Aristotle's Concept of Plot and Character Relationship, their Comparative Importance, Plot as the "Soul" of Tragedy

Q.8:     Plot and Character, their Comparative Importance, Plot as the "Soul" of Tragedy.

Ans.    Aristotle has mentioned six formative or constituent elements of a tragedy and of these elements he considers the plot as the most important. He explains that Plot is the first principle, the primary thing, the fundamental thing. It is "the soul of tragedy", while character is only of a secondary importance. He goes to the extent of saying that,

"A tragedy is impossible without plot, but there may be one without character."

No statement in “The Poetics” has raised such a storm or protest and criticism as the present one. Some critics think that the statement is absurd and that it does not make sense.

But tragedy, according to Aristotle, is not an imitation of men, but of men in action. Action implies a process, the process of change from prosperity to adversity and every such action is made up of a number of events and incidents. Plot is the organisation of the incidents and events which make up the action of a tragedy. Furthermore, in the Aristotelian sense action is not a purely external act, but it is also an inward process, the expression of a man's inner self, his thoughts and emotions, in short, his mental processes, which are revealed in outward action. In drama, the characters are not described; they enact their own story and so reveal themselves. Unlike an epic, Drama is performance, because we know the characters from their performance before our eyes, and not from what we are told about them. In short, plot contains the kernel of that action which is the object of a tragedy to represent. It is the plot which shows a character passing from prosperity to adversity, as a result of his own actions. It includes outward events as well as the motives and mental processes which determine those events. Plot, therefore, is of paramount importance. Obviously, there can be no tragedy without plot.

Humphrey House emphasizes that the word “character” can be used in two senses. It may mean (1) dramatic personages, or (2) the bent or tendency or habit of mind, which can be revealed only in what a dramatic personage says or does. In The Poetics Aristotle has used two very significant words Ethos and Dionoia which are the two aspects or elements which constitute the character of a living person. Character, in its most comprehensive sense, is made up of both these elements. Ethos means the moral element, the moral disposition, and Dionoia means the thought, the intellectual element, which determines all rational conduct, and through which the moral self of a person finds outward expression. In drama as in real life, both thought and moral bent of a person reveal themselves through his speeches and in his actions. If a person has a tendency to avoid the bad and follow the good path, he is virtuous, otherwise he is a wicked. Now such a tendency to good or bad is not inherent by nature, but is formed as a result of past actions.

All human beings have certain physical capacities by nature. e.g. the physical senses of seeing and hearing are in us by nature; we do not have to acquire these senses by acts of seeing and hearing. In so far as, we have a capacity for action, by nature it is physical action, which is ethically neutral or indifferent, and, therefore, does not involve the roll of character at all. Our virtues and vices, our moral self, we acquire in so far as we have acted in the past, well or bad. According to Humphrey House,

"We learn to become good or bad by acting well or ill, just as a builder learns to build by building. By repeated acts of a certain kind, we acquire a habit or bent of character. In this way, qualities of character are legacies of past acts".

In real life, quite apart from drama, character is subordinate to action because it is a product of action, influenced by action, and reveals itself through action. Aristotle makes character subordinate to action in tragedy as well. When Aristotle says that plot is "the soul of tragedy", and character only secondary, he uses the word character in the second sense, i.e., for the moral bent of a dramatic personage. Plot is the systematic ordering organisation of action, and it is only through such action that character, (the moral tendency of a particular dramatic personage) is revealed.

“Character" in the ethical sense is realised or actualised only in action.”

 Thus plot brings out character, hence it has primary importance. In life, and so in drama, it is action or plot, which reveals character or the moral nature of a dramatic personage. So, Character can be realised only through plot.

The Choice of a character has great significance. When Aristotle says there may be tragedies without character, he means that the dramatic personages may suffer and act, but may not reveal their character, i.e., their moral bent. He says that the moral bent of a character is revealed by "means" he chooses to achieve those ends. Their moral tendency may not be revealed, if they are not forced to make a 'choice'; if an opportunity to decide upon a particular course of action may never be offered to them. If they are not forced to choose one out of a number of alternatives before them, so there may be no revelation of character. It is this deliberation or this thought about the means to an end, which determines the individuality of a character, even when the characters are types or representatives of some age, sex, profession, or 'status'. However, it would be wrong to say that Aristotle minimised the individuality of character. In fact, he is not the advocate of a generalised or 'typical' handling of a character. His theory of action itself guarantees the subtlest development of character. Even when the characters are 'typical', they would be easily distinguished from each other by the end, which they desire, and the means which they choose to achieve these ends. In every situation, in every moment of crisis, they would be forced to make a 'choice', and this choice will bring out their individuality, the differences in their respective moral natures. Before making their respective 'choices', they will deliberate, and their deliberation may be expressed in their speeches. It is this element of deliberation, it revels what they seek and what they avoid, it makes their speech expressive of character. Such speeches are a form of action; they reveal the inward movement toward the choice which the character ultimately makes. Thus Samson's speeches in Milton's Samson Agonistes are a form of action, for they help him to make his choice, and lead directly to the final catastrophe. They are expressive of his moral grandeur.

In Drama, characters exist as characters only in what they say or do. They exist by virtue of their dramatic function. Therefore, a character is not actualised unless it is "in action". Just as in sports, it is the movement of a sportsman or player, not the physical built, which leads to victory, so in life and in drama, it is action which leads to success or failure, happiness or misery. Thus character is subordinate to plot which is the equivalent of action in life. There may be tragedies without character in the sense that the dramatic personages may suffer and act, but they may act without knowing the cause, without adequately revealing their moral bent or tendency, without showing their minds working upon the 'means', which they adopt for the realisation of their 'ends'.

If we observe, we come to know that the dramatic history also justifies the soundness of Aristotle's dictum. There have been successful dramas without character; on the other hand dramas without a suitable plot have been failures. Oedipus Tyrannous, Aristotle's ideal play, is a play in which there is a plot but no 'character', in the sense that the fate of the hero is not determined by his own actions. King Oedipus is a man doomed before his birth; in his case character is not destiny. "In detective-plays character tends to be sub-ordinate to intrigue, and this is the first and the most famous of detective-plays"-(F.L. Lucas). On the other hand, a play without plot would be a play in which there is no action, or in which nothing happens. There would be no drama at all.

In modern drama, a richer and more varied inner life is opened up to the reader. The sense of personality is deepened. Modern dramatists try to explore the hidden recesses of human nature, reproduce the rarer and more abnormal states of feeling, but they are unable to rise above the pathological study of man. Indeed, the conscious analysis of character and his motive, even where the study of morbid conditions of the character is not added, has marred the dramatic effect of many modern productions. In general, the modern, introspective habit and the psychological interest in the character, has produced many dramatic lyrics, but few dramas in the real sense.

To conclude, it can be said that Plot is the first necessity of the drama. It is primary while character is secondary. There can be a tragedy without a character, but there can be not tragedy without plot.

Points to Remember:

1.                  Introduction.

2.                  Plot is the soul of a tragedy.

3.                  Tragedy is the imitation of men in action.

4.                  Plot is the organization of incidents.

5.                  There can be no tragedy without plot.

6.                  The importance of choice.

7.                  Character is subordinate to action.

8.                  Conclusion.

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