Aristotle’s Poetics

Deciphering one of the

Quintessential Works Written

about Theatre and Acting

The Three Unities

1. The Unity of Action

2. The Unity of Time

3. The Unity of Place

The Unity of Action• The Unity of Action is essentially

Aristotle’s notion that the play should

contain only a single plot or story line so

that the audience can remain focused on

the idea that it presents rather than being

confused with multiple messages and

subplots.

• Shakespeare’s multiple plots in his plays

would have defied Aristotle’s Unity of

Action principle.

The Unity of Time• Aristotle was convinced that audiences

gained the most pleasure from plays in

which the action occurs during a single

and consecutive course of time.

• Flashbacks and abbreviated scenes would

not fit well into Aristotle’s second unity.

• “Real time” performances in which the

action reflects the actual time of the events

would be most preferable.

The Unity of Place• Aristotle felt that the greatest

comprehension and audience empathy

could be evoked if a play were to take

place in only a single setting. The use of

different settings would be difficult to

portray and might confuse the audience.

• The use of acts and scenes in

contemporary theatre often indicates a

departure from Aristotle’s unities.

Contemporary Use of the Unities

• Some theatre thrives upon the

abandonment of Aristotle’s Unities in the

modern setting. Audiences desire

experimental manipulation of all of the

unities, and this may be due, in part, to the

more contemporary trend of writing and

presenting information and stories in

disjointed and fragmented forms.

The Six Elements of Theatre

1) Plot

2) Character

3) Thought

4) Diction

5) Music

6) Spectacle

Plot• Aristotle suggests that this is the “life and

soul of the drama.”

• The most important element of drama

• Called the “arrangement of the incidents”

by Aristotle

• Considered in a linear form by Aristotle to

proceed from beginning to end.

Character• Aristotle called this element “the agent for

the action.”

• This was considered by Aristotle the

second most important theatrical element.

• Used to bring forth a plot

• The embodiment of action on a stage

• The necessary element for identification

with the play

Thought• Sometimes referred to as the “message”

• Usually understood as a universal or clear

meaning to be comprehended by the

audience who view the play

• Third, in importance as a theatrical

element

• Aristotle called this “dianoia,” or “the

process of thought.”

• Can sometimes be the moral of a play

Diction• This refers to the words used and their

placement in the text of a play.

• Often, differences in diction within a play

indicate differences in characters.

• Diction can also differ from playwright to

playwright or play to play because of the

playwright’s purpose of language in each

play.

• Aristotle enjoyed plays written in clever

verse, or poetry.

Music• Aristotle’s definition of music included all

of the audio elements of theatre, not just

instrumental or vocal songs.

• Included in this concept of music are all of

the noises made by actors (sung and

spoken), sound effects, and even

instrumental accompaniment.

• The tone, pitch, rate, volume and inflection

are used to create a musical element in

voice.

Spectacle• This is the visual element of theatre,

considered least important of the elements

by Aristotle.

• Aristotle felt that well-written and well-

performed theatre could even be enjoyed

by the blind.

• Radio drama suggests that the spectacle

is, as Aristotle purported, least important.

Against Aristotle’s Hierarchy of

Elements

• The spectacle has become far more

important to playwrights and play

producers, who spend a great part of their

financial resources on sets, costuming,

and special visual effects to entertain

audiences.

• Experimental theatre tends to manipulate

the elements and distort their importance

in an attempt to reach the audience on a

different level than the obvious.

Aristotle, Why?

• Aristotle was writing at a time when props

and sets would have been difficult to

construct and expensive to present in a

theatrical setting.

• Aristotle was a man who had diverse

knowledge and deep understanding of the

world. He would not have likely enjoyed

many of the “distractions” apparent in

much of today’s entertainment.

Aristotle’s Subject of Study

• Aristotle considered Sophocles’ Oedipus

the King to be among the greatest plays

ever written, so it should come as no

surprise that the play epitomizes the

Aristotelian Unities and elements.

Bibliography

• Another Opening, Another Show by Tom

Markus and Linda Sarver

• http://www.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/poeti

cs.html