The Plot in fact should
be so framed that, even without seeing the things take place, he who
simply hears the account of them shall be filled with horror and pity
at the incidents; which is just the effect that the mere recital of
the story in _Oedipus_ would have on one. To produce this same effect
by means of the Spectacle is less artistic, and requires extraneous
aid. Those, however, who make use of the Spectacle to put before us
that which is merely monstrous and not productive of fear, are wholly
out of touch with Tragedy; not every kind of pleasure should be
required of a tragedy, but only its own proper pleasure.
The tragic pleasure is that of pity and fear, and the poet has to
produce it by a work of imitation; it is clear, therefore, that the
causes should be included in the incidents of his story. Let us see,
then, what kinds of incident strike one as horrible, or rather as
piteous. In a deed of this description the parties must necessarily be
either friends, or enemies, or indifferent to one another. Now when
enemy does it on enemy, there is nothing to move us to pity either in
his doing or in his meditating the deed, except so far as the actual
pain of the sufferer is concerned; and the same is true when the
parties are indifferent to one another.
Pages:
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58