Aristotle, Aristophanes and William Shakespeare are one of the most widely studied figures in English literature. University students studying an English major will no doubt have to familiarise themselves to the ideas and plays of three of the world’s most studied human beings.
The essay below is a distinction standard and focuses on how playwrights such as Aristophanes and Shakespeare are able to present plays with significant didactic potential to the audience.
Use the response below as a blueprint and a starting guide to understanding Aristotle’s ideas and how they can be incorporated into an analysis of comedy and tragedy plays. The question below is:
Schoolboys have a master to teach them, adults have poets. (Aristophanes, Frogs, l. 1056). Critically analyse the didactic possibilities of comedy and tragedy.
All texts, let alone those based around comedy and tragedy, possess the potential to provide audiences or readers with valuable lessons that explore the theme of morality. Comic and tragic texts such as Aristophanes’ Frogs (trans. 2007) and William Shakespeare’s Macbeth (1996) both employ the art of mimesis to provide commentary on the morality of their characters. Mimesis usually describes the process of imitation or re-representation of a universal action as performed by certain types of people (Aristotle Poetics 1449b 40ff). The more universal the action being re-represented in a text, the more likely the audience will undergo the katharsis process. Aristotle (Poetics 1449b 27ff) describes katharsis as a process that enables an audience member or reader to transform the emotional attachment they have with a text into a virtuous moral lesson that teaches one something about the reality in which they live. In Frogs, a universal action such as deception is re-represented in the text by its chief characters Dionysus and his slave Xanthias. The mimesis of deceit is also present in Macbeth through the portrayal of Lady Macbeth and her husband Macbeth. The imitation or re-representation of a universal action such as deceit in the preceding texts helps increase the audiences’ capacity to connect emotionally with the text, and use that connection to gather meaning about the morality present in comedic and tragic texts.
Aristotle (Poetics 1449b32ff) describes comedy as the mimesis of universal actions of inferior people that provides humorous or comedic relief to the audience. One of the ways a comedy such as Frogs increases its didactic potential is through its ability to ridicule key characters and their actions in a way that is humorous to the audience. By ridiculing the actions of key characters inferior to most people, comedy can enchant the audience, and at the same time, raise common concerns and fears about certain issues in society. In Frogs, the mimesis of the action of deception helps Frogs satire the social class structure in ancient Greece where the distinction between master and slave has been greatly blurred. Deceit is thus re-represented in Frogs when Dionysus and his slave Xanthias venture into Hades in order to bring back one of two playwrights – Euripides or Aeschylus. Aristophanes satires the deceptive and cowardly qualities of Dionysus by highlighting how he frequently changes his disguise with Xanthias in order to avoid trouble in Hades. Dionysus initially ventured into the underworld disguised as Heracles in a bid to appear imposing. When Dionysus however discovers that Aeacus – an enemy of Heracles – is present in the underworld, the god of theatre asks his slave Xanthias to wear the disguise of Heracles, “Come then, if you’re so very brave a man, will you be I, and take the hero’s club and lion’s skin, since you’re so monstrous plucky? And I’ll be now the slave, and bear the luggage.”(Frogs I. 442). Dionysus’ ability to employ his deceptive character out of cowardice not only generates a comic effect, but it also allows Aristophanes to provide satirical commentary on the social class problem in Athens. The changing of disguises between Dionysus and his slave Xanthias in Hades is used as a didactic tool by Aristophanes to comment on the social class confusion that existed in Athens. Slaves could now dress and act as the high-class citizens that were banished from Athens, and as a result, the literary standard in the city has dropped due to the absence of playwrights and citizens of educated background. Eventually, the cowardly and deceptive Dionysus chooses to bring back the noble playwright Aeschylus from Hades, “…Aeschylus, great and wise, go, save our state by the maxims rare of thy noble thought; and the fools chastise, for many a fool dwells there” (Frogs I. 1070). Dionysus’ decision to rescue Aeschylus over Euripides comes down to his belief that Aeschylus’ characters promote the virtue and heroism that the citizens of Athens need in order to rid themselves of their deceptive morality, “…look at the characters I left him, stalwart figures, larger than life. Men who didn’t shirk their duty. My heroes weren’t like these marketplace loafers, delinquents and rogues they write about nowadays. They were real heroes, breathing spears and lances, white-plumed helmets, breastplates and greaves; heroes with hearts of oxhide, seven layers thick” (Frogs I. 1016). By making a serious issue less serious, Aristophanes’ Frogs is able to provide the audience with didactic lessons about deceptive characters in Athens due to the satirical and comedic nature of the text. This comedic re-representation of deceit helps audiences form an emotional bond with the characters which in turn allows them to use such emotion in a way that helps them stand back and develop perspective regarding the cowardice behind deceptive behaviour.
The didactic possibilities of tragic texts are dependent on how the audience relates to the actions of certain characters in the story. Tragic texts can communicate valuable lessons on what constitutes moral and immoral behaviour by portraying human life in a way that connects deeply with the audience. With this in mind, Aristotle (Poetics 1452b34ff) believes that the best tragedies are those that succeed in making audience members or readers feel emotions such as pity or fear. These emotions enable audience members to undergo the process of katharsis. As mentioned earlier, the process of katharsis occurs when audience members, (who are emotionally invested in the play) use the emotions they feel for certain characters in a way that enables them to reflect and learn from the experiences of the character or action represented in the text. In other words, a person who is deeply interested and enthralled by the text will have a greater chance of realising the didactic possibilities of a text more so than a person who is not emotionally moved by that same text. The compassion or pity that one may feel for the characters in Macbeth helps us both learn about, and relate to the character and their actions in the text. In Macbeth, the mimesis of a universal action such as deceit helps the text improve its didactic possibilities by telling a story concerning the use of deception as a means to gain power. The re-representation of deceit becomes clear in scene 1, act 5 when Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth, “Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t” (Shakespeare 1.5. p. 862). This quote portrays the deceptive characteristics of Lady Macbeth and her ability to persuade her husband Macbeth into believing that he should reign as king of Scotland. She also convinces Macbeth that the only way to become king is to feign loyalty to the crown and at the same time plot the demise of king Duncan. Eventually, Macbeth’s deceptive behaviour leads him into betraying his friend Banquo, King Duncan as well as the public. However, the deceit employed by Lady Macbeth and Macbeth comes back to haunt them both. Consumed by guilt, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth begin to struggle with their self-deceptive nature and their lives become more unbearable as a result. The guilt that Lady Macbeth feels in particular during the sleepwalking scene showcases how the art of deceiving others can lead to big psychological problems. Eventually, she admits in her sleepwalking that she played a leading hand in Banquo’s murder, “Wash your hands, put your night-gown; look not so pale, I tell you again, Banquo’s buried: he cannot come out on’s grave” (Shakespeare 5. 1. p. 880). It is clear that Lady Macbeth is now a spiritually broken woman whose self-deception eventually leads to her suicide. Macbeth’s guilt over his deceptive nature also manifests when he utters “O! full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!” (3.2. p. 870) to Lady Macbeth. The death of Banquo has played a leading hand in making Macbeth regret his deceptive behaviour, particularly given that he now fears the ghost of Banquo coming back to haunt him, “Take any shape but that (Banquo’s) and my firm nerves shall never tremble or be alive again” (Shakespeare 3.4. p. 872). Like his wife, Macbeth’s overwhelming sense of guilt and betrayal has filled his mind with fear and doubt, “…I am cabin’d, cribb’d, confined, bound in to saucy doubts and fears.” (Shakespeare 3.4. p. 871). The mimesis of deceit throughout Macbeth thus aims to highlight how deceitful actions and self-deceptive behaviour can ruin the spiritual and moral health of a person. As mentioned earlier however, the audience or reader may only consume such didactic lessons from Macbeth if they can relate to the mimesis of deceit evident in the text. If audiences can become emotionally invested in the universal action being re-represented in Macbeth, then it is likely that they will use the emotion they feel for the characters within that text as a vehicle that will drive them towards a better understanding of the potential consequences of using deceit as a means to gain power over others.
Comedic and tragic texts such as Frogs and Macbeth showcase the didactic possibilities of comedy and tragedy through their ability to provide a mimesis of certain universal actions such as deceit that audiences can relate to. By providing an imitation or re-representation of universal actions, texts such as Frogs and Macbeth are able to get audiences emotionally invested in the story being told. By getting emotionally invested in the text, the audience or reader is able to undergo the katharsis process. By allowing yourself to get enthralled in the actions of particular characters being re-represented, one may use that emotional experience to develop a perspective that helps one understand and cope with the possible consequences of employing deceptive behaviour as re-represented in texts such as Frogs and Macbeth. It is at this stage where the didactic potential of comedic and tragic texts begins to be realised.
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