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ΔΙΠΛΟΥΣ ΜΥΘΟΣ1
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2009
Extract
Aristotle's Poetics is a treatise notoriously difficult to understand, largely because of Aristotle's treatment of his theme, with its elliptical thought and loose terminology, but also because Aristotle's influence on subsequent drama and criticism makes it difficult to isolate the original thought from subsequent attempts at implementation or interpretation. However, as Aristotle devotes most of his treatise to tragedy—despite the wider subject he professes—and in discussing tragedy deals most extensively with plot, his views on the tragic plot should be reasonably clear. The passages cited have some importance for the understanding of his views.
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References
page 95 note 2 The following editions and commentaries will be cited by author's name alone: Butcher, S. H., Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine Art, 4th edn., London, 1911;Google ScholarBy-water, I., Aristotle on the Art of Poetry, Oxford, 1909;Google ScholarElse, G. F., Aristotle's Poetics: the Argument, Harvard, 1957;CrossRefGoogle ScholarGudeman, A., Aristoteles 
, Berlin, 1934;Google ScholarHardy, J., Aristote: Poétique, Paris, 1932;Google ScholarKassel, R., Aristotelis de arte poetica liber, Oxford, 1965;Google ScholarLucas, D. W., Aristotle Poetics, Oxford, 1968;Google ScholarRostagni, A., Aristotele Poetica, 2nd edn., Turin, 1945.Google Scholar
page 95 note 3 Bywater on 1452b31.
page 95 note 4 For an important new discussion of the term 
, see Lucas, Appendix III.
page 95 note 5 Gudeman on 145a13 defends Aristotle on the charge of inconsistency, arguing that he is temporarily adopting the terminology of those with whom he disagrees. The apologia is unconvincing.
page 95 note 6 Bywater, Else, Gudeman, Hardy, Lucas, Rostagni; also Atkins, J. W. H., Literary Criticism in Antiquity, i. 92.Google Scholar
page 96 note 1 Grube, G. M. A., The Greek and Roman Critics, 82, n. 1.Google Scholar
page 96 note 2 On 1453a32. Cf. Kühner-Gerth, ii. 2. 249.
page 96 note 3 It is, of course, commonplace with substantives. Two examples taken at random from the Poetics are: 1450a33, 
page 97 note 1 Twining, followed by Butcher and Hardy, deleted 
The text is retained, and the apparent tautology justified, by Bywater, Gudeman, Kassel, and Rostagni.
page 97 note 2 C.Q. xxi (1927), 119.Google Scholar
page 98 note 1 Il. 10. 134; Lys. 1. 9.
page 98 note 2 Cf. Lucas on 1453a32: ‘The Electra of Sophocles might supply an example from tragedy; it ends badly for the wicked Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, well, at least in the short term, for the more sympathetic Electra and Orestes. But many plays with happy endings contain no overwhelming misfortune for anyone, e.g. Helen, I.T., Philoctetes.’ (My italics.)
page 99 note 1 This suggestion is based, however, on the traditional explanation of double plot: Aristotle's expostulations are regarded as a reply to Plato's demands for a moralizing drama, which would give characters the fates they deserved.
page 99 note 2 That Aristotle had a low opinion of popular judgement is suggested by this passage, which criticizes the weakness of the public, and by implication censures playwrights who pandered to its tastes. The same impression is gained from 144ga8. There, the text is corrupt, but Aristotle seems to be hinting that audience reaction has no proper relevance to the assessment of tragedy.
page 100 note 1 Here, Aristotle's four categories of plot, enumerated at 1455b33 and 1459b9, are not at all helpful. These categories, 
should certainly include 
(Else, pp. 526-7, tries to insert 
at 1456a2, but in view of the four categories at 1459b9, his emendation is unconvincing), as well as 
in its second sense as ‘not 
’. The categories are not comprehensive, even within the framework of the Poetics, nor are they mutually exclusive. The schematic arrangement merely results in confusion, as it gives a false appearance of completeness.
page 100 note 2 Of course, the plays performed with it are lost, and it is possible that it was they which lost Sophocles first prize.
page 101 note 1 Thus one can argue that in Ajax, the hero is not forgotten by the audience after his death, as the play is still concerned with his body; or that Antigone is the tragedy of Creon all along, so that there is no real break after Antigone's last appearance; but Trachiniae, with its abrupt transition from Deianira to Heracles, is rather more intractable.
page 101 note 2 E.g. in Antigone, constant mention can be found of the concepts of piety and reverence.
page 101 note 3 In Antigone, the tragedies of Antigone and Creon lose none of their poignancy by being presented one after the other. Rather, the effect is heightened, as the attention of the audience is not divided.
page 101 note 4 In Trachiniae, the differences between Deianira and Heracles are perfectly clear, though the characters do not meet in the play.