Aristotle's Definition of Tragedy in The Poetics of Aristotle

In The Poetics of Aristotle, translated by Preston H. Epps, tragedy is defined as "an imitation, through action rather than narration, of a serious, complete, and ample action, ...in which imitation there is also effected through pity and fear its catharsis of these similar emotions." Aristotle believed there were six elements that comprised a tragedy: plot, character, thought, spectacle, diction, and music. The most important of these elements, according to Aristotle, is the plot. Sophocles' Oedipus Rex provides an excellent illustration of the use of plot in a classical Greek tragedy. As for modern times, an attempt at an Aristotelian plot is illustrated in the 1990 movie Presumed Innocent.

There are many criteria that Aristotle sets for a tragic plot. One such criterion, is that the plot must have a beginning, middle, and end. The emphasis here is on the logic of connection. Sophocles has no trouble in connecting these points. The play begins with the plague in Thebes, and the need to release the city from the plague by the discovery and punishment of the guilty. The plays process is the process of the discovery; its end, the punishment. Sophocles makes his starting-point the moment of despair in the Thebans and their king's brave determination to deal with it. The initial situation (the plague, the mourning and the royalty) is given immediately in dramatic terms. Thereafter, each step which Oedipus himself takes provides the occasion for revealing some part of the antecedent knowledge which is necessary to the process of discovery. And none of this information is needed for the grasping of the initial situation.