Although I quite respect Aristotle for his work in the scientific fields, (much of which has now been refuted, but he still gets props for figuring out what he did so long ago) his philosophical ideas often leave something to be desired in my opinion, and his thoughts on plays seem quite self-explanatory. If anything, he merely quantitatively articulated that which many of his relatively uneducated ancient Greek peers were presumably already thinking, and even if they weren't, Aristotle's articulations are ones which I don't necessarily believe should apply to our analysis of plays several millennia after his death. At any rate, this disagreement probably just stems from my general dislike of attempts to define aspects of art.
Moving on to how An Indiscretion and Shift might relate to Aristotle's ideas, some interesting comparisons arise, and the two go about their business in quite different ways. Considering a few of the aspects he outlines as components of plays, I'll begin with Plot, and therein his particular focus upon reversals and recognitions. An Indiscretion has constant reversals, the woman frequently refuting the suggestions of the man, and there is an interesting contrast in that the woman seems consistently in a cognitive stance regarding the situation, while the man is gradually understanding the true nature of his predicament. Shift functions a bit differently, and the plot develops without the extensive use of Aristotle's beloved reversals. However, both plays share the similarity that actions in the play do not contribute too greatly to the underlying story. As for his second point, Character, Aristotle pointed out that we watch plays such that we can understand, enjoy, and potentially learn from the actions of the people in the plays, and an association with those people can greatly contribute to the impact a particular play may have upon an observer. The mistakes of the man in An Indiscretion indicate a humanity in his character, and the woman's critical opinions make for an interesting interaction where both of the characters become defined. Relative to the events of the play, the elaboration of the natures of the characters is less distinct in Shift than in An Indiscretion, but the fact that we are shown the way that the characters perceive of the situation they are in provides us with a different type of insight.
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Oliver -- good, and good point about (1) Aristotle's stating the obvious and (2) Aristotle speaking to us from well beyond the grave. I'd suggest, however, that Aristotle set himself the task of stating the obvious...I don't think he would have said what he was laying out was rocket science.
ReplyDeleteMe, I like to state the obvious...I think stating the obvious is the bedrock of CRAFT (as opposed to art). I suspect, sometimes, that art is what happens when we're paying attention to it, when we are, instead, focused on craft. You can't make a beautiful clock until you can make a functional clock.