Sophocles and Aristotle: The Rules of Writing
Sophocles and Aristotle: The Rules of Writing Writing, particularly story writing, is an art. When a person sets out to create a painting, there are certain rules of composition that need to be followed. In the art of writing, it is the same. There are rules of composition for writing and they must be followed by the writer. Some of these rules date back to Aristotle, who set down some rules for classical drama in his Poetics, a collection of class notes in which Aristotle attempted "to treat of Poetry in itself and of its various kinds" (1028). These rules, adhered to by great writers for centuries, were preceded by at least one great classical work: Sophocles' Oedipus the King. Interestingly, even though Oedipus the King came before Poetics, Sophocles' play illustrates Aristotle's rules for classical drama. Oedipus the King particularly displays a tragic emotion, a tragic character, and a tragic fall according to Aristotle's rules. Aristotle says that a tragedy should "imitate actions which excite pity and fear, this being the distinctive mark of tragi
Yet he is condemned to murder his father and to sleep with his mother (1481-1484). He is described in glowing terms as "more like a god than any man alive" (66). Inadvertently, that is precisely what he has done. The change in Oedipus the King is, as Aristotle says it should be, accompanied by a reversal and a recognition (1035). It is, as Aristotle says it should be, a change "not from bad to good, but, reversely, from good to bad" (1037). a reversal, or by recognition, or by both" (1035). He has attempted to escape his fate, as his parents attempted to escape theirs, and in doing so he has made that fate possible. Although Oedipus the King came before Aristotle's Poetics, it still holds to the same principles.
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