Aristotle’s Definition of Tragedy and its Elements:

         It is clearly seen that Aristotle was more interested in tragedy rather than comedy or epic. In his Poetics, he compares tragedy to such other metrical forms as comedy and epic. Aristotle identifies tragedy as the most refined version of poetry dealing with lofty matters He traces a brief and speculative history of tragedy as it evolved from dithyrambic hymns in praise of the god Dionysus. He defines tragedy as – 

“Tragedy then is an imitation of an action, that is serious, complete and of a certain magnitude, the language embellished with each kind artistic ornaments, the several kind being found of in separate part of the play, in form of action not narrative, through the pity and fear, effecting a proper purigation of these harmful emotions…”

       Aristotle’s Definition of Tragedy can be divided in to two parts – the first part of the definition deals with the nature of the tragedy which including first three clauses. The first part of the definition discusses the following three aspects:

(i) The Object: The nature of tragedy is defined by what is imitated.

(ii) The Medium: By that in which imitation occurs.

(iii) The manner: How the imitation occurs.

        The second part of the definition describes the function of tragedy. The function of tragedy is ‘Katharsis’ (catharsis), which Aristotle did not care to explain it in detail.

        Aristotle says that tragedy is an imitation of an action. The action of tragedy should be serious and complete and of certain magnitude. The language of tragedy should be embellished (decorated) with the each kind of ornaments. Its various ingredients (components) should be traced separately. The form of tragedy should not be narrative. The tragedy should be presented in such a way that it can arouse pity and fear. It should be capable of effecting proper ‘catharsis’ or a purgation of fear and pity.

        Thus, Aristotle’s definition of tragedy indicated several elements of tragedy. According to him a tragedy consists of six elements. They are as under:

(1) Plot   (2)   Character   (3)   Thought   (4)   Diction   (5) Songs/Melody   (6)   Spectacle

Let’s discuss elements of tragedy in brief:

Plot:

Aristotle has regarded the plot as the most important I tragedy. Plot means the arrangement of the incidents or situation. He says that tragedy is an imitation but not a men but an imitation of action and life, of happiness and misery. And life consists of action, and its end is a mode of activity, not a quality. Without plot there cannot be tragedy.  And so Aristotle says that –

 “Plot is the soul of the tragedy.”

Aristotle goes on to discuss the structure of the ideal tragic plot and spends several chapters on its requirements. He says that the plot must be a complete whole — with a definite beginning, middle, and end — and its length should be such that the spectators can comprehend without difficulty both its separate parts and its overall unity. Moreover, the plot requires a single central theme in which all the elements are logically related to demonstrate the change in the protagonist's fortunes, with emphasis on the dramatic causation and probability of the events. In short plot must contain a powerful appeal to the emotion of pity and fear. The plot is the first principle in tragedy.

Character: 

character determines men's qualities, but it is their action that makes them happy or wretched. The purpose of action in the tragedy, therefore, is not the representation of character: character comes in as contributing to the action. Hence the incidents and the plot are the end of the tragedy; and the end is the chief thing of all. Without action there cannot be a tragedy; there may be one without character. . . . The plot, then, is the first principle, and, as it were, the soul of a tragedy: character holds the second place.

Aristotle has given four types of hero and the characteristics:

 a) A good man-coming to bad end,

 b) A bad man-coming to good end,

 c) A bad man-coming to bad end,

 d) A rather good man-coming to bad end. 

      He gives the idea about error of judgment. Just one weakness in the hero's character makes his downfall. That character's misfortune effects the entire people staying round about him. Aristotle terms it as “Hamartia”. Later A.C. Bradley translates it as “Tragic Flaw”. Thus, the character is second important element of tragedy. The character of tragedy must be good and appropriate; character should be real and they may be like reality in action

Thought:

      Concerning Thought, we may assume what is said in the Rhetoric, to which inquiry the subject more strictly belongs. Under Thought is included every effect which has to be produced by speech, the subdivisions being,--proof and refutation; the excitation of the feelings, such as pity, fear, anger, and the like; the suggestion of importance or its opposite. Now, it is evident that the dramatic incidents must be treated from the same points of view as the dramatic speeches, when the object is to evoke the sense of pity, fear, importance, or probability. The only difference is, that the incidents should speak for themselves without verbal exposition; while the effects aimed at in speech should be produced by the speaker, and as a result of the speech. For what were the business of a speaker, if the Thought were revealed quite apart from what he says?

Diction:

       Next, as regards Diction. One branch of the inquiry treats of the Modes of Utterance. But this province of knowledge belongs to the art of Delivery and to the masters of that science. It includes, for instance,--what is a command, a prayer, a statement, a threat, a question, an answer, and so forth. To know or not to know these things involves no serious censure upon the poet's art. For who can admit the fault imputed to Homer by Protagoras,--that in the words, 'Sing, goddess, of the wrath,' he gives a command under the idea that he utters a prayer? For to tell some one to do a thing or not to do it is, he says, a command. We may, therefore, pass this over as an inquiry that belongs to another art, not to poetry.

Songs/Melody:

       Song is one of these embellishments. Aristotle says that the chorus should have importance like the actor. They should integrate into the play like an actor. It should have contribution to the plot of the play. Its purpose is also to evoke or intensify the emotion of the audience.  It was a necessary part in Greek drama.

Spectacle:

       The spectacle is the pleasure of tragedy. Spectacle is the overall visual appearance of the stage and the actor. ''the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the port.''  It is related with the stage performance. But he also says that those who rely on spectacle create a sense which is not of the terrible, but only of the monstrous effect.

Short Story - Meaning and Characteristics and features of good short story

• INTRODUCTION     

    Like, a novel, the modern short story always shows us something of how people respond to life. The method of the short story is more limited than that of a novel. A novel tries to create a world of its own reality in which its characters developed. In some novels we are apparently shown the ‘whole life’ of a character. As it is impossible to write about every second of that character’s existence, the novelist presents the ‘whole life’ in a series of moments, key incidents that create a strong sense of the kind of persons he or she has invented.

• Depiction of glimpse of individuals:

             On the other hand the short story, presents only a glimpse of individuals – either through a dramatic incident, or by showing them in an everyday situation, or by showing fleeting moments from their lives – from which the reader may gain some, Thus the short story does  not shows an entire impression of characters.  While reading novel we feel that we really know characters in a novel, and may respond to them as to people in real life, like the novel it is really possible to feel the same for a character in short story.

• Lifelike Characters:

                Characters in the short story are closer to the people in real life with which we have fleeting contact, like chance meetings, holiday acquaintances. We share time with them but know little about them, of their past or of what they are really like- and then perhaps loose contact. All that remains in a brief impression based on a few shared moments. Much of the appeal of the short story lies in this incompleteness. It raises questions, doubts, ambiguities. The incompleteness is rather like that of something that is not resolved. More is suggested in a short story than it ever tells us. Our imagination is always creatively engaged.

• Suggestiveness

          Usually the short story raises more questions than it answers. It arouses our curiosity. – Why do certain characters behave as they do? What will they do next? Just as poetry often seeks to communicate feeling or emotion which is often difficult – perhaps impossible – to put into words, so the ‘incompleteness’ of the story can hint at states of mind or feeling common to us all, but difficult to bring out with clarity. 

             Like a poem a short story can rely on a kind of ‘suggestiveness’, for example where it tries to evoke a mood rather than showing it. It certainly shares some qualities with poetry. – It seems no accident that poets like Walter de la Mare, Dylan Thomas and Ted Huges have also written short stories.

                    The short story is often based around a single key moment or incident in the life of the characters. At times it represents a turning point in a character’s life. It can be a moment that actually triggers tension or conflict between two individuals, or an individual and society. It may be less the moment itself than the characters response to it. In such cases the key moment might already have occurred or been reported. Some moments can be trivial and ordinary; others seem dramatic and quite out of ordinary.

• Dynamic in Nature:

                 The short story can show change in the main character, not though one incident but though several small moments at a significant time in character’s life. While still lacking the space for the full psychological development of the character, this kind of story might look at a period in the character’s life rather than at a specific isolated moment. 

  

 Features of a good short story 

"A good short story reflects life and does not contain black and white characters"

Themes of short story could be topical or universal. Topical themes have a sense of immediacy and particularity. They would be pertinent to a particular place and time. Topical themes evoke greater interest and has immediate and contemporary relevance. 

          On the other hand, there are problems, conflicts, and experiences that man has always faced and would continue to face irrespective of time and place. Such things are as for instance, birth and death, love and hate, good and evil, grief, pain and suffering. They are of universal significance. Such themes have greater depth and endurance. It is said that great stories like symphonies contain more than one theme. 

    The topical subjects may well become 'the rags of time’. But themes of universal significance, artistically well crafted into stories form would be according to W.B. Yeats “Monuments of their own significance, gathered into artifice of eternity.'

             A short story may not deal with a vague or general experience. It is a section of a particular experience, special and isolated. But the particularity of the experience a universality of application in theme and value. The best stories contain both. 

             In James Joyce's words, a short story must have 'epiphany' which means self revelation or getting a sudden vision of life. This is a self awareness and a sense of profound insight, the protagonist or hero is exposed to, towards the end. It is said that a good short story is like a diamond; it has many facets. For example, it may reflects the facets of society, the characters, feelings, life etc.

One Act Play - Meaning, Origin, History and Characteristics

        Origin and History of One Act Play

• Meaning of One Act Play

The words “one act play” Plainly stated the it is a play in one-act. This simple definition conveys all that is to be said about one-act plays. Let us analyses this bald statement.

1) It is a play-that is, it is meant to be performed or enacted.

2) It is a short play (of one act) as distinct from a long play (of three or five acts).

• Origin and History

           One-Act plays were written & staged throughout the 18th & 19th centuries as “The Curtain Raisers” or “The after Pieces”. But the origin of one-act plays can be traced to the satyr plays of the Greeks of the 4th century B.C. which were intended to provide relief at the end of the performance of serious tragedies. The modem one-act plays and the Greek satyr plays share a common trait-both can be enjoyed without too much of expense of effort or of time.

        In the Middle Ages (in the 14th and the 15th centuries), there were short there were short plays which dealt with Christian subjects and scriptural themes. These were called the medieval miracle and mystery plays. There was also another of a similar category called the Morality play, of which the outstanding examples was Everyman. Written in the 15th century, Everyman, fits in well with the one-act plays of modem times.

     The 16th century saw the rise and glory of great English drama. The Elizabethan drama was written for professional actors and professional theatre. But in the second half of the 16th century short interludes were written to be performed between two long miracle or mystery plays or between the courses of a banquet. These were truly one-act plays requiring just a few actors and capable of being performed in less than half an hour's time.

       In the 18th century Fielding's Tom Thumb and Sheridan's The Critic deserve to be mentioned in any account of one-act plays. From the above account it is evident that one-act play is not unique to the 20th century, but since the end of the First World War, there has been a proliferation of this kind in the English theatre world. Two reasons can be attributed for this large output of one-act plays the rise of the amateur drama of radio and television

         So, we can say that ----

        The origin of the one-act play may be traced to the very beginning of drama  in ancient Greece, Cyclops, a play on the forest God , by Euripides, is an early example. But, It was great Norwegian dramatist Ibsen, who, for the first time, introduced the minute stage-directions into the one-act play. Before him, one-act plays were written in poetry, but he made prose the medium of his one-act plays. In short, he made the drama, simple & real , & brought it nearer to everyday life. He made the modern one-act play what it is & his example has been widely followed. George Bernard Shaw & John Galsworthy are two of his greatest followers.

         The one-act play requires no elaborate setting & costumes, & so comes in handy to be staged in amateur dramatic societies & clubs.

          One-act plays by major dramatists —–

 (i)  Anton Chekhov —– A Marriage Proposal (1890)

 (ii) August Strindberg —–Pariah (1889)

                                        Motherly Love (1892)

                                        The First Warning (1892)

 (iii) Thornton Wilder —-The Long Christmas Dinner (1931)

 (iv) Eugene Ionesco —- The Bald Soprano (1950)

 (v)  Arthur Miller —-A Memory of Two Mondays (1955)

 (vi) Samuel Beckett —- Krapp’s Last Tape (1958)

 (vii) Israel Horovitz —-Line (1974)

 (viii) Edward Albee —- The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (2002)

• Chief Characteristics of One Act Play

1. One-act play is a play that has only one act, but may consist of one or more scenes.

2. One-act plays are usually written in a concise manner.

3. It deals with a single dominant situation, & aims at producing a single effect.

4. It deals with only one theme developed through one situation to one climax in order to produce the maximum of effect.

5. It treats the problems of everyday life as marriage, punishment for crimes, labor conditions, divorce, etc.

6. The one-act play, like the longer drama, should have beginning, a middle & an end. It may be divided into four stages :

- The Exposition, 

-The Conflict, 

-The Climax & 

-The Denouement.  

             The exposition is usually brief, serves as an  introduction to the play. It is through the conflict that the action of the drama develops. It is the very backbone of the one-act play. Climax is the turning point of the drama. It  is an important part of the one-act play & constitutes its moment    of supreme interest. The Denouement is very brief & often overlaps with climax.

7. Action begins right at the start of the play.

8. There are no breaks in the action, that is , it is continuous       since its a short play; no intervals.

9. Everything superfluous is to be strictly avoided as the play is short & the action takes place within a short period of time. It introduces elaborate stage directions to minimize the time taken by the action itself.

10. The creation of mood, or atmosphere is indispensable to its success.

11. There are three dramatic unities which are observed in the one-act play. The unities are —- the unity of time, unity of place & the unity of action.

12. It aims at simplicity of plot ; concentration of action & unity of impression. It does not rely on spectacular effects & common dramatic tricks of old.

13. The characters in a one-act play are limited in number. Generally, there are not more than two or three principal characters.

14. There is no full development of character. All the different aspects of a character are not presented. The attention is focused on only one or two salient aspects of character & they are brought out by placing the characters in different situations & circumstances. The author implies the past & intimates the future of a character by presenting a crucial moment in the life of that character.

15. There is an influence of realism. The characters in the modern one-act play are ordinary men & women. It depicts characters that seems to be real & related to everyday life.

16. It must present a question, for which the audience eagerly awaits the answer.

17. Its language is simple & can be followed without any strain. All superfluity is to be avoided in the dialogue. The dialogue must be purposeful; the best dialogue is that which does several things at one time. Every word is to be carefully chosen & sentences must be compact & condensed. Effort should be made to say, whatever is to be said, in the least possible words. Thus, the language of the dialogue should be simple , brief & easy to understand . Long speeches & arguments & long sentences would be out of place & would lessen the charm & interest of the play.