let's consider aristotle's thoughts on drama by eguriase s. m. okaka

LET’s CONSIDER ARITOTLE’s THOUGHTs on DRAMA

BY EGURIASE S. M. OKAKA Aristotle was born in the city of Stagira in northern Greece during the classical period. His father Nicomachus, died when he was a child, and he was later brought up by a guardian. At 17 he joined Plato’s Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of 37 (c.347 BC). Aristotle was a student of Plato and after his death; he left Athens at the request of Philip II of Macedon to tutor his son Alexandra the great. Aristotle was an ancient Greek polymath, one of the greatest in his time like his tutor and mentor Plato. He wrote on many subjects including the arts. He was very much

interested in the art. He wrote about drama, poems, play etc. he even describes what tragedy and comedy is. He was a great scholar in his time. Alexandra the great was one of the students of Aristotle. He was born in Stagira near Athens. Aristotle wrote greatly about the art. His greatest works have survived over 100 years called ‘The Poetics’. Aristotle’s Thoughts on Drama Tragedy is a representation of an action that is worth serious, complete in itself and of some magnitude in language, and by a variety of artistic device, appropriate to the several parts of a play; presented in a form of action not narration; by means of pity and bring about the purging of such emotions. Aristotle in his book mentioned six elements of drama which must be present in a play before it can be called a play. They include:  Plot  Character/Characterization  Diction/Language  Music/Dance  Spectacle Of the six elements of drama, Aristotle says the most important is the plot. Aristotle explains: Plot as the architectural framework/arrangement of the entire event that happened in the play. There are two types of plot: the Simple plot and the Complex plot. The simple plot can also be called the linear plot while the Complex plot can also be called non-linear plot. • Simple Plot is a plot that the stories are told in a logically ordered from the beginning to the end of the story. • Complex Plot: it is when a story is not arranged logically.  Character/Characterization: This has to do with the presentation of the different dramatic personae in a play.  Diction: Has to do with the language used in the play. The diction helps to convey the message to the audience and can also serve as the writer’s vehicle of thoughts.

 Music/Dance or we can simply call it song: There are some lines that the character does not say he sings them. There are two types of song Contextual and Incidental songs. • Contextual Song: This is a song that is sung within the text when a character is supposed to say his line but instead he sings it. • Incidental Song: This is a song that is being written to suite an event.  Spectacle: The least element of tragedy is spectacle. This is the visual element of a play clearly seen on stage. It does not depend on the writer or creator instead on the director or actor on stage. Aristotle made a thoughtful analysis of drama in his book ‘Aristotle’s Poetics’. His book presents the relativity of drama to man in the lines of his thoughtful presentations. It is entirely clear to us that if the above six elements of drama are not present in a play it can never be referred to as such as propounded by Aristotle’s Poetics. By Eguriase S. M. Okaka