Aristotle Poetics - Harvey.binghamton.edu

Aristotle Poetics 14
sode (epeisodos) all that comes in between two whole choral songs; 68 the exodos all that
follows after the last choral song. In the choral portion the parodos is the whole first
statement of the chorus; a stasimon, a song of the chorus without anapests or trochees; a
kommos, a lamentation sung by chorus and actor in concert. 69 The parts of tragedy to be
used as formative elements in the whole we have already mentioned; the above are its
parts from the point of view of its quantity, or the separate sections into which it is divided.
70 13
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The next points after what we have said above will be these: (1) What is the poet to aim
at, and what is he to avoid, in constructing his plots and (2) What are the conditions on
which the tragic effect depends
We assume that, for the finest form of tragedy, the plot must be not simple but complex;
and further, that it must imitate actions arousing pity and fear, since that is the distinctive
function of this kind of imitation. It follows, therefore, that there are three forms of plot
to be avoided. (1) A good person must not be seen passing from happiness to misery, or
(2) a bad person from misery to happiness.
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The first situation is not fear-inspiring or piteous, but simply odious to us. The second is
the most untragic that can be; it has no one of the requisites of tragedy; it does not appeal
either to the human feeling in us, or to our pity, or to our fears. Nor, on the other hand,
should (3) an extremely bad person be seen falling from happiness into misery. Such a
story may arouse the human feeling in us, but it will not move us to either pity or fear.
For pity is occasioned by undeserved misfortune, and fear by that of one like ourselves;
so that there will be nothing either piteous or fear-inspiring in the situation. There remains,
then, the intermediate kind of personage, a person not pre-eminently virtuous or
just, whose misfortune, however, is brought upon him not by vice and depravity but by
67 Parodos: chorus entry number.
68 I.e., between two stasima, or choral entr’actes.
69 kommoi are the often frenzied lamentation songs (chorus plus actor[s]) at or near
the end of tragedies.
70 The structure of a tragedy was typically as follows:
• prologue
• parodos (chorus entry number)
• episode (a scene with actors)
• stasimon (choral song between episodes)
• additional episodes and stasima
• kommos (lament)
• exodos (finale, chorus exit)
Solo arias and other types of choral and combined choral-solo numbers could be added to
the mix.