Major Themes
Cathartic Reversal
Aristotle argues that the best tragedies - and thus the best plays, since Aristotle considers tragedy
to be the highest dramatic form - use reversal and recognition to achieve catharsis. He writes that
reversal works with a story's spine or center to ensure that the hero comes full circle. Oedipus is
his exemplar of a hero who undergoes such a reversal and thus has cathartic self-recognition.
Aristotle considers catharsis to be a form of redemption. For instance, even though Oedipus'
recognition is tragic it still redeems him: he is no longer living in ignorance of his tragedy but
instead has accepted fate.
And redemption is not the only result of catharsis; the audience too undergoes a catharsis of sorts
in a good drama. The hero's catharsis induces both pity and fear in the audience: pity for the
hero, and fear that his fate could happen to us.
Complication and Denouement
There are only two parts to a good drama, says Aristotle - the rising action leading to the climax,
which is known as the complication, and the denouement, or the 'unraveling' that follows the
climax. This twofold movement follows Aristotle's theory of poetic unity. The complication
leads up to the revelation of the unity at the heart of the work. After this revelation, a play
naturally turns to the denouement, in which the significance and ramifications of the unity are
explored and resolved.
The Imitative Nature of Art
There are two common ways to think of art: some consider it to be an expression of what is
original and unusual in human thinking; Aristotle, on the other hand, argues that that art is
'imitative,' that is to say, representative of life. This imitative quality fascinates Aristotle. He
devotes much of the Poetics to exploring the methods, significance, and consequences of this
imitation of life. Aristotle concludes that art's imitative tendencies are expressed in one of three
ways: a poet attempts to portray our world as it is, as we think it is, or as it ought to be.
The Standard of Poetic Judgment
Aristotle thinks that this tendency to criticize a work of art for factual errors - such as lack of
historical accuracy - is misguided. He believes that instead we should a judge work according to
its success at imitating the world. If the imitation is carried out with integrity and if the artwork's
'unity' is intact at its conclusion, a simple error in accuracy will do little to blemish this greater
success. Art, in other words, should be judged aesthetically, not scientifically.
Tragedy vs. Epic Poetry
In Aristotle's time, the critics considered epic poetry to be the supreme art form, but to Aristotle,
tragedy is the better of the two forms. Aristotle believes that tragedy, like the epic, can entertain
and edify in its written form, but also has the added dimension of being able to translate onstage
into a drama of spectacle and music, capable of being digested in one sitting.
Tragic Hero
The tragic hero, in Aristotle's view of drama, is not an eminently 'good' man; nor is he
necessarily a paragon of virtue that is felled by adversity. Instead, the hero has some 'frailty' or
flaw that is evident from the outset of a play that eventually ensures his doom. The audience,
moreover, must be able to identify with this tragic flaw.
The Unity of Poetry
Aristotle often speaks of the unity of poetry in the Poetics; what he means by "unity," however,
is sometimes misunderstood. Unity refers to the ability of the best dramatic plots to revolve
around a central axis that 'unites' all the action. Aristotle believes that a unified drama will have a
'spine': a central idea which motivates all the action, character, thoughts, diction and spectacle in
the play.
