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[1450a]
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indeed thought and character are the natural causes of
any action and it is in virtue of these that all men succeed or
fail— it follows then that
it is the plot which represents the action. By "plot" I mean here the arrangement of
the incidents: "character" is that which determines the quality of the agents, and
"thought" appears wherever in the dialogue they put forward an argument or deliver
an opinion. Necessarily then every tragedy has six constituent parts, and on these its
quality depends. These are plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle, and song.
Two of these are the means of
representation: one is the manner: three are the objects represented.1
This list is exhaustive, and
practically all the poets employ these elements, for every drama includes alike
spectacle and character and plot and diction and song and thought. The most important of
these is the arrangement of the incidents,2 for tragedy is not a representation of men but
of a piece of action, of life, of happiness and unhappiness, which come under the
head of action, and the end aimed at is the representation not of qualities of
character but of some action; and while character makes men what they are,
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it's their actions and experiences that make
them happy or the opposite. They do
not therefore act to represent character, but character-study is included for the
sake of the action. It follows that the incidents and the plot are the end at which
tragedy aims, and in everything the end aimed at is of prime importance. Moreover, you could not have a tragedy
without action, but you can have one with out character-study. Indeed the tragedies of most modern poets are without
this, and, speaking generally, there are many such writers, whose case is like that
of Zeuxis compared with Polygnotus.3 The latter was good at depicting character, but there
is nothing of this in Zeuxis's painting. A further argument is that if a man writes a series of speeches full of character
and excellent in point of diction and thought, he will not achieve the proper
function of tragedy nearly so well as a tragedy which, while inferior in these
qualities, has a plot or arrangement of incidents. And furthermore, two of the most important elements in the
emotional effect of tragedy, "reversals" and "discoveries,"4 are parts of the plot. And here is further proof: those who try to write
tragedy are much sooner successful in language and character-study than in arranging
the incidents. It is the same with almost all the earliest poets. The plot then is the
first principle and as it were the soul of tragedy: character comes second.
It is much the same also in
painting;
1 The "means" are diction and music: the "manner" is "spectacle": the "objects" represented are actions or experiences and the moral or intellectual qualities of the dramatis personae.
2 i.e., "plot," as defined above.
3 Zeuxis's portraits were "ideal" (cf. Aristot. Poet. 25.28).
4 See chapter 11.
Aristotle. Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 23, translated by W.H. Fyfe. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1932.
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