Introduction
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Relevance of Classical Criticism
1.3 Plato’s Theory of Mimesis and Aristotle’s Defence
1.4 Aristotle’s Concept of Tragedy
1.4.1 The Definition of Tragedy
1.4.2 Six Formative Elements of Tragedy
1.6.1 Why Aristotle had adopted this theory
1.6.2 The Meaning of Catharsis
1.6.3 The Relevance of the Theory of Catharsis in the Present Scenario
1.1 Introduction
“All that is literature seeks to communicate power, all that is not literature seeks to communicate knowledge” says Thomas De Quincy. We shall study the literature of power and its evaluation. Literature of power is also referred as creative writing while evaluation of creative writing is referred as criticism.
The critical enquiry had begun almost in the 4th century B.C. in Greece. Plato, the great disciple of Socrates, was the first critic who examined poetry as a part of his moral philosophy. Plato was basically a moral philosopher and not a literary critic. Plato’s critical observations on poetry lie scattered in The Ion, The Symposium, The Republic and The Laws. In The Ion, he advocated poetry as a genuine piece of imaginative literature, but in The Republic which is a treatise on his concepts of Ideal State, he rejected poetry on moral and philosophical grounds.
Plato was a great moral philosopher and his primary concentration was to induce moral values in the society and to seek the ultimate Truth. So when he examines poetry his tool is rather moral and not aesthetic. He confused aesthetics with morality and ultimately concluded poetry as immoral and imitative in nature. On the other hand, Aristotle – the most distinguished disciple of Plato – was a critic, scholar, logician and practical philosopher. The master was an inspired genius every way greater than the disciple except in logic, analysis and commonsense. He is known for his critical treatises: (i) The Poetics and (ii) The Rhetoric, dealing with art of poetry and art of speaking, respectively. Aristotle examines poetry as a form of art and evaluates its constituent elements on the basis of its aesthetic beauty. For the centuries, Aristotle had been considered as a law-giver in the field of criticism in Europe. Aristotle actually observed the then available forms of literature and analyzed them and codified the rules. In his work he has described the characteristics of Tragedy, Comedy and Epic in elaborative manner. But unfortunately, the library of Athens was burnt down in which the most part of his treatise was lost whatever is available at present is considered as The Poetics. Fortunately we find a detailed note on Tragedy, which throws light also on the fundamental elements of good literature.