Aristotle as applied to "An Indiscretion" and "Shift"

Aristotle, the "master of observation and classification," laid down a series of rules that he felt all plays should follow in order to be successful. His writings, contained in his work Poetics, have become a standard by which many people analyze plays.

The plays that we looked at in class, "An Indiscretion" and "Shift", do not fully adhere to Aristotle's rules. For example, Aristotle believed that plot was the most important element of a play. And while there is plot to be found in both of these pieces, they are established by dialogue and do not really contain the trajectory that Aristotle believed a play should have. The beginnings are both beginnings, and while both stories represent a change over time, with the Woman in "An Indiscretion" revealing that she has little faith in her husband and Dane deciding to leave in "Shift,"they both lack a direct recognition. None of the characters come to acquire much knowledge to speak of, and instead both plays leave the reader with somewhat foreboding endings that lack resolve. There is also little development or depth of character established in both.

However, It is likely that many of these differences can be attributed to the fact that the epic, and longer plays in general, where in vogue during Aristotle's time. This also speaks to Aristotle's ideas about the magnitude. He would have likely felt that thes plays are too short or perhaps too uneventful. They are both certainly too brief for "bad fortune to change to good" or vice versa.