Aristotle was a 4th Century Athenian philosopher, who was one of the first people to state how comedies and tragedies should be written. He observed the structure of great plays by Aeschylus and Sophocles and added some of his own ideas.
He defined tragedy as a representation of action that is worth serious attention, complete in itself and of some amplitude ( ) presented in one form of action, not narration; by means of pity and fear bringing out the purgation of such emotions. This theory is still relevant to many plays today. Many of them are based on a serious exploration of a significant action made by the main character, which causes their downfall or changes their life in a significant way. Aristotle thought that actions in tragedy were not made by chance; they were made inevitable because of the actions and situations in the drama. According to Aristotle's theory that actions should be of some amplitude' we now make our acting dramatic, or larger than life. Many forms of drama work around a big event, which grabs our interest and stirs up the lives of the characters involved.
Catharsis.
Another important theory of Aristotle's was that of Catharsis. This was the ability to make the audience experience the emotions, which were being presented before them on the stage, to internally become part of the drama evolving before their eyes and to finally become cleansed of these emotions, upon leaving the theatre. The idea of catharsis is still used in modern theatre, however, it also has it's critics, such as Brecht, who suggests, that rather than being cleansed of their emotions, the audience should consider what action to take in order to change the world.
Protagonists and Antagonists.
Greek tragedies were based on explorations of conflict between characters, groups of people, or ideas. This idea is included in the terms: protagonist and antagonist. Protagonist is the term identifying the main character of the play, around whom the plot evolves.
