Here Aristotle’s account displays an interesting tension. On the one hand,
he does specify requirements that must be satisfied by the elements of a
tragedy in order for it to work well. Not every element of any kind works on
any occasion, however its maker might wish or think it should. For example,
“nature itself teaches [poets] to choose [the verse form] that is appropriate to
a given action.”^66 There are objective constraints on the elements that may be
used and on how they may be combined, if the aim of tragedy is to be
achieved. On the other hand, there can be“an error [that is] correct, if it
attains the end of the art itself”; for example, although it is impossible that
Achilles should have pursued Hector for as long and as intensely as he did,
Homer’s description of this pursuit nonetheless works in the context of the
other incidents and characters of theIliad.^67 Similarly, richness of metaphor-
ical and other figurative language that lights up aspects of things and is itself
required in successful tragedy“is an indication of genius”^68 that, it seems,
cannot quite be taught. In both these respects, Aristotle leaves more room for
successful artistic originality, against the grain of rules, than his specifica-
tions of required elements suggest.
Overall, it is arguable, however, that Aristotle’s view of the subject matter
that a successful tragic drama may present is too narrow, largely because his
sense of value in human life is too circumscribed by the norms of the Greek
city-state.^69 Notoriously, Aristotle claims that the worst plot presents a char-
acter who is“about to act in full knowledge, but [does] not do it”^70 – a pretty
good one-phrase description ofHamlet. In general, human life and success
and failure within it change their shapes as there are changes in technology
and social organization. The materials and media available for presenting a
subject matter and the available techniques of presentation also change. As
Dewey usefully remarks in noting these changes, any formulaic prescriptions
for realism in presentation“leave us cold; by the time we arrive at them, the
elements that stirred the blood and aroused admiration in the concrete have
vanished.”^71 While it is true that we are to be“carried on to a refreshed
attitude [i.e. to an engagement and clarification of our emotions] toward the
(^66) Ibid., p. 38. (^67) Ibid., p. 37. (^68) Ibid., p. 32.
(^69) For a full discussion of the limitations of Aristotle’s discussion of tragedy, connected
with a discussion of the limitations of his moral philosophy, see Richard Eldridge,“How
can Tragedy Matter for Us?,”in Eldridge,Persistence of Romanticism, pp. 145–64.
(^70) Aristotle,Poetics, p. 18. (^71) Dewey,Art as Experience, p. 151.
Representation, imitation, and resemblance 49