Worksheet
This blog is in response to the questions given in blogspot based on Aristotle's Poetics by Dr. Dilip Barad sir. I have already published a blog on Aristotle’s Poetics.How far do you agree with Plato’s objection to freedom of expression and artistic liberty enjoyed by creative writers? Name the texts (novels, plays, poems, movies, TV soaps etc. which can be rightfully objected to and banned with reference to Plato’s objections).
I have written another blog on Aristotle’s Poetics in which I have written about Plato's objections and also defense or Aristotle to it. To read the blog please CLICK HERE.
Plato had an objection that the literary writers are writing their work which are baseless in terms of morals, ethics and educational point of view. The writers of that time considered god or divine power to be a part of themselves, someone who is from common human beings. Plato objected to it saying God should remain better than human beings but poets depict them the same as human or lesser than human beings. The main three objections Plato had against artistic/ literary work were not being ethical, Philosophical and pragmatic.
Platonism supported to stop the literary writing because it was against ethics and moral it was derogating nature, god.
Similarly in contemporary times we find many movies, which talk about the sensible topics and the topics not acceptable by the society and so they are not being released. We can say that we are still supporting Platonism. How? We are not ready to accept any literary work which is against us or our ethics. Still society as Plato is not able to understand that literature, any form of literature has its own freedom to write or make, we can't stop writers or directors from doing their work.
Literature is all about imagination, changes can be made by the creator as they wish to. If we look at the recent incident of the Padmavat movie, It was stopped from being released on the basis of culture. People opposed it but it's difficult to understand for the society that it has historical references and it has not claimed to be a true story of a queen.
Dazed in Doon (2010), depicted the story of a boy who is studying at the prestigious Doon School and the life he leads there. The school did not find it amusing to say the least and believed that it spoiled the name and heritage of the school and hence got the film stalled. The reason for school’s insecurity might be society, because people start relating to it; they don't realize that it's a movie, a literary form which has freedom of imagination.
Unfreedom (2015) was a modern-day thriller which talks about a lesbian love story entangled within an Islamic terrorism-related angle. Bringing together two 'taboos' in one movie. But it was banned as the society is not mature enough to see the reality of the world. People are still with the orthodox mindset.
A brief note on the tragedies which I studied in my B.A. Programme, whether they are following the Aristotelian literary conditions or not.
The tragedies I studied in my BA programme are:
- All My Sons- Arthur Miller
- Tughlaq- Girish Karnad
- Othello- William Shakespeare
- The Hairy Ape- Eugene O'Neill
Othello an Aristotelian Literary conditions:
As a playwright, Shakespeare used Aristotle’s guidelines to tragedy when writing Othello. The play that was created revolved around the tragic hero, Othello, whose tragic flaw transformed him from a nobleman into a destructive creature, which would inevitably bring him to his downfall. This transformation follows an organic movement of the complex plot from the beginning, middle, to the end of the drama while keeping the tragic hero consistent and also real. As the play moves on the audience feels pity for the tragic hero as well as fear for themselves as they watch the event taking place on stage. Othello can be seen as one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies, because it follows the guidelines set up by Aristotle’s Poetics. But Shakespeare didn’t write strictly Aristotelian tragedies. He ignored the unities of time, place, and action. The action of his plays takes place over time longer than a day, in more than one place, and often with more than one plot.
All My Sons:
Arthur Miller’s ‘All My Sons' is one of the texts which follows a tradition of the Aristotelian Tragedy as the tragic hero of the play; Joe Keller undergoes every major characteristic that a tragic hero of Aristotle faces. Like an Aristotelian tragic hero- he is true to life, he is neither a completely virtuous man nor a complete wicked but a representative of normal human beings. He faces downfall due to his ambition and commits suicided at the end. His hamartia was sending faulty oxygen cylinders for the soldiers in the war. We do feel catharsis with the characters of ‘All my sons’, especially pity on the family of Joe after the death of Joe. All my Sons is similar to Aristotelian tragedy but it cannot be an Aristotelian tragedy.
The Hairy Ape:
The Hairy ape can be considered a tragedy as the protagonist is having a downfall but it can not be considered as a fall due to a tragic flaw. Also according to the definition of the tragic hero, It does not have a hero of a higher rank; the tragedy is of a layman who suffers from a sense of belonging in the modern world. he faces conflict with his surroundings and his insult by a wealthy lady Mildred Douglas turns Yank avenge upon her. He feels alienated and an outsider, especially when he is compared with an ape and he is called a ‘hairy ape’. He is constantly reminded that he ‘does not belong’. The subtitle ‘A comedy of Ancient and Modern World’ is a satirical title by Eugene O’Neill which fails to arouse pity and fear and thus catharsis is not as effective as the Aristotelian Tragedy. So it can be considered that “The Hairy Ape” does not follow Aristotelian literary tradition.
Here I have written about my understanding. If you find any changes to be done or queries please do comment.
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