Now it is right, when one speaks of a tragedy as the same or not the
same as another, to do so on the ground before all else of their Plot,
i.e. as having the same or not the same Complication and Denouement.
Yet there are many dramatists who, after a good Complication, fail in
the Denouement. But it is necessary for both points of construction to
be always duly mastered. (5) There are four distinct species of
Tragedy--that being the number of the constituents also that have been
mentioned: first, the complex Tragedy, which is all Peripety and
Discovery; second, the Tragedy of suffering, e.g. the _Ajaxes_ and
_Ixions_; third, the Tragedy of character, e.g. _The Phthiotides_ and
_Peleus_. The fourth constituent is that of 'Spectacle', exemplified
in _The Phorcides_, in _Prometheus_, and in all plays with the scene
laid in the nether world. The poet's aim, then, should be to combine
every element of interest, if possible, or else the more important and
the major part of them. This is now especially necessary owing to the
unfair criticism to which the poet is subjected in these days. Just
because there have been poets before him strong in the several species
of tragedy, the critics now expect the one man to surpass that which
was the strong point of each one of his predecessors.
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