Aristotle's Poetics & Hamlet

A detailed Summary of Aristotle's Poetics & Hamlet

Hamlet Analyzed in Terms of Aristotle's Poetics

Aristotle's Poetics is considered the guide to a

well written tragedy; his methods have been used for

centuries. In Aristotle's opinion, plot is the most

important aspect of the tragedy, all other parts such as

character, diction, and thought stem from the plot.

Aristotle defines a tragedy as "...an imitation of an

action that is serious, complete, and of a certain

magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of

artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in

separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not

of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper

purgation of these emotions"(p. 22). Shakespeare's

Hamlet follows this definition for the most part, and

even though it is not always in agreement with

Aristotle's guidelines, it is still a great and

Aristotle states that tragedy is "an imitation of

an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain

magnitude"(p. 22). Hamlet is an excellent example of

this. The play centers around Hamlet's quest to avenge

his father's death, this is a serious action. It is

also complete in the sense that all the loose ends are

and action. By this he means the action of the play

difference between the way he speaks and the way the

er in a sensible, believable manner. Hamlet

Aristotle stresses that diction is important to

indeed responsible for King Hamlet's death. Hamlet

circumstances illicit pity from the audience. The fear

Approximate Word count = 974
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous

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