Aristotle's Poetics

This is the response to the understanding of  Bridge course: Aristotle’s poetics allotted by Dr. Dilip Barad sir. in this blog I am going to answer some of the question given in the task.

How far do you agree with Plato’s objection to freedom of expression and artistic liberty enjoyed by creative writers? 

Creative writer has artistic sensibility. He observes the world like any common men. But his vision observes the world quite differently. He can perceive from life-experience what common man cannot see at all. This experience and observation get imaginative colours with the help of artistic sensibility. He creates a world of imaginative reality. His world is more beautiful and artistic than the real world. 

As we know that any art can be at its peak if the artist has a strong felling or connection toward the art on which he is working. If the artist has no freedom of expression or artistic liberty the piece of art cannot be accomplished. The artist, in future may be hesitate to work on that type of thing in which there are many restrictions but there is not freedom. 

With reference to the literary texts, you have studied during B.A. programme, write brief note on the texts which followed Aristotelian literary tradition.

ALL MY SONS 

All My Sons” by Arthur Miller is one of the texts which I have studied in my B.A. programme and it also follows the Aristotelian Literary Tradition. Joe Keller as the tragic hero of the play undergoes and faces the characteristics that Aristotle's theory suggests. 

According to Aristotle, in a good tragedy, character supports plot. The personal motivation / actions of the characters are intricately involved with the action to such an extent that it leads to arouse pity and fear in the audience. The protagonist / tragic hero of the play should have all the characteristic of a good character.  

Joe Keller is neither good or bad protagonist. We cannot say that he is as evil character.  He is man of mixed character, neither blameless nor absolutely depraved. He is a good man coming to bad end. 

Hamartia- He makes a terrible error of dispatching the faulty parts in his limited views for his business and his family. This way Joe suffers not as a result of any wise but as a consequence of his error in judgment. 

Catharsis- an essential function of tragedy is arousing pity and fear in a way to accomplish Catharsis of emotions. In ‘All my Sons’, pity for characters is felt through the hardships of Larry Keller and the future of family members after Joe’s suicide. 

 

OTHELLO

 

Another example can be Othello by Shakespeare, which follows the Aristotelian literary tradition. Othello is a tragedy of an ideal situation wherein the protagonist is a rather good man who meets terrible end. The protagonist- Othello is a moor with the higher rank of the general. He is a strong warrior with a great physique but he does not give any second thoughts before acting. He has a very strong character of virtue and nobility that is intact up to the horrid end.  Iago’s deceit and trickery are more the cause of Othello’s tragic fall than any fault of Othello himself. 

Hamartia- Othello is a man of action; his tragic flaw is extreme jealousy. It is this jealousy that leads to his catastrophic downfall. The villainous deeds of Iago and his constant poisoning of Othello’s ears with monstrous jealousy serve as a medium for murdering his own wife. 

Catharsis- Othello’s cruel act of murdering Desdemona arouses pity and fear in reader/spectator’s and causes catharsis in such a way that a group of emotions is disturbed. 

Have you studied any tragedies during B.A. programme? Who was/were the tragic protagonist/s in those tragedies? What was their ‘hamartia’? 

Tragedies	Tragic Protagonists	Hamartia
All My Sons	Joe Keller	Shipping of faulty parts
Tughlaq	Muhammad bin Tughlaq	Idealistic vision of Tughlaq
Othello	Othello	Extremeness of jealousy, Blind trust on Iago
The Hairy Ape	Yank	Excessive pride in his dominant nature