorised into nine by Hesiod. They
were said to be the daughters of Zeus and Memosyne, and are represented as
heavenly dancers often led in performance by Apollo. The cult of the Muses was
prevalent all over Greece from early Homeric days till late Roman times.
Philosophers and artists of all kinds considered them their patron goddesses and
hence source of inspiration.

Paean
Originally composed as a song of praise to Apollo or other gods, the paean was
sung on social occasions, war treaties and other felicitations. It was often sung in
unision led by experts. *

Plutarch ( about 50- 120 A.D.)

He was deeply attached to his family at Chaironia but was also very familiar with
Athens and Rome, where he lectured and in Egypt and its neighbourhood where
he travelled. For the last thirty years of his life he was a priest at the sacred temple
of Apollon at Delphi and was a favourite of Emperor Hadrian who helped him
revive the dignity of the shrine. His writings reflect the message that there must
prevail a partnership between the Hellenic culture as the great educator and Rome '
the ascending imperial power.

A large number of worksin Greek and Lkin are attributed to him, 227 accarding
to the ancient list of Lamprias. In medieval times a collectim of his minor works
was compiled and called Ethica (Moralia). There is a sizable corpus of spurious
material that has got mixed with his writings but is of great significance
nonetheless. His rhetodcal works include de gloria Athniensium, of the moral
works de superstitione is significant, the well known dialogues are Amatorius and
de Pythia oraculis, and the philosophic works are Quaestioness Platonicae and in
Timaeo. The best known works are the Lives of Ceasars.
Plutarch had a great influence on the Byzantine scholars down to late medieval
times.

Quintilian
Born in about A.D. 30, he was educated by the orator Domitius Afer, he became a
rhetorician receiving huge amounts from the aristocracy for the lessons he gave
them in advocacy, rhetoric and literature. He wrote in Latin asserting its value in
the face of Greek. His major work, Institutio Oratoria is a mine of information on
the art and education of orators during the Roman era.
18
 Features of Classical
Criticism
Rhapsodes
Professional reciters of poetry, particularly of the epics of Homer. They played the
kithara while singing and in that case, were called kitharodes. They rendered the
text with great emotion reflected in their voice and song. Till a very late date,
they preserved the archaic pronunciation of their texts.

Thucydides
The historian general who wrote about the Peloponessian Wars fought between
(431-404 B.C.) Athens and Sparta in eight volumes. While these wars coincide
with the great flowering of theatre in Athens and other city-states, they also
weakened the Hellenic civilization by discouraging democratic governments and
encouraging military hegemony. Thucydides belonged to a well to do family
from Thrace. His account of the wars is regarded as the most authentic and
exhuastive one. Thucydides is also remebered as a fine stylists of Greek prose.

1.12 SUGGESTED READING -

Primary Text
Work of Aristotle. Trans. W.D. Ross. London: Oxford UP, 1928.

Secondary Reading
Beardsley, Monroe C. Aesthetics From Classicial Greece to the Present :a Short
History. Alabama : U of Alabama P,1932.

Frankel, Hermann Early Greek Poetry and Philosophy :A history of Greek epic,
lyric, and prose to middle of the country. Trans. By Moses Hades and James
Wilis. New York: A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book. Harcourt Brace Novanovich.

Harland, Richard. Literary Theory From Plato to Barthes an introductory history

Macmillian Press, 1999.

Morgan, Teresa. Literate Education in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds.

Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Kennedy, G.A. The Art of Persuasion in Greece 1963.

I
I Kirk, G.S. The Pre-Socratic Philosophers. Cambridge: U.P., 1983.

I
Orians, R.B. The Origins of European Thought. Cambridge: University Press,
1951.

Stanford, W.B. Greek Tragedy and the Emotions: An Introductory Study.

London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1983.
UNIT 2 PLAT0 ON IMITATION AND ART
Structure
Objectives
Introduction
Platonic View of Mimesis
2.2.1 Theory of the Forms
2.2.2 The Lower Status of Art
Plato's Definition of Truth
Platonic Idea of Social Well Being
Let Us Sum Up
Questions
Glossary
Suggested Reading

2.0 OBJECTIVES
In this unit we shall aim to find out

why Plato maintained this particular kind of view towards artistic

representation
how it was based upon a certain kind of metaphysics that he entertained
about his theory of mimesis

2.1 INTRODUCTION
The easiest thing is to imagine Plato as an enemy of art because he viewed art
products of all kinds, whether poetry, theatre or painting as inferior copies ofthe
ultimate reality. But it should be borne in mind that Plato's primary aim was not
to evaluate the worth of aesthetic pleasure but to point out that representation
through art was inferior to the ultimate tryth. His concerns were not artististic but
philosophical. As we have pointed out in unit 1, he was suspicious of emqtional
arousal of any kind and of the use of words made to establish emotional truth to
.sway audiences. His views on poetry or "poesis" (making) and "mimesis"
(imitation) both reflect the urge to know the truth beyond words.
In his Republic, he has given us a picture of what a perfectly governed state
should be and how that state can be created by educating young men and women.
The rulers and the helpers of the Platonic Utopia, are not mere administrators or
military strategists. More than statesmen, they are philosophers who have a deep
understanding of the true nature of things. The ideal state, hence, is ruled by
'
philosophers who have received the right type of education according to his
ideals. In this educational system, Plato maintained that there was no room for the
teaching of poetry and drama as these were neither healthy for the creation of a
strong moral character needed in an administrator nor did they provide any
knowledge of the world.
Most poetry of the contemporary Greek cumculum, Homer in particular, was
unsuitable as it showed gods and heroes with moral infirmities and sometimes '
even savagery. Such examples were not conducive to the formation of a worthy .
character. Also as most of this poetry was sung to the lyre in those times, Plato
pointed out that only those melodic scales should be used which inculcate heroism
and courage. Likewise, enacting plays was harmful because in acting a petson
gave up his own demeanour and adopted the behaviour of another character often
not very praiseworthy. Plato thus empathised with the others. For Plato, the very
purpose of art, was disruptive to the unswerving concentration of a guardian or a
citizen of his Utopia.
 Plato on Imitation and Art
Besides creating a morally degrading effect, for Plato, art was an untruthful
representation of reality. The artist was not only imitating the imperfect objects of
this world, sfhe was also pretending to know things of which s h e actually had no
understanding. For instance, he says, that Homer was not a military general and
had won no wars but he still portrays warring heroes. Nor was Homer, argues
Plato, a teacher of any reputation or following but he is said to have the last word
of wisdom on everything. Though much of this criticism of art and the artist is in
an exaggerated satirical vein, there was no justified role for the poet, the dramatist
or the minstrel in his state as they all were the misrepresenters of truth. At this
point we may look into the general Greek ideas of representation or 'mimesis' as
it was called.

2.2 PLATONIC VIEW OF MIMESIS

'Mimesis', in Greek thought primarily meant 'making' of one sort or another.
This is well recorded in Plato. Plato gave a new metaphysical and epistemological
perspective to mimesis, enlargening its meaning from 'making' by human hands
to 'making' by universal force. Yet, mimesis, not only in Plato's definition but in
the use of the concept in the whole of western tradition, always retained the sense
of not only 'making,' but of 'making' a copy of some original which was never
totally independent of the model. (Gupt 93).
In Platonic theory, all art (techne) has been taken to mean some kind of
manipulation close to craft. In the Sophist, Plato has divided techne into
acquisitive, productive and creative categories of which the last brings into
existence things not existing before. However, the highest art, in the scheme of
Plato is not music or poetry, but statecraft, which is compared to the making of a
tragedy in the Laws (817B) and to sculpture in the Republic (420C).
All production, in a general way, is 'mimesis'. In the Greek usage, there was not
only the term 'mimesis' but others such as mithexis (participation), homoiosis,
(likeness) and paraplesia (likeness) and which were close to the meaning, of
mimesis. These terms were also used to show the relationship 'between an image
(eidolon) and its archetype. Moreover, not only are objects imitated by pictures of
them, but the essences of things are imitated also by names that we give to those
things. For example, the essence or the dogness of a dog is imitated by the name
'dog' given to that creature (Cratylus 423-24). Similarly, reality is imitated or
mimetised by thought, eternity by time (Timaeus 38b). The musician imitates
divine harmony, the good man imitates the virtues, the wise legislator imitates the
Form of God in constructing his state, god (demiourgos) imitates the Forms in the
making of Ws world.

2.2.1 Theory of Forms

Thus, imitation is not only a production, it is a following of something which the
imitator must set before himselflherself. For every kind of activity there must be
an Ideal to be followed, and every Ideal or Form must have its Super-Form. But
to avoid endless regression, Plato postulated that there was a primary Form, which
was the essential nature of every object or even thought. The Form was
immutable and complete and could not be embodied in anything of this world.
Worldly objects are idols or imitative images (eidola) of the Ideal Forms, and
artist, pictures or poetic descriptions, are, in turn, images (eidola) of the objects of
the world. Mimesis, then always falls short of the original. If the image were
perfect, that is, it expresses in every point the entire reality of its object, then it,
would no longer be an image, but an example of the same thing (Cratylus 432
trans. Jowett, qtd. Beardsley 35). Because it leaves out important qualities, it is a
lower order of reality than the archetype. In Plato's metaphysics this is the
general presumption. The wordly knife falls short of the Ideal knife. Platonic
mimesis, and thus, all art according to Plato, remains a turning away from the
Truth.
Chsical Criticism
2.2.2 The Lower Staus of Art
There are many kinds of mimesis that Plato has in mind. All these, however, are
images created after worldly images of the Forms. Plato postulates that
sometimes mimesis is an accurate reproduction of the original, with all the
properties to produce a genuine likeness (eikon), at other times mimesis may be a
semblance @hantasma). Phantasma is a false representation and poets and
painters, according to Plato, are adept at doing this. Hence in his tract called
Phaedms, Plato gives them a lower status. The method adopted to show the lower
status of the artists is reflected in their residential location in the Underworld. .
When the newly arrived souls, having beheld true being, sink into various degrees
of forgetfulness, and are phced on the nine levels of the Underworld, Socrates
says, that the sixth (class) shall be fittingly given to a poet, or any other imitative
artist (Beardsley 38). Socrates views the artists, the worshippers of true
knowledge, as seducers from the truth. As a way of knowledge the arts are
certainly not commendable. They also undermine morality. Plays like the Medea,
argues Plato, appeal to the baser parts of our soul that stimulates and strengthens
an element which threatens to undermine reason (Republic 605b). To sum up,
Plato sees little good in art, and it is doubtful if he would have liked to compare
the catharsis that he acknowledged as occuring in the ritual of Corybantes who
listened to music and were purified of their diseases, with the emotional relief that
the audience feel after going through an artisitic experience.

2.3 PLATO'S DEFINITION OF TRUTH

It must be understood that for Plato there was no possibility of a category such as
"artistic truth " as different from the Truth. There could be only one reality and
that was available to the philsopher who saw things beyond the illusion. Plato had
rejected the idea that poetry could communicate the truth through its own
language because he had more or less rejected the traditional idea of poetry or art
being a gift (phya) from the Muses. If all creation was a process of "making" or
creation starting from the Form to the worldly objects, and then through poetic
consciousness to art products, then making or mimesis can be the only process of
creation leaving no room for an independent creation by the poet, The artist
cannot intercept the mimetic chain. It may be argued that even while the poet is
making a copy of a copy, s h e can still be credited with the status of a maker
whose work brings knowledge to the world. For Aristotle this was the intrinsic
value of art. But for Plato, as inspiration and phya were suspect, art was more of a
deception or at best an emotionally manipulative make-belief and hence to be
avoided. As the dialogue on art runs in Book X of the Republic:

"So the artist has neither knowledge nor correct opinion about the
goodness or badness of the things he represents."
"Apparantly not"
"So the poet too as artist, will be pretty ignorant about the subjects of
his poetry."
"Completely ignorant"
"But he will go on writing poetry, in spite of his ignorance of all he
writes about and will represent anything that pleases ignorant
multitude."
"What else can he do?"
Well," I concluded, "we seem to be pretty well agreed that the artist
knows little or nothing about the subjects he represents and that his art
is something that has no serious value; and that this applies to all tragic
poetry, epic or dramatic."
"Yes, entirely agreed." Republic (602) (Lee).
 Plato on Imitation and Art
In the Platonic scheme, the way to knowledge was not inspirational but
investigative. One had to reject falsehoods, misconceptions and popular notions,
one by one, to arrive at the essence of the object of enquiry. In the essence lies the
reflection of the Form of an object or thing. The Form alone is real as it is
unchanging. All changing things can be a basis for opinions but not knowledge
(episteme),(Phaido), that the immortal soul attains through virtue by controlling
its appetities through resolve and reason. Virtue is hence equivalent to
knowledge. Lack of virtue is ignorance, knowledge is happiness. As artisitic .
creation and enjoyment do not work through controlling the appetites but rather
tend to arouse them through emotional expansion, they cause ignorance.

2.4 PLATONIC IDEA OF SOCIAL WELL BEING

The artist as the promulgator of ignorance cannot have a place in the Utopian state
that Plato envisaged in the Republic or later in his final work the Laws. Just as the
appetites must be controlled and kept under constant check through resolve,
reason and\ virtue to prepare the soul for knowledge, so should the guardians
endowed with superior training and selective breeding control the general
population to keep a society productive and law abiding. Beginning with the
above prenuses, Pl* could not but have given a small and highly restricted place
to the poet in his Republic. Plato felt that for young students most epic poetry of
Homer and Hesiod was weak in morals as it showed gods and heroes in a poor
light. Plato did not think that the power of art to show human weaknesses and
contradictions in the divine conduct portrayed in the ancient myths was part of the
investigative process. Even to act a role was disastrous for a future guardian of the
Republic as it prevented the development of single unflawed "ethos" in him. As
Socrates puts it in Book III (394) :

But as we argued originally that our guardians were to be freed from all
forms of manual work; their live's work was to be the provision of
perfect freedom for our state, a task to which they were to devote all
their energies. That, therefore, is the only role they must play, in life or
literature; and with this end in view the only characters on which they
must model themselves from their earliest years must be men of
courage; self control, independence, and religious principles. They must
no more act a mean part than do a mean action or any othd kind of
wrong. For we soon reap the fruits of literature in life and prolonged
indulgence in any form of literature leaves its mark on the moral nature
of a man, affecting not only the mind but the physical poise and
intonation."

Plato shows the way to most purists and moralists who, though having their
different definitions of the highest aim of life, still agree that art deflects from
forming the human character for the highest purpose. Unknowingly, Plato made
ground for his Christian successors like Augustine and Justin who forbade theatre,
masks and acting saying that the actor gives up hisher own personality created in
the image of God to take up another role, thus abetting the devil in practising
deceit.

Plato accepted the traditional Greek view that experiencing emotional

employment in art formed the character of audience and artist. But whereas in the
Greek rituals, healing practices and traditions of performance, emotion and ethical
formation were interconnected in a complex way and were considered socially
useful, for Plato the relationship was simply of one kind. By experiencing or
indulging in an emotion in art, the habit of reviving that emotion becomes a reflex
in the audience.
 "Iyou
f consider that the poet gratifies and inbulges the natural instinct
for tears and the desires.. .full vent to our sorrows both of which be
restrained in our private misfortunes. Our better nature, being without
adequate moral or intellectual training, releases its control, on the
grounds that it is some one else's suffering it is watching and that there
is nothing wrong in praising and pitying another man with some claim
to goddness, even though his grief is excessive; besides, it reckons the
pleasure it gets as sheer gain, and would certainly' not consent to be
deprived of it by condemning the whole poem. For very few people are
capable of realising that our feelings for other people must influence
ourselves, and that if we let ourselves feel excessively for the
misfortune of others it will be difficult to restrain our feelings."

"Poetry-has the same effect on us when it represents sex and anger, and
the other desires and feelings of pleasure and pain which normally
accompany our actions. It feeds them when they ought to be starved and
makes them control us when we ought, in the interest of our own
welfare and happiness, to control them." Republic Book X (606).

For this very reason he forbade not only theatre but in general the use of Mixo
Lydian and Hyper Lydian scales of music in songs as they were expressive of
pathos used in dirges and laments, and of Lydian and Ionian modes known to be
languid enough to make the guardians soft-hearted and lethargic. Continuing in
this vein Socrates, sees no utility for many complicated musical instruments in his
Utopia as only the heroic scales were desirable.

As a promoter of illusions, misconduct and erratic behaviour, the poet with all his
fellow artists hardly deserves to be a citizen of the perfect state :

"Then we can fairly take the poet and set him beside the painter. He
resembles him both because his works have a low degree of truth and
because he appeals to a low element in the mind. We are therefore quite
right to refuse to admit him to a properly run state, because he stirs up
and encourages and strengthens the lower element in the mind at the
expense of reason, which is like power and political control to the worst
elqment in a state and ruining the better elements. The dramatic poet
produces a similar state of affairs in the mind of the individual, by
encouraging the unreasoning part of it, which cannot make distinction
of size and confused large and small, and by creating images far
removed from reality." .
"I agree." Republic (Book X, 605)

The role of the poet is conclusively declared as subversive to the interest of the
state. Herfiis presence was therefore not allowed and s h e was banished. Plato's
denigration of art as stated in the Republic has become proverbial. All purists,
moralists and even dictators who feel threatened by either the emotional power of
art or by its investigative acumen have upheld him as their predecessor.

2.5 LET US SUM UP

As we said at the outset, Platonic condemnation of art stems from his
metaphysical and utopian premises. It has been speculated that Plato was well
aware of the military weaknesses of the Athenian state in comparison with the
disciplined armies of the Spartans. He, therefore, wanted no stone unturned in
prescribing the strongest ideals for Athens.

It may also be added that by the time of Plato a decline in the quality of theatrical -
productions had already set in. Bad art and poor taste among the art lovers were
 --
I Imitation and
perhaps too noticeable. Even the greatest advocates of art do not recommend bad
taste to uphold artistic freedom, therefore Plato, so anxious to save society from
the ravages of a decadent politics, found art to be not much of an ally in his
reformist endeavour. He had a justification to some extent for reminding us that
"bad taste in theatre may insensibly lead you into becoming a buffoon at home."
Decadent art does create weak and irresponsible human beings, as evidenced from
many histories. ,But all said, it is also clear that the aim of his attack was not bad
tastesr poor standards, but art per se. Even the best of art and the highest of taste
were misleading and weakening for the moral fibre in the Platonic scheme. Plato
did deal a very severe blow to art. It was left to Aristotle to counter that bias and
establish in most admirable terms the value and dignity of poetry and tragedy in
particular to the extent that his ideas became the bed-rock of literary criticism in
the classical age.

OUESTIONS
What is the reason for lat to's hostility towards art?
Give an account of Platonic attitude towards mimesis?

What are the reasons for the artist to be kept away from the ideal state
Plato?

Is there any relevance of Platonic attitude to art in our times of

bfonnation and entertainment?

2.7 GLOSSARY
noitalics
General meaning of the term is knowledge. Plato uses in a special sense defining
it as supreme understanding of the ultimate truth.

Plato (429-397 B.C.)

He was born into an aristocratic family of Athens. Very early in life he was
captivated by Socrates. On his death in 399, .along with other fellow students he
left Athens for Megara and for twelve years of exile from Athens he travelled to
Italy, Egypt and perhaps many other places. On his return, he established his
Academy a mile outside Athens, where he spent the rest of his forty years.

His works consisting of twenty-five dialogues, an Apology and some letters have
survived well. He is also known as a great stylist and perfector of the philosophic
dialogue. The philosophy of Plato is regarded as a transmission of Socratic ideas.
As there is nothing that Socrates wrote himself, it is impossible to distinguish
between what Socrates may have said and what Plato has reiterated.

Socrates ( 469-399 BC)

He was the son of a sculptor who had served as a foot soldier and remained rather
poor in life. He married Xanthippe who was known for her foul temper. He
studied physics under Archelaus but soon developed himself as an independent
thinker. To his great fortune, his reputation was greatly enhanced by a
pronouncement from the Delphic oracle that there was no man wiser than him.
He was a brave soldier and a political critic. As a man he had remarkable physical
endurance, was indifferent to comforts, full of humour, religious in conduct
though not conventional, and friendly to all. His views are known only through
the works of his disciple Plato.
 Classical Criticism . .
techne
A general word for all kinds of skills and crafts including the fine arts.

2.9 SUGGESTED READING '\

Primary Texts

Plato. The Dialogues of Plato. Trans. Benjamin Jowett. 5 vols. 3rd Ed. Oxford,
1893.
The Republic. Trans, H.D.P. Lee. Penguin, 1955.
.
Symposium Trans. W. Hamilton. Penguin, 1951.
I
I
I
I
Butcher, S.H. Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine Art. Trans. and with notes.
I
I Introduction by John Gassner. 4th Ed. USA: Dover Pub. Inc., 1951.
I
I

Secondary Reading
~
I

Adkins, Arthur W.H. Moral Values and Political Behuviour iin Ancient Greece:
From Homer to rhe End of the Fifrh Century New York: Norton, 1972.

Beardsley, Monroe C. esthetics From Classical Greece to the Present: a Short

History. Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 1932.

Gupt, Bhatat. Dramatic Concepts :Greek and Indian .A Study of the Poetics and
the Natyasastra. Delhi : DK Printworld (P) Ltd. , 1994 .
Momson, Karl F. The Mimetic Tradition of Reform in the West. New Jersey:
Princeton University, 1982.

.
Toynbee, Arnold. Hellenism Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959.
UNIT 3 ARISTOTLE'S THEORY OF
IMITATION
Structure
Objectives
Introduction
The Aristotelian View of Mimesis
The Media of Mimesis
3.3.1 Rhythm, Language, and Harmony
Theatre As a Unifier of Arts
3.4.1 Rendering of Lexis through Rhythm and Tone
3.4.2 Ancient Dances Used in Theatre .
3.4.3 Unification of Dance with Words
Let Us Sum Up
Questions
Glossary
Suggested Reading

3.0 OBJECTIVES
In this unit we shall look at

the manner in which Aristotle departed from the basic notions of his master
Plato with regard to the theory of representation of art or mimesis

Aristotles scheme of mimesis as a sophisticated amplification of the mythic

concept of the muses

3.1 ' INTRODUCTION - - -

Aristotle, unlike his teacher, has immense respect for the tragic poet. He elevates
the art of tragedy to a level higher than the epic. To those familiar with the
commonly established hierarchy of poets in the classical times,,his view was a
modification of the existing order in which thesosition of Homer and Hesiod was
at the top and the status of the epic as the fountaln head of inspired wisdom was
unparalleled. But Aristotle argued his case very 16$icallYC to redefine theatre as a
total art and tragedy as the most sublime of its genres. We shall emphasise the
contribution of Aristotle in revealing tragic performance, and thus theatre, as a
total art that consists not merely of dialogue, characters and plot, but of no less
importance, the elements of spectacle, music and dance. In fact, one of the
reasons why he regarded tragedy as superior to the epid was that tragedy had these
elements. "...because it has all the epic elements4 may even use the epic
metre-+vith music and spectacular (visual) effects as important accessories and
these produce the most vivid of pleasures" (Poetics XXVZ :4).
It has often been said that the extant text of the Poetics is incomplete. The
portions on comedy and presumably on satyrikon are missing. Assuming the kind
of thoroughness with which Aristotle wrote, very likely there were other portions
of the tiact. But what does survive still is an o v M view of art with which the
Poetics opens. That should leave us in no doubt that in terms of mimetic
representation aud theatrical practice whatever is said about tragedy applies to
comedy and satyrikon as well. In fact, poetry, painting, music and drama of all
kinds are all non-utilitarian arts using mimesis through different media.

The Poetics of Aristotle opens with the statement that mimesis is a valuable
method for artisitc representation. He then goes on to define that rhythm,
Classical Criticism language, and haimony are the basic channels through which artistic imitation is
made possible. After stating that epic poetry, tragedy, comedy, dithyrambic
poetry, flute or lyre playing are all 'modes of mimesis,' Aristotle states that
mimesis in different art forms is achieved differently, and that the object and
manner of mimesis is different in each case (Poetics I; 2-4).

Having established that language, rhythm and harmony shall be the medium of
mimesis for dramatic forms, he then postulates that these media are manifested as
the six elements of tragedy, namely, myth or plot, ethos or the characters, dianoia
or argument, lexis or diction, melopoiia or music and finally opsis or the visual
spectacle. Broadly speaking, these six elements are found in all other forms such
as the comedy and the satyr. We shall examine the role of these elements in the
later Units.

3.2
- -
THE ARISTOTELIAN VIEW OF MIMESIS
- -

With Aristotle the concept of mimesis undergoes a major transformation. It retains

the condition of being a copy of a model, but the Platonic denigration is reversed.
This reversal is based on a metaphysical revision. The permanent reality is not
transcedental in Aristotle's opinion. When an artist makes an object, he
incorporates certain universal elements in it but he does fall short of any absolute
model of dniversality. Because of the universality contained in art, in Aristotle's
view, art, as all other imitation leads to knowledge. The pleasure that mimesis
provides is on account of knowledge that is acquired through mimesis, even
though this knowledge is of particulars:

"And since learning and admiring are pleasant, all things connected with them
must [Link] pleasant; for instance, a work of imitation, such as painting,
sculpture, Toetry, and all that is well imitated, even if the object of imitation is not
pleasant; for it is not this that causes pleasure or the reverse, but the inference that
the imitation and the object imitated are identical, so that the result is that we
learn something." (Rhetoric I, xi, 1371b; trans. Freese qtd. by Beardsley 57)

Besides possessing didactic capacity mimesis is defined as a pleasurable likeness.

Aristotle defines the pleasure giving quality of mimesis in the Poetics, as follows:
"First, the instinct of imitation is implanted in man from childhood, one difference
between him and other animals being that he is the most imitative of living
creatures, and through imitation learns his earliest lessons; and no less universal is
the pleasure felt in things imitated. Thus the reason why men enjoy seeing a
likeness is, that in contemplating it they find themselves learning or inferring, and
saying perhaps, 'Ah, that is he.' Imitation, then, is one instinct of our nature. "
(Poetics IV.1-6 )
As a corollary it follows that the artist is no liar, but on the contrary, leads us to
Truth. However, Aristotle seems to have limited his vision when it comes to
enumerating the objects of imitation. In Plato, all creation was an imitation of
Forms, which were transcendental. For Aristotle, though the Form (eidos) of
every object existed, it was not a transcendental reality but something within
Nature which Nature itself tends to attain. Further, it is said that for Aristotle, Art
helps Nature in this endeavour of attaining the perfection of Form. This
interpretation of Aristotle's metaphysics has been based upon his two oft-quoted
sayings, "Art imitates Nature" (Physics iii.2 I94a 21.) and "the artist may imitate
things as they ought to be" (Poetics XXXV: I).
Amplifying from this Butcher has concluded: " If wekxpand Aristotle's idea in
the light of his own system, fine art eliminates what is transient and particular and
reveals the permanent and essential features of the original. It discovers 'form' ,

(eidos) towards which an object tends, the result which nature strives to attain."
(150)
There is little in the writings of Aristotle that can explicitly sustain such a Aristotle's Theory of
conclusion. This discovery of the form (eidos) in objects tends to make Aristotle Imitation
into a shadow of Plato. Aristotle admits that there is something permanent and
enduring in art, but that something could be called eidos, is beyond substantiation
from Aristotle's writings. Similarly, the dictum, art imitates nature, has given rise
to many interpretations over the centuries. "It has been argued that the irrner
principle of Nature is what art imitates. But if we follow out his thought, his
(Aristotle's) reply would appear to be something of this kind. Nature is a living
and creative energy, which by a sort of instinctive reason works in every
individual object towards a specific end " (Butcher 155). The teleological and
structural pattern of tragedy seems to have been transferred on to Nature by
Butcher. This was a typical nineteenth century view of Aristotelian philosophy.
Since the Renaissance, different definitions of Nature have been foisted upon
Aristotle's dictum, art imitates Nature. For the purpose of drama, the most
disastrous one was that of realism, which having captured fiction by techniques of
portraiture, landscape, and caricature, transferred these on to drama.

Aristotle was clear that a e purpose of imitation in drama, was to provide proper
pleasure by imitating action. Mimesis of men in action was mimesis of all human
life. Through music, the artist imitates, anger and mildness as well as courage or
temperance (Politics v. viii.5.134~18) and ethical qualities and emotions.
Similarly, he says, "Dance,'imitates character, emotions and action" (Poetics 1.5).
We should be content to note that in drama he applied the general theory ef
mimesis, which he thought, was both for the s&e of pleasure and knowledge. But
even the Aristotelian affirmation of pleasure in art was not sufficient to free art
from being constantly compared with its original, that is the worldly objects. This
originally Platonic habit, has been strong throughout western criticism which
repeatedly gauges art in terms of how truthfully or realistically it represents the
world, how much of an understanding of the world can it bring to us, one way or
another.

3.3 THE MEDIA OF MIMESIS

3.3.1 Rhythm, Language, and Haniony '

After stating that epic poetry, tragedy, comedy, dithyrambic poetry, flute or lyre
playing are all 'modes of mimesis,' Aristotle states that mimesis in different arl
forms is achieved differently, and that the object and manner of mimesis is
different in each case ( Poetics 1; 2-4 ). He states that the three media for all arts
are as follows:

For there are persons who, by conscious act or mere habit, imitate and
represent various objects through the medium of colour and fonn, or again
, by voice; so in the arts above mentioned, taken as a whole, the imitation is
produced by rhythm, language and harmony, either singly or combined.
(Poetics 1:4 )

Leaving aside painting and sculpture which use colour and other forms
(materials), the arts of performance like music, dance and drama, use
rhythm, language and harmony. Flute and lyre use rhythm and notes only,
and dancing uses only rhythm. But for Aristotle, rhythm is not a mere beat
or a division of time, but movement with regularity, be it theemere
movement of the body or that of notes. That is why, dancing, he says,
imitates characteG emotion and action by rhythmical movement (15).
--Poetry or verse whether creative or informative imitates through language
alone, but dithyrambic and elegiac poetry, tragedy and comedy use all
three means. In dithyrambic and elegiac poetry all three means are used
together, but in tragedy and comedy now one means is employed, now
Classical Cdtkisrn another (15). What is true of tragedy and comedy can be taken as true of
all drama, satyr plays included. Aristotle's brevity of plan has prevented
him from saying anything further about the manner in which rhythm,
language and harmony are employed in drama.

About the details of language (lexis) one can gather quite a few things from
Aristotle's comments on language which he categorised as one of the six elements
of tragedy. But the nature of harmony (which he called melopoiia and enumerated
as another element of tragedy) is hardly touched upon by him. So is rhythm never
mentioned again in the Poetics. No wonder, then, that one has to look elsewhere
to gather information about the use of music in the Greek theatre. Aristotle
perhaps took musical employment in drama for granted and, therefore, refrained
from stating anything further about it. But the result of what may have been for
him a redundancy, was disastrous for the post-Renaissance readers of the Poetics.
The practical art of theatre-music being extinct, the Europeans reconstructed a
picture of Greek drama in which there was hardly any place for rhythm or music.
Greek drama was envisaged as a primarily rhetorical affair (an impression
reinforced by Roman tragedies) far removed from the balance of visual and aural
channels of theatrical expression that ancient drama depends so much upon.

But if Aristotle left out the details of musical application he was at least explicit in
stating it as a medium of mimesis. However, he not only neglected but left out
from his description of tragedy the visual content of Greek performances
constituted by the physical movements and complex gestures of the actors and the
chorus. More than their mask and costume, the Greek actors had a repertoire of
highly emotive gestures, just as the chorus members had a repertoire of a variety
of dances to create complex visual effects.

3.4 THEATRE AS A UNIFIER OF THE ARTS

The role of theatre that brought the arts of speech, song, enunciation, dialogue as
song-like enunciation, gesture, music and dance all together in a unified whole
was unique in classical times. We shall see very shortly how this was done. The
details for this are not all given by Aristotle in a single tract, but the information
can be gathered from diverse sources. Aristotle has defined it very well as less
(linguistic content) and melopoiia (musical content) in his enumeration of the six
elements of tragedy.

3.4.1 Rendering of Lexis through Rhythm and Tone '

The gap between speech and song was not so wide in ancient theatres as it is in
our theatres today. For the ancients this gap was partially filled by the very nature
of their languages which would seem rather musical to us. In ancient Greek,.
words were made up of long and short syllables of measured quantity. The short
was roughly half of the long. (Some have speculated that stress was used in
ancient Greek, but there is little proof of it in the writings of classical authors,
(Stanford 65).

The speakers of these languages would have been more aware of the effects of
rhythm than those people whose languages were not so rhythmically well
measured. For the Greeks, all utterances, whether in prose, poetry or song, were in
measured rhythms. Although, thia exactness of the measure of long and short
syllables may have been difficult to maintain in daily speech, in formal speech,
recitation or song, it could have been achieved without any special effort.
Moreover, the effects of rhythm would have been consciously enjoyed. For the
same reason it must have been easy to compose music for poetry, as rhythm was
the common basis for speech, metre and song. As regards the Greek practice
Stanford notes:
"Classical writers recognized speech, especially when pronounced with resonant Aristotle's Theory of
and rhythmical way that orators and actors used, had all the properties of song, Imitation
though to a less perceptible degree. Both were regarded as forms of mousike and
both were produced by the same instrument*'(63). The 'instrument' here is the
human voice as speech or song, both considered parts of mousike. Rhythm is the
connecting element, which was also a method of emotional arousal.

The emotional effects of rhythm were a subject of serious study in Greece since
the fifth century. Thrasymachos, the early expert in appeals of pity, was
particularly interested in them. Subsequently moralists like Plato, as well as
rhetoricians continued to examine their ethical qualities (Stanford 65). As Plutarch
has observed, "use of successive long syllables express caution, calmness or
melancholy, and successive short syllables eagerness, agitation and excitement..."
(Stanford 66).
Moreover, rhythm like melody, was a vibration of sound and could produce or
generate the emotions which were regarded as movements in the psyche. "mythm
could have a stronger effect than melody, since the heart beat is essentially
rhythmical. The Greek physicians Herophuos and Galen compared the rhythm of
the heart, with its systole and diastole, to that of a metrical foot" (66). The choice
of a particular metre for a given dramatic utterance wag based on this principle.
Many instances from classical plays are cited by Stanford and Aylen to illustrate
the use of metres for creating specific rhythmic effects.
A theoretical support is found in Aristotle as well, who though passing over the
topic in the Poetics, comments upon it in his Rhetoric. As Stanford reports, " That
orator who wishes to arouse emotion must know how to use rhythm, volume and
voice melody ('the sharp, low and middle tone') for that purpose." He adds that
those (actors) who use these properly nearly always won the prizes in the dramatic
contests. (Stanford 71). Here, besides rhythm, the sharp, low and middle tones of
speech are said to be useful for emotional communication..In day to day speech,
voice modulation or the rise and fall of pitch, is a sure indication of changes in
emotional states. The shrill tones of joy, the guttural pitch of sadness or the
quivering tones of fear or excitement are universal. In music, the ascent and
descent of tones upto three registers is based on this same natural law. Likewise
in dramatic dialogue, the application of voice modulation, creates predictable
effects.
In fact, its ample use bridges the gap between speech and song. In the Greek
theatre there was no use of prose at all. The constant use of poetic metre imposed
a rhythm that was always far removed from the intonation of conversational
speech. The Greek view was simple; why go through the pain of composing in
metre if it is to be rendered as unmeasured speech. Besides, in the theatre only a
fraction of the verse was not sung. ''The only part of tragedy or comedy that were
spoken are the passages in iambic trimetre, the metre of dialogue verse, which it
used to be natural to translate into English black verse, and for which in modem
English verse there is no obvious equivalent" (Aylen 104).This spoken portion,
even if it was not chanted must have used the sharp, low and middle ton& that
Aristotle has mentioned. Regarding iarfibic trimetre and delivery in general,
Pickard-Cambridge sums it up as foll~ws:

"The practice of Greek actors included speech unaccompanied by

music, speech accompanied by instrument (what is often called
recitative and song), The first was normally employed for the
portions of a play written in iambic trimetre (these metres being
closest to speech) whether in dialogue or in monologue, the second
for delivery of tetrametres land of iambics inserted in the midst of
lyric systems, the third for lyrics. The texts which give direct evidence
of this are few and except as regards recitative raise no difficulty."
(Dramatic Festivals of Athens 156)
Classical Criticism Even the whole of the text composed in iambic mmecre wab IIUL l l l v r u l a u l y
spoken. Much of the iambic trimetre was recited with flute accompaniment when
it formed part of the lyric system.
1
This leaves very little spoken dialogue in Greek theatre, even if we resume that it
I
was rendered in conversational cadence. The Greek actor, then, spent most of his
time reciting or singing.

3.4.2 Ancient Dances used in Theatre

Greek dancing was part of the unified art of mousike which included singing and
instrument playing. There also existed a general acceptance that dance was not
mere exuberance of body but that its motions were meant to convey a specific
meaning. As Pickard-Cambridge points out, "the Greek regarded all dancing as
mimetic or 'exprespive,' especially in its employment of rhythmical gestures and
motions" (Dramatie Festivals of Athens 247). The gestures, having their own
significance were avcording to Pollux, "intimately associated with the words from
moment, to moment ppecially in, hyporkhematikon genos, as if words and parts 4
of body were connected by strings which the former pulled" (249). The unification
between dance movements, both of gestures and posture, andthe words, spoken or
sung, was a common practice in some mimetic arts. While defining the media of
mimesis, Aristotle stated that in drama language, rhythm and harmony were all
used together.
In the dramatic episodes related to mysteries and secret cults, the chorus perhaps
drew upon the choreography of the Thesmophoric dances of Demeter. May be,
Aristophanes did, in some way (hopefully not in parody) use, the Eleusian
nocturnals 11, his play. All that is known about the nocturnals is that torches were
used by the dancers. Most of these cult dances were ecstatic, clamorous and
frenzied and werc held in secret by the members. Some dances were open to
everybody like the Corybantes performing before Cybele which, were also
supposed to cure the mentally ill.
Among the sexually sensational dances were the ones held at the temple of
Artemis. Religious dances often required snake handling (some times made out of
dough) particularly at Apollo's Delphic shrine where his victory over the Python
was orchestrally enacted. Theatrical performances must have also used such
sacred emblems like snakes and other conventional costumes to help the audience
identify these dances. For example, fawn skin, fox pelts and panther skins were
used by Dionysian dancers, particularly by the feminine dancers called the
bassari. Of the non-cult kind, though not exactly secular (for no such thing could
have existed then), were the dances performed on public occasions. Sacred songs,
poetic accounts of heroic and divine adventures sung by a singer or by a chorus
with flute and lyre accompaniment, paeans, supplications for battle victory and
warding-off of pestilence or calamity, were amongst the many kinds of public
performances and prayers which included dance. Hyporkhema was a well-known
dance form in vogue as early as the Homeric times in which song, dance,
instrument and pantomime were used in combination. It was often held in the
honour of Zeus. Of the war dances and exercises, the purrixe was the most
famous. In Sparta, the performances of purrixe were rough but in Athens they
were soft and graceful.
Of all the dance forms that provided entertainment the pantomimi was perhaps the
most intriguing. For every episode the actor changed his costume and the mask.
He had about five scenes to go through. As an acting technique cheironomia was
used extensively. It was so effective that a dancer when challenged by Cynic
Demetrius performed only by cheironomia. He kept aside the instruments and
chorus, and told the whole story so well "that the amazed and 'convinced
Demetrius called out, Man, pantomimus, I hear what you are doing. Not only do I
see you, but you seem to me to be speaking with your very hands" (Lawler 141).
32
I1 The dramatic genres themselves are said to have develhped from dance genres like
's Theory of
Imitation
dithyramb, phallika or komos, all of which were associated with the worship of
1 Dionysus. The dances of this cult contributed to the choreography of dramatic
I
chorus in a major way. The exact procedures of this worship were a secret, but it
is known that in the Dionysian dances torches were taken into woods where
I
screaming women were 'entered into by the god'. In the resultant frenzy, they
raged about in the woods tearing apart small animals. It is commonly accepted
that the noble and dignified emmelia was the dance of tragedy.

The dances of comedy had many things to portray, not just a variety of humans
but also strange beings, animals, clouds, and birds. The proverbial d a c e of
comedy, the kordax was lewd, sexually blatant and vigorous. Much emphasis, all
sources say, was on a lascivious rotation of belly and buttocks to creake an image
of lowliness suitable to comedy. In the satyr plays a similar dance callkd skinnis
was performed by the fat and ugly sileni who were given a horse's ears, tail and
hooves, and a phallos, costume of goat skin looking very much like the! satyrs of
i Dionysus.

3.4.3 Unification of Dance with Words

t

The choruses of fifth century drama include some very great lyric poems. But
'
when they performed, they were received as a unity of song, dance, groupings,
colour and spectacle. "It is this unity that we must never forget. To understand
and recreate this, it is with the unity, of word and dance that we must start."
(Aylen 115).

Not only was all dance meant to mimetically express the meaning of the verse, its
rhythm was also required to match the metre of the verse. Taking a cue from
T.B.L. Webster, Aylen contends that particular dance movements were connected
to particular metres used in the choral lyrics.

The Greek lyrics in the plays, known as strophe, antistrophe and epode, were
written in such metres that they suggested a musical score for the music composer.
At the same time, they suited certain choreographic movements. In other words,
dances must have been chosen by the theatre directors to match the natural
rhythms of the metres. The tragedians like Sophocles wrote the songs of the
chorus in dochmian metre so that dances with violent movements could be used to
suit the action. Similarly, the cretic metre could have been useful to the kicking in
the dance called skinnis and the slow ionic metres would have matched well with
sinuous motions of the back bends in the dance of the women worshippers of
Dionysus. The result was a performance in which a perfect combination of
rhythmic poetry, song and dance was presented in theatre.

3.5 LET US SUM UP

Aristotle succeeded in salvaging the great contribution of the ancient Greeks,
namely h e art of theatre from the merciless damnation by Plato through providing
a constructive definition of mimesis. His definition became the ground on which
all the magnificent edifices of various theories of representation were created from
the Renaissance to the modem times. In them all, as was laid down by Aristotle, it
was accepted that mimesis is based upon a study of life as we see it and that it is
yleasant and educative. It was credited a moral function. Thus Aristotle imparted
4 metaphysical, moral and aesthetic worth to mimesis and thus to art which Plato
had denied on all these three counts.

$ the next unit, we shall examine how mimesis works in tragedy.

Classical ~riticirrn 3.6 QUESTIONS

1. How does Aristotle change the significance of mimesis through a new

definition?

2. Does mimesis apply to theatre only or to various other arts and how?

3. What are the major media of mimesis that are found in dramatic
productions?

4. Is there a philosophical base for Aristotle's redefinition of mimesis?

5. Why is tragedy regarded as a better art forms than epic by Aristotle?

3.7 GLOSSARY
Archilochus (circa 7th -8th cent B.C.)
The earliest iambic and elegiac poet, who lived in the seventhleighth century B.C.
He is regarded as a great innovator in metre and language. His songs, sung to the
accompaniment of the flute, were very personal in feeling and were models of
lyricism for later poets.

Artemis
A pan-Hellenic Greek goddess ruling specially over the forest animals. She was
perhaps worshipped in an earlier form by the Minoans also. Her status in the
Olympian hierarchy was rather humble. She seemed to have been the deity for
fertility and child-birth though she herself was a virgin and was perhaps a rural
deity to begin with. In sacrifices to Artemis only small cattie like goats were
offered. During the course of time she also acquired the status of a major city
goddess.

Atbeneaus ( around A.D. 200)

Famous for his work The Learned Banquet, which was written in the genre of
symposium talk, where a large number of authors, philosophers, law-makers
gather to interact. He mentions or quotes from 1,250 authors, 1,000 plays and
10,000 lines of poetry.

Aeschylus (525-456B.C.)
He was born in the township of Eleusis and grew up seeing the growth of
democracy at Athens after the fall of tyranny. He fougM in the two crucial battles
that of Marathon and Salamis which saved Greece from Persian occupation.
Aeschylus was probably initiated into the Eleusian mysteries as well, all of which
seemed to have contributed to the making of his strongly patriotic and deeply
religious temperament. The heroes of his plays are mostly fighters rebelling
against circumstances or divine will but in the end brought around to
reconciliation with Cosmic justice. His plots are simple, with no complications of
change of fortune or anagnorises. But he relies upon spectacle and grandeur to
create an effect of cosmic orderliness.

Aeschylus wrote a large number of tetralogies out which a few have survived as
complete works and a large number as fragments or mere titles. Some of the
tetralalogies that Aeschylus wrote are as follows (1) Laius, Oedipus, Seven
Against Thebes with the satyr play Sphinx (2) Supplices, Egyptians, Danaides
with the satyr play Amymne (3) Orestia comprising of Agamemnon ,
Choephoroi, Eumenides, and the satyr play Proteus and (4) Lykourgia consisting I

of Edone, Bassan, Neanoskoi and the satyr play [Link]. Besides these there is
a huge number of titles that must have made tetralogies but the exact
combinations are not known. These include Mymidones, Prometheus Bound, Aristotle's Theory of
Promethues Unbound, Argivians , Eleusians etc. His first victory in the contests Imitation
was perhaps in 484 and the last production in 456. He travelled only as far as
Sicily outside Greece.

cheironomia
Signs made by hands and fingers used to represent various things in Greek dance,
mime and theatre.

Demeter
The Greek goddess of corn and fruit, a major diety for seasonal ceremonies.

elegiac poetry
Basically the "elegiac" is a kind of a meter that developed from the epic
hexameter. It was Critias who first used the word, "elegos" and even in early
Greek literature it was taken for granted that elegy is a kind of lament. However,
early elegies were not always laments. They could be flute-songs as in
Archilochos and Callinu, or military songs addressed to soldiers and historical
songs as in Mimnerus. By the sixth century-elgiac compositions came to be used
for epitaphs on memorial stones and for laments also. Elegy then kept on
developing foi all kinds of memorial works down to the modem times.

Eleusis
An ancient and important sacred town close to Athens which had its own rulers till.
7th century B.C. It was famous for the ceremonies of Demeter and Peresphone
which attracted devotees from all over the Greek world. Games were also held
here every four years.

Eleusian Mysteries
The Mysteries in Greece were of Demeter and ~ i o n y s uof
s which the former was
held at Eleusis. The devotees gathered in Athens and after bathing in the sea went
to Eleusis in a pmcessian. In a hall at the temple of Demeter rituals were held
while singing, seein8 special emblems, and performing certain acts of worship.

Euripides (about 485- 406 B.C.)

He came from a family of the priests of Apollo and is said to have composed his
works in the isolation of a cave in Salamis. There was little political activity that
he personally indulged in but he was a friend of many doubting sophists and
philosophers of his time such as Socrates and Anaxagoras. For &s unconventional
ideas he incurred the displeasure of Cleon, the then virtual ruler of Athens. Most
probably for this reason he left the city to join the court of the Macedonian king
Aechelaus where he died a couple of years later.

The first great success of Euripides was the victory at Athens in 45 1 B.C. But it
was not many times that he got the prize at the Dionysian festival though he is
said to have competed twenty-two times. He won only once more in 428 B.C. for
Hippolytus and then posthumously in 405 B.C. In other words, he was not given
due recognition by his contemporaries. In all, he wrote ninety-two plays.

The surviving texts havecome down in two groups, one as a selection of some
plays with commentary and the only as plays. The first group contains: Alcestis,
Medea, Hippolytus, Andromache, Hacuba, Troades, Phoenicians, Orestes,
Bacchea and Rhesus. The other collection contains besides these, Helen, Electra,
Heraleidai, Heracles, Supplices, Zphigenia at Aulis, Zphigenia at Tauris, Zon, and
Cyclops.

Euripides is credited with projecting the ancient gods with lesser reverence
bringing them closer to human weaknesses. He avoided sublimity and revelled in
Chsical Criticism poignancy. He is certainly the father d pychological characterisation
emphasising h e r conflict rather than outer combat. -
Sophocles (496-406 B.C. )
Son of a rich merchant belonging to Colonus, Sophocles was a highly skilled
musician and dancer who led the paeans as a singer with the lyre at the victory
celebration after the battle of Salamis. He won his first victory in 468 B.C. and
also made a mark acting at the ball playing a character called Nausicaa. Active in
social sphere as well, for some time he was appointed the imperial treasurer and
was twice elected as a general who fought along with Pericles. He was also a
priest of the healing god Halon and built a temporary temple in his own house for
Asklepios. Reconciled thus to the religion and politics of Athens he never
accepted an invitation to another court. Shortly before his death he performed
with his own chorus, the Mourning for Euripides. Out of the 123 plays he wrote,
he won 24 victories.
Some of his best known plays among the surviving ones are AjaSr, Antigone,
Oedipus Tyrannus, Trachiniai, Electra, Philoctetes, and Oedipus Coloneus. He
introduced the third actor, enlarged the chorus from twelve to fifteen and brought
in scene-painting into the productions of tragedy.
satyrikon
The humorous play performed after a trilogy in a dramatic festival. It represented
a myth of satyrs.
Thesmophoria
An exclusively women's festival held all over Greece in autumn to celebrate
Dcmeter. Bswers of plants were raised and women stayed in them also fasting for
a day. It was basically a festival celebrating the sowing of the new corn. One of.
the most significant festivals for processions and rituals in ancient times. It finds a
mention in many plays and poems of the ancient period.
3.8 SUGGESTED READING
Primary Texts
Works of Aristotle Trans. W.D. ROSS: London: Oxford UP, 1928.

The Nicomachean Ethics. Trans. David Ross. Oxford UP, 1980.

Butcher, S.H. Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine Art. Trans. and with notes.
Introduction by John Gassner. 4th Ed. USA: Dover Pub. Inc., 1951.

Secondary Reading
Aylen, Leo. The Greek Theatre. London: Fourleigh Dickinson, Univ. Press, 1985.

Gupt, Bharat. Dramatic Concepts :Gieek and Indian . A Study of the Poetics and
the Natyasastra. Delhi : DK Printworld (P) Ltd., 1994.

Halliwell, Stephen. Aristotle's Poetics. London Duckworth, 1986.

~ a i l e rL.B.
, The Dance in Ancient Greece. London: Adam and Charles, 1964.

Morrison, Karl F. The Mimetic Tradition of Reform in the West. New Jersey:
Princeton University, 1982.
Pickard-Cambridge, A. Dramatic Festivals of Athens. 2nd Ed. revised by John
Gould and D.M. Lewis. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973.
Stanford, W.B. Greek Tragedy and the Emotions: An Introductory Study.
London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1983.
"Webstq, T.B.L. Greek neatre Production . London: Methuen, 1956.
36
UNIT 4 ARISTOTLE'S THBORY OF TRAGEDY-
Part I I

Structure
Objectives
Introduction
4.2 -.
The Six Elements of Tragedv
Myth (Plot) and Ethos (Character)
4.3.1 Myth or Plato as an Organic Whole
4.3.2 Two kinds of Myths, Simple and Complex
4.3.3 Pathos or suffering
4.3.4 Ethos or Character
4.3.5 Hamartia or the Tragic Failing
4.4 Dianoia and Lexis
4.4.1 Dianoia and the Protagonist
4.4.2 Lexis
4.4.3 Kinds of Style
4.5 Melopoiia or the Musical Element
4.5.1 Application of Music in Theatre
4.6 Opsis or the Visual Content
4.6.1 The Totality of Opsis
4.6.2 Visual Parts of a Tragedy
4.6.3 Greek Gesture and Dance
4.6.4 Dances in the Orchestra of Theatre
4.7 Let Us Sum Up
4.8 Questions
4.9 Glossary
4.10 Suggested Reading

In this unit we shall

look at Aristotle's view of tragedy

analyse the six elements of tragedy
look at the way music was used in ancient Greece
study the concept of catharsis

4.1 INTRODUCTION
It is worthwhile to note that unlike modem theatre, ancient Greek theatre was
religious. Plays were performed only during festivals, a time when society
communicated with its ancestors and gods. This choice of timing influenced the
nature of theatrical performances and the techniques of presentation. For instance,
Greek theatre, not only grew out of dance, it also retained dance and music as
major activities. The strong emotions generated while worshipping the gods and
the ancestors also provided an aesthetics of emotional arousal which we find at its
core. This aesthetic value was formulated as catharsis. These dramatic festivals
were often held at sites such as the temple of Asklepios at Epidauros where
patients were also treated for diseases.

The dramatic theory in the Poetics of Aristotle can be said to consist of four
principles of the ancient classificatory system. Firstly, the concept of mimesis,
which is common to all fine arts; secondly, the treatment of the various genres of
poetry, namely epic, tragedy and comedy; thirdly, the division of tragedy into six
elements-plot (muthos), character (ethos), thought (dianoia), language (lexis),
music (melopoiia), and spectacle (opsis); and fourthly, cryptic statement about
catharsis upheld by Western critical tradition as a principle of Aristotelian
aesthetics. The subject of mimesis can be considered in two ways, as a principle
and as a practice. As a principle, mimesis is a kind of human urge that creates
drama and is endowed with aesthetic values. As a practice mimesis is a way of
handling theatrical devices to reflect the principle.

In the history of western literature and aesthetics, all these four concepts, namely
mimesis, genre classification, the six elements of tragedy or drama, and finally
catharsis have become the focal point of discussion right from the Renaissance to
the present day. The Aristotelian principles of art are none other than these four.
All the theories of art such as the Elizabethan, the Neo-Classical, the Romantic
and the Modernist have taken up the issues of debate from here. The westen
notions of the real, the natural, the good and the beautiful or the moral have
related and re-interpreted Aristotle. It is, therefore, very essential that we clearly
understand the primary notions of mimesis, genres, tragic elements and catharsis
as initially defined by Aristotle so that we can see their evolution in the later
developments in Western culture.

In the last Unit, we explored the concepts of mimesis and commented on the
genres, now we shall examine the six elements of tragedy (by extention of all
drama) that make up the structure of the play. In other words, we shall see how
through the six elements, a play makes an imitation or mimesis of life and brings
about catharsis.

4.2 THE SIX ELEMENTS OF TRAGEDY

The six elements of tragedy are to be seen as separate only for the sake of
analysis. On the stage they form a unity. Again for the sake of convenience they
have been defined by Aristotle as internal and external. Plot, character and
thought are subjective, hence internal. They are not as obvious as the visual and
auditory content of theatre such as diction, music and spectacle. Nor is it to be
imagined that any one of them is more important than the other. When Aristotle
calls myth 'the soul of tragedy', he does not mean that other elements are
dispensable or less essential. The myth only holds together the other elements
of the play structurally. In terms of the total performance, a play has a very
complicated structure which consists of all the speaking, gesturing, dancing,
singing and moving that goes on in the performing area. Yet the series of
episodes or the story, has been regarded as the basic structure of a play even
though it is merely the ground upon which many complex patterns are raised.

4.3 MYTH (PLOT) AND ETHOS (CHARACTER)

For the ancients, mythos or myth simply meant the story, commonly translated
into English as plot. However, it is better to use the term myth, not only as it
retains the flavour of the original meaning, but it also keeps us away from
confusing it with the usual meaning of the modem term "plot" which implies
intricate turn of events, full of surprise and suspense. As there was no convention
in ancient times of writing on events of everyday life for the serious genre of
tragedy, the stories of only some famous houses could be the subject of tragedy.
The story, thus, came from the collective memory of the culture that created and
nutured them.

As is well known, Aristotle has called myth 'the soul of tragedy'. To understand
this we must keep in mind that dramatic action (praxis) in ancient drama
consisted not so much of characterisation or portrayal as was the case in the later
 European drama, but was an imitation (mimesis) of an action made up of a series Aristode9sTheory of
Tragedy-Part I
of dramatic events or episodes.
1
I 4.3.1 Myth or Plot as an Organic Whole
,
I

In a play, the aim was to show a passage from an earlier state of being of the
1 protagonist to hisher later state. This passage of episodes or adtion has been
called myth. The structure of this myth or plot is seen by Aristotle as an organic
whole, almost like the body structure of a living animal. This is indicated in his
definition of tragedy, which like an animal's body, must have a definite shape or a
magnitude :

"Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is complete, and whole, and of

certain magnitude, for there may be a whole that is wanting in magnitude.
A whole is that which has a beginning, a middle, and an end... Again, a
beautiful object, whether it be a living organism or any whole composed
of parts, but must also be of a certain magnitude, for beauty depends on
magnitude and order...As, therefore, in the case of animate bodies and
organisms a certain magnitude is necessary, and a magnitude which may
be easily embraced in the view; so in the plot, a certain length is
necessary, and a length which can be easily embraced by memory."
(Poetics VII:3-4)

"Magnitude is in itself the outer structure which is supported by the unity of action
and that the whole, the structural union of the parts being such that, if any one of
them is displaced or removed, the whole will be disjointed and disturbed" (
Poetics VIII:4 ). To give the poet the liberty to create magnitude and wholeness,
Aristotle allows him to make changes in the events. Thus, poetry can modify
history, as it is a more philosophical and higher form than history. Teleology, that
is the unify leading to the end, makes it even higher. The poet can even alter
traditional legends as he is a maker of plots rather than of verses.

The wholeness and magnitude provide a unity of action to the plot. We must
clearly understand that for Aristotle there is only one kind of unity, that of action.
He does not prescribe unities of time and place. These Were attributed to him by
the Reqaissance critics. In the construction of myth or the plot, events should
followlin a manner that seems credible, having an 'air of design,' even in'the
coincidences of the myth to heighten the effect of tragic wonder.

1 4.3.2 Two Kinds of Myths, Simple and Complex

Aristotle defines, two kinds of plots, the simple (aploi) and the oomplex
(peplegmenoi).The first is without reversal of fortune (peripetid) and recognition
of a past act or identity or person (anagnorisis) and the second has both. This
analysis of the myth is not applicable to tragedy alone. Just as magnitude and
unity of action would be required in any myth, tragic or comic, peripetia and
anagnorisis are not for tragedy only. Peripetia can be useful in comedy too, and so
can anagnorisis. Peripetia "is a change by which action veers to its opposite,
subject always to the rule of probability or necessity." It creates the great ironic
effect. The latter is defined as a "change from ignorance to knowledge, producing
love or hate between the persons destined by the poet to face good or bad
fortune." On the whole the system can be employed both for tragic and comic
myths, or for the tragi-comic ones like Euripides' Helen, where peripetia and
anagnorisis clearly work together towards a happy ending.

, 4.3.3 Pathos or Suffering

The third part of a myth, that is the scene of suffering is called pathos and is
Classical Criticism destructive and painful action, such as death on the stage, bodily agony, wounding
and the like (Poetics XI:6 ), and is required only in the tragedies where there is a
reversal from good to bad or a final destruction. There was a view in Aristotle's
time that the best tragedies were those in which the final destruction was averted
(Poetics XIII:7). But for Aristotle such was a second rate tragedy. It is obvious
from the Poetics that such tragedies were more popular and that poets often
succumbed to the wishes of the audience. Perhaps such was the case with
Euripides's lphigenia at Aulis. The analysis of suffering, harnartia and tragic
reversal of fortune should not make us think that the unity of action, magnitude
and wholeness were only to serve the tragic purpose of arousing horror and pity.
Magnitude and wholeness are necessary for the comic plot as well, and so would
be the unity of action. These three are actually the basic properties that any plot
must have. .
4.3.4 Ethos or Character
Broadly speaking, characters in a tragedy had to be 'good men' and those in
comedy and satire, were 'mean persons.' So all characters fall into the category of
either admirable people or ludicrous folks. Aristotle has mentioned the qualities
of the protagonist of a tragedy. The first requirement was his goodness, which his
speeches must reflect in the shape of a moral purpose. This was required of even
women and slaves. The second thing to aim at, is propriety. There is a type of
manly valour: but valour in a woman, or unscrupulous cleverness, is inappropriate
(Poetics XIV: 2). Aristotle wishes women to be subdued if they are to reflect
goodness. Thirdly, a character must be true to life; this is a distinct thing from
goodness and propriety, as here described. The fourth point is consistency; for
though the subject of the imitation, which suggested the type, be inconsistent, still
he must be consistently inconsistent (Poetics XV: 3). Most of all the poet should
make a likeness which is true to life and yet be more beautiful ... preserve the
type and yet ennoble it (Poetics XV: 7). In all these externals of a character, the
most essential thing is ethos or that which reveals a moral purpose, showing that
kind of thing a man chooses or avoids (Poetics VII:I ). Putting all these into a
concrete shape Aristotle has given us a pattern of what the tragic hero should be
like. He should be a good man, though not exceptionally good but 'like ourselves.'
As he was always supposed to be of a royal household he would be valourous too.
Moral choices are made by all the protagonists without dithering. It may be a
Hippolytus, Antigone, Orestes or Hecabe. The protagonist does not take too long
to decide. S h e gives the reasons for making the choice, deliberately revealing the
thought process behind the choice.

This willful sharing with the audience was an important feature of dramatic
process and was called dianoia. In cultures which do not foster individualism, the
propgonist was obliged to explain his conduct to his family, friends, the city and
the gods. The greatness of ethos or character was judged by the courage with
which moral choices were made. A confused procrastinator like Hamlet, unable
to make a timely choice, would have been an anti-hero to the ancienkareeks.

4.3.5 Hamartia or The Tragic Failing

Reflections upon the nature of things or an analysis of the human oondition was
not the aim of dianoia. Thinking was for choosing, doing this or that. Action was
the culmination of ethos. But in spite of his best efforts and courageous choice,
Man fails. To explain the logic of failure, Aristotle has used the term harnartia
which means hitting off the mark. It is an error of judgement made inadvertently.

A large number of Greek tragedies have little room even for harnartia.
Andromache, Supplices, Antigone, Daughters of Troy, Electra, Eumenides, are all
plays in which misfortune sets in motion even before the protagonist realises its
presence. In the majority of the tragedies the events are predetermined, a god has Ahtotie's Theory of
decided to destroy someone as in Hippolytus, or family duty holds the individual Tragedy-Part I
in absolute bondage as in Oresteia, Electra or Antigone. Hamartia, then, is a brief
appearance in the action sequence of the hero, as an action which at the time of
doing does not seem that consequential such as Oedipus' killing the old man in
ignorance, or Hippolytus' rebuking the advances of his mother.

The value of hamartia was highly rased in Christian as well as in modem

moralistic tragedy where the downfall of the hero is caused by a cardinal sin or a
serious lapse. In Christian or moralistic tragedy, pity for the protagonist and horror
at excessive suffering, are both benumbed. In the Greek world, there was no free-
will. Eyen by making the right choice the hero could not avert a calamity or
suffering, because his suffering was not always caused by his weakness. It was not
the ambition of a Macbeth, the jealousy of an Othello or the arrogance of a Lear,
nor was it the inner sin that destroyed a man, but instead it was the dilemma
imposed upon him by forces far beyond his control that caused his destruction.
His ethoslcharacter was revealed in his choosing an admirable way to death. Here
suffering comes not from within but from without. Instead of the Semitic, this
was the Indo-Greek perception of Man's destiny. Here, two tenns, moira and
hubris, often used in this context, further indicate the helplessness of mankind.
Moira, literally meaning portion or the family share, metaphorically came to
indicate the share of misfortune alloted by the gods. Hubris meant the daring,
sometimes transgression, that the hero made I committed in his desperate effort to
escape impending misfortune, Hubris and hamartia were rather intertwined in the
course of action. It should nevertheless be remembered that hubris and moira are
not terms used as categories by Aristotle. They were concepts used by the Greeks
to define human behaviour.

-4.4 DIANOIA AND LEXIS

Defining Dianoia, Aristotle says:

"Third in order is the faculty of saying what is possible and pertinent in

given circumstances. In the case of oratory, this is the function of
political art and the art of rhetoric: and so indeed the older poets make
their characters speak the language of civic life: the poets of our time, the ,

language of the rhetoricians. Character is that which reveals moral

purpose, showing what kind of things a man chooses or avoids. Speeches,
therefore, which do not make this manifest, or in which the speaker does
not choose or avoid something, are not expressive of ethoslcharacter.
Thought on the other hand, is found where something is proved to be or
not to be, or a general maxim is enunciated." (Poetics VI:16 )

4.4.1 Dianoia and the Protagonist

The inner questioning that goes on in the mind of a character and makes him
choose one way or another is called dianoia. The ability to choose, the moral fibre
or the courage to choose, is called ethos, but the fennent of thoughts that leads to
the point of choice is known as dianoia. This thought process often becomes part
of the dialogue when a character bevails hislher plight and speculates on the
nature of things. 'For this reason Aristotle insists that dianoia be regarded as an
essential element of tragedy.

The general maxims that a character quotes in support of his decision are also
called dianoia. It is not just any thinking like plotting, scheming, hoping or
wishing that can qualify to be called dianoia, but only a debate which has a moral
or philosophical perspective in relation to the action of the protagonist. The
emphasis laid by Aristotle on this dialectical dianoia [Link] connected with
the decisive influence exercised by political debate and forensic pleading in Greek
theatre, the "agon" of ecclesia (assembly) or of the law-courts being reproduced in
the agon of the drama (Butcher 343).

4.4.2 Lexis
Lexis and melopoiia, though, among the six cardinal elements of tragedy have
been given very little notice in the Poetics. This has created the impression that
they had a poor place in Greek theatre. The fact is otherwise. As their function
was too obvious even to the average observer, Aristotle seems to have skipped
them from his serious analysis.

Lexis or language in theatre can be divided into two parts; the spoken word anu
the sung word. The spoken word in the form of natural conversational speech was
not much used in ancient theatre. It was always a studied pitch variation, ranging
from intoned speech to fully embellished song. There was also a variety of usage
in between the intoned word and the song. In Naturalistic European theatre there
has always been a gap between the spoken dialogue and the song or the sung
word.

But as there was no such gap in ancient times, theorists then did not emphasise
much on the distinction between the spoken word and the sung word. Instead,
what was more important to them, was the distinction between the linguistic
content of the word and its musical content. Sound was considered to generate
meaning in two ways, i.e., by language and by music. Language was transformed
in theatre into dramatic discourse through intonation, pitch variation, or song, and
all these three ways combined to make up the ancient actor's dialogue. On lexis,
Aristotle says:

"Next, as regards Diction, one branch of the inquiry treats Modes of

Utterance. But this province of knowledge belongs to the art of Delivery
and to the masters of that science. It includes, for instance, what is a
command, a prayer, a statement, a threat, a qr~estion,an answer, and so
forth. To know or not to know these things involves no serious censure
upon the poet3 art... We, may therefore, pass this over as an inquiry that
belongs to another art, not to poetry." (Poetics XIX,4-5).

This exclusion of Modes of Utterance from inquiry, reveals that Aristotle looked
upon diction only in terms of phonology, grammar and figures of speech, and not
at its conversion into dramatic discourse. If a dramatist need not know what is a
command, a threat, etc., then who else should? It is no wonder that after the
above quoted observation Aristotle proceeds to consider only the functional
aspects of language such as letters, syllables and so forth.
4.4.3 Kinds of Style
We may go on to see what he has to say on a playwright's linguistic style.
Aristotle seems to recommend a balance between the clarity produced by the
usage of current words and the loftiness achieved by extraordinary usage which
avoids obscurity or eccefitricity:
"The perfection of style is to be clear without being mean... That diction,
on the other hand, is lofty and raised above the commonplace which
employs unusual words. By unusua+;I mean strange (or rare) words,
metaphorical, lengthened anything, in short, that differs from the no~mal
idiom, yet a style wholly composed of such words is either a riddle or a
jargon; ...For by deviating in exceptional cases from the normal idiom, the
language will gain distinction, while at ithe same time, the partial
conformity with usage will give perspicuity. ( Poetics XXII, I - 5 )
Some examples of style that he takes up from the dramatic poets suggest that Aristotle's Theory of
Tragedy-Part I
loftiness was much admired by Aristotle. But on the possible ways in which
language, or rather the total verbal content may have been actually performed on
the Greek stage, the Poetics is of little help.

4.5 MELOPOIIA OR THE MUSICAL ELEMENT

4.5.1 Application of Music in Theatre
The Greek chorus and the actors had the liberty to use all the prevalent musical
forms as there was no restriction for ritual reasons. The immense variety of tunes
and melodies with the subtle nuances of tone colour could have provided a vast
area of cultural reference. Tone colour or in other words the subtle variations in
the nature of notes, on which melodic music depends for creating its effects,
entirely, is not so much a matter of universal laws as of cultural associations with
given melodies. For instance, in Indian music we believe in the association of
certain tone colours with seasons or specific emotional states. In fact, the
association is perceived only as a result of training. The Greek dramatists must
have used the same ploy.

Giving an example of cultural memory used by the composer, Stanford says, "If a
dramatist wished to evoke poignant memories from the political past of Athens he
could introduce a tune from the popular drinking songs (skolia) that went back to
the time of tyranny of Peistratids..." (52). But other than particular jingles or
tunes, the modes and their melodies must have been used to introduce new tunes
for songs by the chorus. According to Plutarch (Moralia 1136C-E) and
Aristoxenos, Aristotle believed that Sappho invented the highly emotional musical
scale called the Mixolydian and that the tragedians took it from her and used it
along with the Dorian scale (Standord 51). Aristoxenos is also the source of a
statement in the anonymous Life of Sophocles (23) that Sophocles introduced the
Phrygian scale into tragedy. And according to Psellos, Sophocles also brought in
the Lydian scale (Stanford 51). Such statements indicate that the great playwrights
improved drama by not only providing fresh scripts of high literary value, they
were composers of music and dance as well. As the famous saying goes,
Phrenikos invented "as many dance steps as the waves of the sea."

The value of music was pivotal in tragedy; recognising which Nietzsche observed
that, as the genius of music had fled from tragedy in modem times, tragedy is,
strictly speaking dead. As regards the actual sounding of ancient Greek music,
Leo Aylen is perhaps not too off the mark when he says :"But if an Indian
composer were to set a Sophocles chorus to the raga appropriate to the mood of
the piece, making use of the exact rhythm score that Sophocles has left and using
only a unison tune accompanied in unison by a rough reed instrument, then for
his audience he would have got very near indeed to the music of Sophocles."
(109)

4.6. OPSIS OR THE VISUAL CONTENT

4.6.1 The Totality of Opsis
It has been repeatedly pointed out that opsis has not only the last but the least
place in the Aristotelian scheme. Although opsis should be taken to mean
everything visual in theatre such as formation of dancers in the chorus, the ,
costumes, movements, gestures and hand signs (cheironomia) of the actors, still it
is commonly believed that Aristotle had limited the sense of the word to stage
scenery only. The totality ohpsis was immense in Greek theatre. Any study in
Classical Criticism this area should not underestimate its richness and function on account of
Aristotle's negligence in describing these Aspects of performance. Even though,
Aristotle has not written at length on the subject of gestures, references were
however made to it by other classical authors like Athenaeus and Lucian in the
context of dance in ancient Greece.

4.6.2 Visual Parts of a Tragedy

Let us begin by recapitulating a Greek performance. All plays began with a
prologue, spoken by a single actor or at times by two. The chorus then entered,
often from the right side (spectator's view) singing and dancing. The tragic chorus
consisted of five files (xuga) and three ranks (stoikhoi) and the comic of six files
and four ranks. Sometimes, this entry, called parodos, may have been in a single
file (Pickard-Cambridge,Dramatic Festivals of Athens, 239-40). As in all choric
arts the flute player came in with the chorus. Positioned in the orchespa, the
chorus danced till the parodos was over. Their leader, called the korypkaios, was
number three in the first file which also Was the closest to the stage area.

Then followed a dramatic episode or an act in which the actors spoke or sang to
each other to which the chorus also reacted mostly in song. At the end of the
episode the actors withdrew and the chorus sang a choral ode, a system consisting
of ssophe, antistrophe and epode. This unique feature of Greek drama was pure
song, dance and mime, with the flute player also playing and dancing. The chorus
presented a dramatic response, in continuation of the dramatic action, to the
episode, making it an expression of hope, sorrow, despair or happiness through
.
song 'and dance. The actors, then, entered again and the same cycle was repeated.

On the termination of the final episode came the part of performance called
exodos, consisting of an ode system, some dialogue and a brief song: The chorus
then went out of the amphitheatre in the same formation of files and ranks. Thus
we find that acting was sharply divided between the actors and the chorus.
Whereas the actor or actors would speak, recite or sing, the chorus with some
exceptions, only sang. As is commonly accepted now, their song was always
accompanied by dance.

4.6.3 Greek Gesture and Dance

We know that the use of gestures for orators was prescribed by the Greek
rhetoricians for arousing emotions and effective communications. Quintilian has
given an account of how the head, face, arms, body and feet can be made to
express joy, sorrow, humility, abhorrence, wonder and many other emotions. But
the orator, he suggests, should not use mimetic gestures and be as unlike a dancer
as possible. He adds that an actor should not even attempt to imitate the voice of
the character (Stanford 85).

One can infer that gestures of many kinds must have been employed as revealed
by a close reading of some plays. From Libation Bearers (lines 24-31), Suppliant
Women (lines 110-1I), Electra (lines 146-50) actions like veiling the head,
beating the hand and the body vigorously, tearing and hair pulling, gnawing the
face with finger-nails and tearing garments can be inferred easily. Supplicants
would frequently postrate themselves to touch the protector's knees and extreme
appeals of pity by women would be accompanied by the gesture of baring their
breasts, as was done by Clytemnestra in the Libation Bearers (lines 896-98) and
by Electra in Electra (line 1207). and by Polyxena in Hecuba (line 560).
Embracing, caressing, hand-clapping and even kissing, in spite of a mask, are
described in Alcestis (line 402); Trojan Women (line 763); Phonecian Women
(line 1671) and Herakks (line 186).
 Aristotle's Theory of
4.6.4 Dances in the Orchestra of Theatre Tragedy-Part I
The names of a very large number of dances from the Cretan to the Greco-Roman
are known. "As we have seen, a great deal of information has come down to us on
the dance of Greek tragedy. However, the exact appearance of those dances eludes
us. No director of a Greek tragedy can claim to set forth an 'authentic'
reproduction of the ancient dances"(Law1er 85). However, in an attempt to
vaguely visualise what the d y c e movements
*
may have looked like we can draw
upon some sources of information.

~irstly,from brief descriptions of various dances that were performed during

ritual, festive and sportive occasions; from dances included in art forms like
dithyramb and tragedy, nomoi, paean; and from entertainment occasions dances
like huporkhema and pantomimi performed by professionals. Secondly, there is a
rudimentary dance theory to be found in the writings of some late authors like
Athenaeus, Lucian, Pollux, Quintilian and Plutarch. They all indicate that a
definite choreology for the purpose of teaching and practising dance existed in
Greece. Sophocles is said to have written a book on it which is now lost (Lawler
82). In Greece, as in all cultures, dances of the people may have been transmitted
informally. Dances of shrines and mysteries may have been taught in Thiasoi but
in the theatrical tradition a choreology must have been essential to sophisticate
and assimilate popular dances into theatric dance forms.

4.7 LET US SUM UP

Aristotle, provides a framework for us to see the art of tragedy in its totality and as
a theatrical experience. While Plato's primary concern was to see the function of
tragedy in the utopian state, Aristotle's aim was to analyse tragedy as it was to be
found in Greek culture. The idealistic fervour of the master comes to be
contrasted with the empirical zest of the disciple. Not that Aristotle was not keen
to define the best kind [Link] and suggest standards'of better writing, but his
faith in'the utility of tragedy was steady.

Aristotle not only described the genre of tragedy in its six parts, he recorded how
these diverse parts made a whole. In spite of the fact that he dwelt very little on
the musical and dance related parts of the art as they were practiced in his time,
his, enumeration of these as essential elements preserves for all future generations
the true nature of Greek tragedy. But for Aristotle's statement we would have
forgotten the input of spectacle and music and remembered only the value of plot
as what survives through time is the verbal play, text and not the practical art of
production representing the unity of word, gesture, dance and music.

4.8 OUESTIONS
1. What do you think is the purpose of Aristotle in defining tragedy ?

2. Explain hamartia, magnitude and myth.

3. Comment on the value of husic in Greek tragedy.

.4. Is there any contemporary relevance of the Aristotelian scheme of the

elements of tragedy?

4.9 GLOSSARY
komos
A festive procession with all kinds of ritual exhuberance.
Maenads
Feminine worshippers of the cult of Dionysus, who gathered in the woods outside
the city and did not allow any man to participate in the rituals.

phallika
A ritual song-dance held during the rural fesivals of Dionysus celebrating the male
organ.
4.10 SUGGESTED READING
Primary Text
Butcher, S.H. Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine Art. Trans. and with notes.
Introduction by John Gassner. 4th Ed. USA: Dover Pub. Inc., 1951.

Secondary Reading
Adrados, Francisco R. Festival, Comedy and Tragedy: Thi! Greek Origins of
Theatre. Leiden: E.J. 3ril1, 1975.

Aylen, Leo. The Greek Theatre. London: Farleigh Dickinson, Udiv. Press, 1985.

Gupt, Bharat. Dramatic Concepts : Greek and Indian . A Stqdy of the Poetics
and the Natyasastra. Delhi : DK Printworld (P) Ltd. , 1994,

Halliwell, Stephen. Aristotle's Poetics . London Duckworth, 1946.

Morrison, Karl F. The Mimetic Tradition of Reform in tthe West. New Jersey:
U of Princeton, 1982.

.
Lawler, L.B. The Dance in Ancient Greece London: Adam and Charles, 1964. .

Pickard-Cambridge, A. Dramatic Festivals [Link] . 2nd Ed. revised by John

Gould and D.M. Lewis. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973.

Stanford, W.B. Greek Tragedy and the Emotions: An Introductory Study.

London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1983.

Webster, T.B.L. Greek Theatre Production . London: Methue'n, 1956.

 PART I1
Structure
Objectives
Introduction
Pleasure Proper to Tragedy
Catharsis
Arousal of Emotion
European Interpretation of Aristotle
Let Us Sum Up
Questions
Glossary
Suggested Reading

5.0 OBJECTIVES
In the previous unit we surveyed the various parts of tragedy as defined by
Aristotle. In this unit we shall

look at the effects a tragedy is supposed to have on the audience

examine the concepts of proper pleasure (oekeia hedone) and catharsi:

5.1 INTRODUCTION
Although, Aristotle has talked about the proper pleasure (oekeia hedone) of
tragedy, it is axiomatically accepted that this hedone is felt within the folds of
catharsis which is a general mental state that tragedy must bring about (where? ir
the play as Else suggests, or in the audience as Butcher says). Catharsis, then has
been accepted as the end of tragedy, and by implication of all drama: But as we
shall see, this was not true according to the text of the Poetics.

As a result of an exclusive reading of Aristotle's famous definition of tragedy

(Poetics VI:2), catharsis has been regarded as the sole aim of tragedy. But it is
obvious, that for Aristotle, whatever may have been the function of tragedy and
however essential catharsis may have been to it, catharsis alone was not the
purpose of tragedy. Besides catharsis, Aristotle has mentioned in the Poetics, a
'pleasure which is proper only to tragedy' and which presumably is not to be
found in comedy or any other literary form. Are "proper pleasure" (oikeia hedone)
and catharsis mutually exclusive, synonymous or intertwined?

5.2 PLEASURE PROPER TO TRAGEDY

There are three places in the Poetics where pleasure is talked about. In the first
place, Aristotle says that tragedy cannot afford every kind of pleasure but only
that which is proper to it, and this comes about from pity and fear through
imitation (14:3). In the second place, pleasure is said to be derived from
completeness and wholeness of action in a plot (23: 1). In the third instance,
pleasure is said to be a result of music and spectacular effects (26:4). As the
famous definition has it:
"Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete,
and of a certain magnitude: in language embellished with each kind of
artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the
play in the form of action, not of narrative: through pity and fear
effecting the purgation or katharsis of these emotions." (Butcher 23)
Classical Griticbm rrom m s ~c IS clear tnat hedone and catharsis are not mutually exclusive as both
\ are caused by the arousal of pity and fear through imitation. Music causes
pleasure and so does catharsis, as it is said in the Politics. Pleasure is also caused
by the completeness of action which in itself is meant to arouse pity and fear,
Thus, even though, proper pleasure (hedone) and catharsis are seen to be
intertwined they should be recognised as distinct from each other. In no case,
should catharsis alone be regarded as the end of tragedy, as is often done by
literary critics. About the nature of proper pleasure ( hedone), Aristotle states that
every activity has its own proper pleasure. Thus proper pleasures in the comic,
tragic, satyric, epic and nomoic genres will all be different. Aristotle does not
propose that underlying all these delights there may be a common denominator, a
literary or a poetic pleasure (goietike hedone ).

There has been a sustained attempt to postulate that catharsis could be a common
and basic aesthetic experience. But the very meaning of catharsis has been a
source of conflicting interpretations. In the nineteenth century one major way of
looking at catharsis was to take it as a medical term transferred to poetic criticism.
Cleansing (kenosis) in the Hippocratic writings denotes the entire removal of
healthy but surplus humours: Catharsis is the removal of the afflictions or
excesses ("ta lupounta") and the like of qualitatively alien matter (Butcher 253).
(This doctrine of imbalance of vital forces later on called humours, as the primary
cause of disease, is of purely Indian origin. As demonstrated by Filliozat, the
science was well formulated in India as early as the Atharva Veda and travelled to
Greece through Persia). According to the Hippocratic theory, an imbalance among
the elements of air ,bile (of two kinds) and phlegm causes each and every
disease. The cure lying in subduing the overswollen element and restoring the
balance between the four elements.

Besides this well-stated medicinal doctrine, there was also the practice of curing
madness through musical catharsis. The patients were made to listen to certain
melodies which made them "fall back into their normal state, as if they had
undergone a medical or purgative (cathartic) treatment" (Politics [Link]. 7.1342 a
I S qtd. in Butcher 249). It is further added that not only is catharsis achieved
musically but that "those who are liable to pity and fear, and in general, persons of
emotional temperament pass through a like experience; ...they all undergo a
catharsis of some kind and feel a pleasurable relief' (Butcher 251). The nature of
catharsis described in the Politics should be true for the Poetics, as Aristotle
himself has stated that his observations are of a general nature in the former
treatise but shall be more detailed in a later work. Therefore, those who presumed
that tragic catharsis like musical catharsis restores normally healthy emotional
state, were not so wrong.

But this rather clinical definition of catharsis does not satisfy the literary theorists.
As early as Butcher it was felt there was more to it. "But the word, as taken up by
Aristotle into his terminology of art, has probably a further meaning. It expresses
not 6nly a fact of psychology or of pathology, but a principle of art (253). The
I'

tragic pity and fear he postulated, "in real life contain a morbid and disturbing
element ... As the tragic action progresses, the lower forms of emotion are found
to have been transmuted into more refined forms" (254). He further postulated
that this purification is also a change of the personal emotion to the universal.
Purged of the "petty interest of the self' (261) emotion now becomes a
representation of the universal, so that the "net result is a noble emotional
satisfaction" (267). It is not difficult to discern that catharsis is equated with
aesthetic pleasure in which noble emotional satisfaction is an essential feature,
"But whatever may have been the indirect effect of the repeated operation of
catharsis, we may confidently say that Aristotle in his definition of tragedy is
 thinking, not only of any remote result, but of the immediate end of the art, of the Aristotle's Theory of
Tragedy-Part IJ
aesthetic function it fulfils" (Butcher 269).

In my opinion, to raise the balancing function of catharsis to the level of

. universalisation is to stretch the concept too far. CertC,-;rly,the restorative function
of catharsis may bring relief such as a sick person feels upon recovery. But it is a
presumption on the part of Butcher that universalisation takes place because the
element purged from the dramatic emotion is that of personal "petty interest of the
self' (261). The Aristotelian catharsis, or for that matter the whole tradition of
catharsis, by music or Dionysian orgies, has personal cure or satisfaction as its
end. Inner restoration, but not the enjoyment of a new aesthetic element, can at
best be the purpose of catharsis. The factors of enjoyment, of "oikeia hedone", are
different as stated earlier. .

Other than regarding it as purgational, there has been another m ~ j oway

r of
interpreting catharsis. The dual concept of purity and impurity which pervaded
the physical, moral, religious and spiritual life of the Greeks was the most deep-
seated factor governing their daily activities. The duality of pollution (miasma)
and purgation (catharsis) was part of the Indo-European belief system. We find
that in Greek plays, all tragic action is dependent on acts of transgression such as
the murder of a kin, sexual defilement, affronts to deities, and so on. These acts
brought pollution (miasma) upon the protagonist and the people around him. In
Greek religion there were prescriptions for expiation of such crimes, just as in
India rituals were prescribed for purging of pollution. In tragedies, the very ritual
of expiation was often enacted, as in the Oresteia. In most plays, the protagonist
was expelled from the community by death or banishment; there was expulsion
(kenosis) of the sinner and purification (catharsis) of a given location, city, grove
or household. Whereas in some plays, as in the Oresteia, this cycle was shown in
,- itP n---1
---.,.eteness, in other playh it was shown partially. In some other plays as in
Hecabe or Women of Troy, there is only miasma and no katharsis. Looked at in
this way, tragedy was a depiction of the cycle of miasma and catharsis.

To my mind, the annual enactment of tragedy was to reaffm the miasrna-

catharsis duality, which was a major cultural value of ancient Greek society. In all
ancient societies the purpose of retelling the myths, particularly on festive
occasions, was many-fold; it was to preserve and transmit the stories, to re-state
the beliefs they enshrined, and $0relive the behaviour patterns sanctified by
tradition. The retelling always had a ritual significance even if it took the form of
dramatic enactment for the purpose of entertainment. Entertainment and ritual
were intertwined in ancient theatre. In this manner, tragedy was a reliving of the
pollution-purity cycle by both the actors and the spectators. The community, the
protagonist, hisher acts, and the aroused emotions of the audience, all underwent
a catharsis.

In his analysis,of catharsis, Gerald Else has rightly grasped the spiritual
significance that catharsis had for the Greeks, but he restricts the scope of
purgation to the acts of the protagonist. For Else, remorse makes the hero eligible
to the spectators' pity, and this pity along with the hero's remorse proves that the
act of transgression was actually a pure (cufharos) act. Thus catharsis is the
process of proving purity. As Else puts it:

The filthiness inheres in a conscious intention to kill a person who is a

close kin. An unconscious intention to do so, i.e, in intention to do so
without being aware of the kinship as Oedipus did not know that he
killed his father would therefore be pure, catharos. But purity must be
proved to our satisfaction. Catharsis would then be the process of
proving that the act was pure in that sense.
 How is such a thing proved ? According to Nicomachean Ethics (3,2,
11lob19 and 111la20 ), by the remorse of the doer, which shows that if
he had known the facts he would not have done the deed. In Oedipus,
the thing which establishes this to our satisfaction is Oedipus' self
blinding. It, then, effects a purification of the tragic deed and so makes
Oedipus eligible to our pity. (Else 98)

From this interpretation it seems that Else does not believe that catharsis benefits
,
the audience and their emotions in anyway. In his reading of the famous passage
in the Poetics, catharsis is purification of the tragic deed and not of the emotions
of the spectators. This goes against all other instances of catharsis as mentioned by
Plato and Aristotle. The examples they have givenindicate a change in the mental
state of the spectators or music listeners. Besides, it is nowhere indicated by
Aristotle that pity in tragedy was aroused for the purpose of regenerating and
purifying the sin and the sinner. He is more concerned with showing how we can
feel pity for the protagonist. This feeling in us is more capable of providing
catharsis to us rather than just providing that the act of the hero was catharos. If q

the concept of catharsis is to have any general utility, it must be persumed that the
cycle of pollution and purgation (miasma and catharsis) effects an emotional
catharsis in the audience as well. A harmonious view of catharsis which combines
its spiritual, clinical and aesthetic effects is more in keeping with the unified
approach of the ancients.

5.4 AROUSAL OF EMOTION

In the Poetics, Aristotle does not explicitly state that the purpose of the dramatist's
art should be to create emotional exitement. He seems to take that for granted. But
he cdoes say this much; the pleasure proper to tragedy "comes from pity and fear ,
through irnitation"Poetics (XIV:3 ). The accounts of ancient authors are sufficient
to indicate that the production of Greek plays, particularly tragedy, was geared
towards strong emotional arousal. "Even the best of us when we listen to a
passage from Homer or from a tragedy ... we delight in surrendering ourselves
(Republic 605c-6). Herodotus has recorded that when" Phrynichos in494 BC
produced his tragedy on the recent capture of Miletos by the Persians, the
Athenian audience 'fell to weeping' so distressingly that the magistrates fined the
dramatist heavily and banned further performances of the play" (Stanford 5). The
actors prided themelves if they were able to fill the seats with weeping multitudes.
In what sounds like a gross exaggeration today but may very well have been true,
"in the beginning of his Eumenides the spectators were so shocked by the frightful
appearance of the Furies that children fainted and women had miscarriages"
(Stanford 6). The account of a rhapsode reciting poetry, as given by Plato (lon
535C) shows that his hair stood on end. The reciter while delivering epic poetry
was filled with enthusiasm and the audience felt it immediately. Dionysios of
Halicarnassos mentions this kind of audience response and admits that even
reading to himself the speech of Demosthenes resulted in the same effect:

"But whenever I take up any of the speeches of Demosthenes I get

possessed with a kind of ecstasy (enthousia) and I am led this way and
that, changing one emotion for another, doubt, agony, fear, scorn, hate,
pity, benevolence, anger, spite, taking in turn all the emotions that have
the natural power to master the human mind. And it seems to me that
there is no difference between me in this condition and the people who
are being initiated into the rites of the Great Mother and the Corybantes
and other rites of that kind." (Demosthenes 22 qtd. Stanford 9)

It may be presumed that the actors who cultivated their art much in the same
manner as the rhapsode reciters would have commanded the same response in
spectators. There was also some writing on the art of emotional arousal, which is
 borne by the fact that the author of the treatise commonly known as On the Aristotle's [Link]
Sublime wrote a monograph on pathos, which is lost. The term used by him and Tragedy-Part II
by other writers for the power of arousing and controlling emotions was
"psuchagogia", which literally means, 'leading the psuche' (Stanford 5). The
, Poetics'while taking psuchagogia for granted does not give any system for its
employment in drama. However, Aristotle has quite a few things to say on
emotional manipulation in his Rhetoric besides the observation in On the Psuche
(403a 4ff) that the emotions (pathe) all involve physical symptoms and that some
observable bodily effect result from all of them (Stanford 22).

In the first eleven chapters of the second book of Rhetoric it is shown that an
orator can arouse anger, affection, friendliness, enmity, hatred, fear, shame, pity,
indignation and many other emotions. The supreme emotion on which tragedy
depends most is pity (eleos). The English word pity, Stanford thinks, is not an
appropriate translation of eleos as the one who pities tends to be regarded as
superior to the person who is pitied. Compassionate grief, he suggests, is a better
rendering of the meaning of the term as in this there is sympathy for the sorrow
that is witnessed. The Sanskrit word 'karuna' carries the same import. In Rhetoric,
eleos is defined as a kind of pain (lupe) felt at the sight of a painful or destructive
event happening to someone who does not deserve it, an evil and fearful event
close at hand which one might expect to happen to oneself or to a relative or
friend (philos) (Stanford 24). Situations in life that can arouse eleos are all too
well-known and the tragic authors knew them well; However, situations like the
loss of a child, a father's murder, the abduction of a wife, horror at unjust sexual
compulsions and innumerable others that arouse eleos can become tragic or
provide 'pleasure proper to tragedy' only if pity (eleos) is placed with the
framework of cosmic helplessness. The might or a force greater than man should
be obvious for eliciting compasison. Close to eleos was another feeling which was
often employed, particularly in tragedy. This was known as philanthropy, a
compassionate reaching out to human values. Prometheus, in the play by
Aeschylus, is an excellent .exampleof one who stands for philanthropia and thus
commands our admiration.

The other major tragic emotion is f e q (phobos) which seems to imply an instinct
to run away. Stanford suggests that terror is a better translation of phobos as the
intensity of the emotion is often very great. Anxiety and apprehension are also
named as merima, turbos and prontis (28). The symptoms of fear as described by
rhetoricians and dramatists are in ascending order of intensity paleness, chilliness,
fast pulse, shivering, shuddering, shrieking, hair standing on end, prostration
(StariTord 28). When frisht was sudden or so acute that it caused stupefaction, it
was called ekplexis. When a deed is done in ignorance and later it is discovered
that great harm has been caused to a dear one, the shock caused is ekplexis. Not
only may fear cause thiq state but, intense eros may also bring about ekplexis as
was the case with Phaidra.

In the scheme of Aristoue in Rhetoric, anger (nzenis or cholos) is given the

greatest prominence. Fbr orators it is often expedient to provoke the crowds, but
even in drama it is the most natural emotion for plots with conflict. After all,
prime Greek poetry is about the wrath of Achilles. A milder form of cholos is
orge, the desire for revenae when harm has beeh done to a friend. This feeling
impels one to defend oqe's honour, makes the blood boil, and burns, the h e m
with rage. Closely allied with anger, is hatred. Whereas anger cannot last for long
and is cured by time, hatred can be everlasting and incurable. Anger if placated
may turn into pity specially on seeing how a terrible act in anger has reduced the
sufferer to a pitiful condition. But hatred (misos) may often result in self-
annihilation, as was the case with Clytemnestra, Cassandra and Hecuba. One form
of hatred is revulsion or loathing (stugos), shown on the stage by spitting and
similar actions. When there was justified anger (what we call moral indignation)
Classical Criticism it was known by the name of nemesis. In the Rhetoric it is called phthonos
(Stanford 34). "Nemesis, connected with a verb meaning 'to apportion' was
embodied at the highest religious level in the dread goddess of the temple at
Rhamnous in Attica, who struck down those who exceeded the limits of
appropriate behaviour, as in Philoctates, line 518" (Stanford 34).

Among other important emotions that are discussed in the Rhetoric are aischune
and aidos. The first is shame felt before or after a dishonourable deed, such as
throwing one's shield in battle or illicit intercourse. Aidos is the reverence that the
virtuous feel for good principles and which is intensified by the thought of not
having lived up to high standards. Aidos led to Phaida's suicide and to Jocasta's,
and prevented Hippolytos from breaking his oath. Next to anger, if not as strong,
is the sexual emotion eros. As classical Greek comedy was not emotionally
refined but expressly vulgar, there was little room in it for erotic depth and
subtlety. But in tragedy there was ample room for psychological probing.
However, the nature of eros in tragedy is that of a passion which leads astray, a
kind of madness of mind and body, a compulsion that overrides social constraints,
in brief, something lamentable rather than commendable. It is often depicted as a
sickness that strikes women more strongly than men, or at least makes them the
agency of destruction. Of the less dominant emotions found in Greek theatre there
filial affection (storge), gratitude (charis) and general affection or friendship
(philrcr;. So is love of the native city or land (philopatria). For all these emotions
mentioned above, Stanford makes two categories; visceral and sentimental:

0;911 the emotions...the strongest and most visceral are terror, anger,
passionate desire, hate and grief. Terror and grief are mainly passive
and self-centred, the others are dynamic and extrovert. Grief is the least
dynamic and most introverted of all, tending, as it does, to inhibit
external action. On the other hand its symptoms and gestures in tragedy
can be as violent as any. Some other feelings mentioned tend to
become sentiments or mental conditions rather than emotions when they
occur in their quieter forms philanthropia, storge, philia,
epichairekakia, pothos, tarache and zelos (45)

This kind of division into visceral and sentimental, or any other based on
relationships between emotions, or one set of emotions to another, does not exist
in Aristotle. His art of handling the emotions (psuchagogia)is descriptive not
analytical. The fact remains, however, that a scientific way of looking at emotions
and employing them in public speech, rhetorical writing, courts and theatre was
well known to the ancient Greeks.

5.5 EUROPEAN INTERPRETATION OF ARISTOTLE

It is well known, but not so often admitted and explicated, that during the
Renaissance new European theatre drew upon just a few elements of Aristotle's
Poetics and not much out of the performing techniques of the ancient Greek
theatre. It used the theoretical framework of Aristotle and the text of the Greek .
plays, acgually more of the Latin ones, to create a new theatre tradition in spirit
and form and entirely different from the ancient one. European theatre art,took
shape under the impact of the emerging print culture and the natural scid&s. For
this reason it became secular in purpose and realistic in presentation. Its aesthetic
fabric placed man at the centre of the universe ( in thrust, if not in statement), and
while it procipted rational debate on new intellectual issues, it devalued emotional
pleasure as a function of the theatre. It recast the Aristotelian concepts of plot
(mythos), character (ethos), thought (dianoia ) and language (lexis)for its own
performances: it reduced the visual spectacle (opsis) to a signless functionality
and virtually banished music (melopoiia). The new theatre was claimed by its
proponents to be modelled after the six elements of the Aristotelian definition of
 tragedy and the priciple of imitation (mimesis) through which art was supposed to .ristotle's Theory of
I
improve upon Nature, and hence mankind. Tragedy-Part 11 \

5.6 LET US SUM UP

Aristotle says, "pleasure proper to tragedy", and by implictttion in all plays, was to
be derived, apart from completeness of action in a plot (Poetics 23:l) and from
music and optical effects (26:4), from pity and fear through mimesis (14:3). His
famous definition of tragedy (VI:2) states that tragedy creates catharsis through
pity and fear. It is, therefore, clear that in the Aristotelian scheme of artististic
creation the sequence was as follows. Mimesis was the prime method that result
in a powerful emotional arousal which provided for the audience not only a
specific sort of pleasure (hedone) but also a relief or catharsis. I have elsewhere
discussed in detail the relationship between pleasure and catharsis (Gupt 271-3).
At this moment it is enough to note that Aristotle postulated the validity of not one
hut both. The Aristotelian scheme has been one of the major models of positing
both the moral and the hedonistic functions of art.

5.7 OUESTIONS
1. Is catharsis the only effect of a tragic performance on the audience or do
they
experience something else too?

2. What are the different ways of looking at the concept of catharsis?

3. What does Aristotle mean by "pleasure proper to tragedy"? By what

- elements of a tragedy is it brought about ?

4. Why was there so much insistence on emotional experience in classical

aesthetics?

5.8 GLOSSARY
Hippocrates
Lived in the island of Kos and was trained in the medical tradition of Asklepios.
Though it is contested that most of the works surviving under his name were
written by him, he does symbolise a definite doctrine of medicine that was
prevalent from the classical period to the medieval times.

Phrynichos
Plato thought that Phrynichos was one of the originators of tragedy along with
[Link] won his first victory around 508 B.C. The subject of his plays were
the contemporary events of the Persian wars. Aristophanes was a great admirer of
his style. No complete work of his survives.

pothos
desire, longing ,regret, destitution or want.

tarache a
confusion, disorder, tumult ,noise or sedition.

zelos
. zeal, eagerness, envy, passion or emulation.
Classical Criticism 5.9 SUGGESTED READING
Primary Texts

Works of Aristotle. Trans. W.D. Ross. London: *oxfordUP, 1928.

The Nicomachean Ethics. Trans. David Ross. Oxford UP, 1980.

Butcher, S.H. Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine Art. Trans.,and with notes.
Introduction by John Gassner. 4th Ed. USA: Dover Pub. Inc., 1951.

Secondary Reading
Cole, David. Theatrical Event, Mythos, a Vocabulary. Middle Town: Wesleyan
U, 1975.

Filliozat, J. The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origin and its Greek
Parallels.
Trans. Dev Raj Chanana. Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1964.

Gupt, Bharat. Dramatic Concepts :Greek and Indian . A Study of the Poetics
and the
Natyasastra. Delhi : DK Printworld (P) Ltd. , 1994 .

Halliwell, Stephen. Aristotle's Poetics . London Duckworth, 1986.

Momson, Karl F. The Mimetic Tradition of Reform in ithe West. New Jersey:
University of Princeton, 1982.

Stanford, W.B. Greek Tragedy and the Emotions: An Introductory Study.

London: Routledge and ~ e ~ a n ' p a u1983.
l,

Styan, J.L. Modern Drama in Theory and Practice: Realism and Naturalism.
Cambridge: Univ. Press, 198 1. 1

Toynbee, Arnold. Hellenism . Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959.

UNIT 6 CRITICISM AS DIALOGUE
Structure
Objectives
Introduction
Dialogue in Mimes
AJind of Mimesis
Socratic Parlance
Later Tradition
Investigative Versus Expositional Dialogue
Let Us Sum Up
Questions
Glossary
Suggested Reading

6.0 OBJECTIVES
In this unit we shall look at how

Dialogue began-a's a reproduction of an interesting conversation

It developed into an argumentative dialogue
It became popular in 'mime' and in "theatre".

6.1 INTRODUCTION
At its best dialogue as a classical genre was primarily a philosophical and
investigative enterprise but even then it was not far from an art form. Besides
unfolding a hypothesis, it was spoken by characters who were presented as
persona befitting the opinion voiced by them. Dialogue was inter-related, from the
very beginning, with all other forms of public spleech. It was a form of oratory and
rhetoric employed in various forums of Greek society such as the courts, political
gatherings and theatre.

The beginnings of dialogue as a discernable genre are seen in the works of

Herodotos and Thucydides. In narratives written by these authors, philosophical
dialogues are debates betwedn real or imaginary characters. The discussion
between Solon and Croseus in the works of Herodotos and the so called Melian
dialogue in the writings of Thucydides are two well known examples. These
pieces were also influenced by the theatrical dialogues of the times.

6.2 DIALOGUE IN MIMES

In the development of the philosophical dialogue, the impact of the quasi
theatrical art form called mimos was quite significant. Mimos or mime was one of
the earliest modes of performance extant till fourth century A.D. Based on dance,
~ a r l yexamples of this art are found in the "deikelikrai"or the masked men of
Sparta, the "autokabdali" or the improvisors of Central Greece and the "phlyakes"
of the Italian region. Early mime was performed in the market places, at banquets
and weddings. It was a combination of story-telling, dance, mimicry, song and
dialogue performed by acrobats and jugglers. Xenophon, a speaker of the Platonic
Symposium, mentions a mime performed in a banquet, that tells the story of
Dionysos and Ariadne.
A well known name among the mime writers in the fifth century B.C. was that of
Sophron of Syracuse who composed pieces meant "for men" and "for women" in
Dorian rhythmic prose close to the popular speech of the times full of common
Classical Criticism proverbs. Some of the titles of Sophron's mimes, such as The Women Quacks, The
Old Fishermen and The Women Visitors to Isthmia indicate that unlike tragedies
and comedies this genre dealt with life at the lower rungs of society and was
entirely comic in nature. The tradition of Sophron was kept alive by his son but
not one title of any of his mimes has survived.

By the third century B.C. the influence exercised by the poetic dialogue of
tragedy and comedy made the writers of mime use verse. Herodas, whose origin
and place of operation are not known; produced literary mimes with dialogue in a
metre of the iambic variety. Sticking to the old themes of the genre, his pieces
like The Bawd, The Pimp, The School Master, The Women Worshippers, The
Jealous Mistress and the Dream provide a wide variety of events that were
povered by this highly popular and entertaining art form. It is important to note
that unlike tragedy which was perfc.=med only twice a y e s for specific religious\
festivals, the mimetic shows were enacted all around the year. The dialouges of
the mimes, therefore, exercised a far more pervasive influence on the shape that
this genre took whether in theatre or even philosophical writings. Mime writers
also remained in close interaction with poets of high standing because these
genres like the epic and the bucolic'poems often contained dialogues. Highly
literary mimes such as those of Theocritus were also an acceptable genre and were
sometimes sung or enacted.

The popularity of mimes increased with the decline of serious and high quality
drama and as vulgarity and obscenity invaded the performances. They were given
new names such as paignia and hypothesis and their performers were called
magodoi and mimologoi. By this time any kind of serious and thoughtful
interchange through dialogues had become impossible. The Oxyrhynchos Papyri
contain a farcical mime in which a girl;Charition, escapes from the clutches of a
South Indian king and his followers who speak what the western scholars thought
to be "psuedo-Indian" but has now been claimed to be the ancient dialect called
"Tulu", a precursor of the Kannada language. Mime had immense popularity in
the Roman world as well, but because of its increasing vulgarity it came into
conflict wiah the Christian Church and inspite of persecution by the religious
establishments it survived into the Middle Ages as the art of performing
jongleurs.

In all mime, because there was no concentration on action, but more so on

creating odd characters and situations, dialogue became the focal point of interest.
Al'hough it was often sung dialogue, specially in the genre called the pantomime,
the spirit of argumentation was well conveyed. It was the juxtaposition of
opposing points of view that made the dialogue extremely interesting to the
audience and a valid channel of criticism.

6.3 A. KIND OF MIMESIS

It would be'a mistake to presume that the ancients thought of dialogue as an actual
reproduction of an argument that took place between two or more characters. The
kind of conversation that is claimed to be reported with accuracy in tcday's media
was beyond the intentions of ancient writers of dialogue in whatever form.
Dialogue was regarded as a mimesis, an imitation, an artistic recreation of a
- supposed conversation or good talk between recognisable persons from historical
or contemporary life but drawn as characters. In those times, realistic and
accurate reporting of the words of the speakers was not the prime purpose. It was
more significant to preserve the main ideas and the conflicting views supposedly
upheld by the speakers.

The main theme of a dialogue was well stated, though digressions were
considered essential to create greater interest. The siwation for a given dialogue
was topical but the theme had to be of an enduring nature. In fact, the art of Criticism as Dialogue
conversation was preserved by the epic, the mimetic and the theatrical tradition
and recording of all imporant talks in philosophical, political or cultural arenas
bad to be done according to the tradition of mimetic dialogue.

It may as well be kept in mind that the primary purpose of dialogue as

representational conversation'was to offer a criticism of things. It was to bewail,
lament or just to satirise in order to assess things as positvely good or bad. It
should also be kept in mind that unlike present day cultures that uphold a
relativistic approach to moral problems and often regard pluralism as an ideal,
ancient Greek culture, though being open-minded to a lot of sophistry, debate and
discussion, insisited that the prevalent norms of conduct be followed rather
strictly. Therefore, dialogue was primarily used as a means of social censure. It is
wrong to imagine that merely the delQht in free discussion by the leisured class
was the aim of dialogue. It is an erroneous impression we may form today by
reading the dialogues of Plato and Aristotle regarding them as teachers
philosophising to friends and disciples of the aristocratic class. In the classical
period, even at Athens, the views and activities of the philosophers were
constantly under public scrutiny, sometimes even censure, culminating in public
wrath as it happened with Socrates.

Dialogue was supposed to constantly redefine and uphold the norms of ethical
behaviour Socrates paved the way for philosophic ~ a l y s i through
s the mode of
dialogue.

6.4 SOCRATIC PARLANCE

The early forms of Socratic dialogue must have been the scribblings that his
disciples and admirers made soon after their encounters with this rare man. From
this developed, undoubtedly, the rewriting of these dialogues as mimetic creations
based on earlier material. The major composers of these dialogues with Socrates
were Plato, Xenophon and Aeschines.

In the Platonic Dialogues, some twenty-five in number, there is a wide variety of

style and approach as they were composed by Plato over a long period of time
with changes in his philosophic position. The earlier pieces such as Laches,
Channides, Crito and Hippias Minor are very much occupied with the projection
of the personality of Socrates. In Plato's portrayal, the famous philosopher is
shown as an ugly man with a magnetic mhd. ,He was jovial, celebrative of life,
good humoured and even erotic. He maintained austere habits and displayed great
physical endurance. Judging from his own words in Crito he lived to be seventy if
not more, but if "seventy years" is interpreted as adult age, then he was ninety at
the time of his death.
The Socratic method of the earlier dialogues is to seek real knowledge which
leads to the happiness of an individual as well as general and personal good. By
asking various questions regarding knowledge of a particular thing or an idea, and
rejecting all the answers to those questions, Socrates establishes that knowledge of
a thing or a concept, is knowing the true "form" or "essence" of it and no example
of this essence can be given. The Socratic method of first inviting others to give
answers or suggesting answers himself and then pretending that each answer has
almost hit the truth and then showing the contradiction with other solutions, is a
dramatic device used with a good deal of humour or irony. But it is done with
dead seriousness as the Platonic "essences" can be indicated only by revealing the
contradictions entailed in any worldly hypothesis and conceptions. Dialogue is
used here for juxtaposition of viewpoints in a dramatic clash.

In the middle period, of the dialogues such as Phaedo, Symposium, and Republic,
the investigative stance is subdued and a more expository mode is adopted. More 57
Classical Criticism is said on the nature of forms and better and clearer prescription on issues, in the
Republic. In the last phase of Pannenides, Sophists, Timeus and the Laws,
dialogue is severely reduced. Sometimes correct answers are given not by
Socrates but by another "philosopher" in a didactic manner. Reduction of the
dramatic suspense and the entertaining account of conflicting views seem to have
been done deliberately. The purpose is not, as in the early dialogues, to show the
philosopher as the seeker, full of doubt and visible conflict, but one who has
already arrived and is a bringer of wisdom.

At this point we must point out the difference between the Greek method of
dialogue making and the later European style of argument making. On the whole,
the Greek dialogue preserved the ambience of truth emerging from an
investigation or conversation held among many people. It also gives the
impression of a group effort, though it may be the final word of a single person as
in the case of the Socratic dialogue. The subject of the dialogue also is not clear
from the beginning. In short the uncertainty of a conversational result is manifest
in the Greek dialogue. Whereas in the European style of arguing the subject
matter, the main premesis and the reasons for and against the thesis are all
sequently laid out. The European tradition of argumentation which started with
the writings of a theological nature and after the Renaissance exhibited a huge
variety of subjects, actually followed not the Greek tradition of dialogue but that
of oratory or legal speech rendering which we have commented upon in the first
Unit. An oration was supposed to be divided into "parts of speech" such as
introduction, narrative, statement, proofs and epilogue. Essay writing that began
with Bacon and developed in the tracts of Sydney and Milton and then into
expansive writings of Hegel and others, shaped as a series of reasons-given to
defend a thesis, has been derived from the structure of Greek speeches.

6.5 LATER TRADITION

The genre of dialogue writing so perfected by Plato was emulated by his disciple
Aristotle. Most of the dialogues were written before the death of Plato and had
acquired recognition in ancient times. Unfortunately they are extant in fragments
only. But the short crisp conversation characterising Plato's dialogues was never
taken up by Aristotle who preferred long expositions finally summed up by the
writer himself. After him, there was a lull in dialogue writing and it was only
after two centuries, that Plutarch and ~oukianosproduced some worthwhile
pieces.

There are just a few dialogues of Plutarch of Chaironia that are extant. They lack
the Platonic depth but are useful for gathering information on the way of life
prevalent in during his times (circa A.D 50 to A.D 120). De sollertia animalium is
a debate on the question of whether water animals are more intelligent than land
animals. His other books are patterned after learned table talk. De genio Socratis
combines history with the analysis of oracular powers, and Amatorious discusses
eroticism. His Pythian dialogues, Apud Delphos, de Pythiae oraculis, Daimones
and Defectu oraculum are very significant.

Lucian or Loukianos (born around A.D. 120 in Sarnosata and died around A.D.
180), who produced about eighty dialogues was a pleader and lecturer by
profession who travelled far and wide. His earlier dialogues are full of satiric
humour, and influenced a great deal by mime, ridiculing popular religious ideas,
human vanity and philosophic pretensions. His later works were more serious
under the influence of Plato. Rut he cannot be called an original 3tylist or thinker.

Dialogue writing was zestfully emulated in the Latin tradition though authors like
Cicero preferred to evolve a form which was closer to the expository mode of
lhan the dramatic method of PIatonic investigation.
??ri~c.~\tli
58
i The Sophists, a class of teachers, some of whom were also philosophers,
promoted the preservation of the art of dialogue and rhetoric as part of the
educational skills they imparted to their students. The sophists were mainly
Criticism as Dialogue

professional tutors who went around from city to city, teaching young men of rich
families useful skills of the day such as, preparing speeches for political
assemblies, courts of law, and other public gatherings. Sophistry, which in its
degenerated form symbolised meaningless argumentation, in its better usage was
the art of persuasion and discussion. In the Roman period, sophistry was
restricted to literary excercises and after the second century declined under
Christian impact which censured its association with pagan religion and
philosophies.

6.6 INVESTIGATIVE VERSUS EXPOSITIONAL

DIALOGUE
In the development of the analytical tools whether for thepurpose of legal,
dramatic or philosophical activity there are two clear stages. The first is the
investigative method in which clear conclusions are indicated after a good deal of .
analysis. The second is the expositional way in which a hypothesis is stated and
amplified. Both the methods were never used exclusively but the first method
dominated in the earlier phase which apexed in the dialogues of Socrates and the
second came of age with Aristotle. The first coincided with the age of theatre and
democracy, the second with tyrannies and imperialism. But beyond their location
in Greek history, the two approaches became good examples of literary
compositions for the later ages.
,- In later European writing, for instance, Hamlet and The Divine Comedy can be
cited as modelled on the investigative and the expository traditions of the dialogue
respectively. Hamlet works his way through endless questioning and comes to the
conclusion that "ripeness is all". Dante explains the order of the universe through
the enunciations of Beatrice on unquestioning faith "as the substance of things
hoped for and the evidence of things unseen." Similarly, enigmatic poets like
Blake would fall in the first category and the expansive ones like Pope or even
Wordswoth in the other. Examples could be found in literatures of the non-
European languages also which felt the impact of Greek literature directly or
indirectly after colonisation.

Broadly speaking, the ironic and the moralistic approaches are the two critical
heritages of the Greek dialogue. For the sake of simplicity they may be traced
back to methods employed by Plato and Aristotle respectively. These two
approaches or frames of mind are to be seen not only in the literary tradition of
later European writing but also among the philosophers. In literary works, poetry,
fiction and drama can frequently be seen as falling into one category or the other.
Even twentieth century understandings of dialogue content in poetry such as the
"three voices" of poetry by [Link], namely, the poet speaking to himself, the
poet addressing others and the poet as a dramatic persona, are an expansion of the
Greek tradition.

6.7 LET US SUM UP

The dialogue, like tragedy,sis one of the special contributions of Hellenic culture
to world literature. As a genre, it combines sharpness of investigation, whether of
a social or a philosophic concern, with the imaginative rendering of the dramatic
mode. It reflects the antidogmatic urge to disman'tle established notions causing
social oppression or intellectual sterility. It seems that as the art of conversation
found various applications in Greek social life, dialogue as a foimal way of
preserving oral interchanges of significance in courts, political gatherings, theatre 59
Classical Criticism and various performing arts, was recognised. Thus it became a mimesis that
preserved the subject matter in an artistic way worthy of being handed down to
future generations. It seems to have flourished most in times when democracy had
an upper hand in the political system. However, it cannot be taken for granted that
it reflects a society that attained a high degree of freedom. Socrates, the progenitor
of the greatest dialogues was put to death, which he willingly accepted, for
expounding his ideas through this very method of investigative and sceptical
speech. Dialogue, thus exemplifies all the facets of the ancient mind : quest for
truth, capacity to contradict and ridicule the established norms and an acceptance
of the social boundaries set for the individual by custom and religious sanctions.

1. What are the earliest known examples of dialogue writing ?

2. How does the dramatic tradition contribute to the growth of dialogue ?

3. What are the most distinguishing features of the Socratic dialogue as

found in the writings of Plato ?

4. How does Aristotle's dialogue writing differ from Plato's and what impact
has it on later writings ?

6.9 GLOSSARY
Aeschines Socraticus
He is to be distinguished from the famous orator politician of the same name who
lived half a century later and opposed Demosthenes. Aeschines the philosopher,
named after Socrates for his association as a close disciple, was present at the
condemnation and execution of his master. He was ai orator as well and perhaps
for a profession wrote speeches in the law courts. He nurtured Xenokratos as his
d'sciple but was not very successful materially. To escape poverty he moved to
Lne court of Syracuse but returned to Athens. Of his dialogues featuring Socrates
are Miltiades, Kallias, Axiochos, Aspasia, Telauges, Rinon, and some others not
verified as genuine.

6.10 SUGGESTED READING

Primary Texts

Plato. The Dialogues of Plato. Trans. Benjamin Jowett. 5 vols. 3rd Ed. Oxford,
1893.
The Republic . Trans, H.D.P. Lee. Penguin, 1955.
Symposium . Trans. W .Hamilton. Penguin, 195 1.

Secondary Text

Morrison, Karl F. The Mimetic Tradition of Reform in the West. New Jersey:
University of Princeton, 1982.