In constructing the plot and working it out with
the proper diction, the poet should place the scene,
as far as possible, before his eyes.
In this way, seeing
everything with the utmost vividness, as if he were a
spectator of the action, he will discover what is in keeping
with it, and be most unlikely to overlook inconsistencies.
The need of such a rule is shown by the fault found in
Carcinus.
Amphiaraus was on his way from the temple.
This fact escaped the observation of one who did not see
the situation.
On the stage, however, the piece failed,
the audience being offended at the oversight.
Again, the poet should work out his play, to the
best of his power, with appropriate gestures; for
those who feel emotion are most convincing through
natural sympathy with the characters they represent;
and one who is agitated storms, one who is angry rages,
with the most life-like reality.
Hence poetry implies
either a happy gift of nature or a strain of madness.
In
the one case a man can take the mould of any character;
in the other, he is lifted out of his proper self.
As for the story, whether the poet takes it ready
made or constructs it for himself, he should first sketch
its general outline, and then fill in the episodes and
amplify in detail.
The general plan may be illustrated by
the Iphigenia. A young girl is sacrificed;
she disappears
mysteriously from the eyes of those who sacrificed her;
she is transported to another country, where the custom is
to offer up all strangers to the goddess.
To this ministry
she is appointed. Some time later her own brother
chances to arrive.
The fact that the oracle for some reason
ordered him to go there, is outside the general plan of
the play.
The purpose, again, of his coming is outside the
action proper.
However, he comes, he is seized, and, when
on the point of being sacrificed, reveals who he is.
The
mode of recognition may be either that of Euripides or of
Polyidus, in whose play he exclaims very naturally : —
'So it was not my sister only, but I too, who was doomed
to be sacrificed';
and by that remark he is saved.
After this, the names being once given, it remains
to fill in the episodes.
We must see that they are
relevant to the action.
In the case of Orestes, for
example, there is the madness which led to his capture,
and his deliverance by means of the purificatory rite.
In the drama the episodes are short, but it is these that
give extension to Epic poetry.
Thus the story of the
Odyssey can be stated briefly.
A certain man is absent
from home for many years; he is jealously watched by
Poseidon, and left desolate.
Meanwhile his home is in
a wretched plight — suitors are wasting his substance and
plotting against his son.
At length, tempest-tost, he him-
self arrives; he makes certain persons acquainted with
him;
he attacks the suitors with his own hand, and is
himself preserved while he destroys them.
This is the
essence of the plot; the rest is episode.
Poetics. Aristotle. S. H. Butcher (Translator). London. 1911.
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