the phantom and the philosopher
by cheyenne canuette
Aristotle’s view on dramatic arts in the Poetics revolves mainly around tragic drama. As defined by Aristotle himself, tragedy is the imitation of action and life that is complete in itself. As proven by his definition, Aristotle believed that art is imitation, just as Plato, yet unlike Plato, he believed that imitation is not necessarily negative. In fact, his view was that imitation is natural to man, and has been from childhood. This leads him to believe that imitation is what we first us to learn. Therefore, we become delighted by viewing works of imitation, such as actors in a play, and viewing realistic representations of situations because we gather of information while viewing a tragic drama. In his opinion, tragedy can be a form of education because of the way we learn from imitation.
To Aristotle, a well-rounded tragic drama must have a beginning, middle, and end that contain a fable, characters, drama, thought, spectacle, and melody. In addition, the content must have an unfolding of a coherent plot that holds significance for human life. Also, the tragedy must appeal to every human response. This includes not only emotional responses, but intellectual and moral reactions as well. If a tragic drama includes the necessities that Aristotle believes are needed, they can provide moral insight and foster emotional growth, which allows the goal of the drama, catharsis, to take place. A catharsis is an emotional purging, usually allowing fear and pity to take the place of other emotions. Tragic dramas use pity and fear to move viewers on an emotional level. Pity, which is defines as viewing something evil to someone or something that generally doesn’t deserve it, is used to put to viewers in the same situation as the character experiencing the situation. This lets viewers connect with the character on a personal level because their loved ones, or their self could be in the same situation one day. Fear is also used in tragic dramas to connect the spectator and character once again, but this time, fear causes one to be afraid of the evil, not just view it.
The Phantom of the Opera is a novel from the early 1900s that has been turned into a Broadway musical and several movies. But, can it be claimed as a tragic drama? The beginning contains the backstory of the main character Christine. It explains the situation she is in and what lead up to it, as well as the introduction of multiple characters. The backstory of Christine, the loss of her mother, makes many pity her because everyone has and will have someone who has passed on. The middle of the play shows the true emotions of the ‘Opera Phantom’, Erik who helped in the construction the opera house. His gruesome appearance, which he was born with, together with his explosive personality causes the characters to fear him, and in turn, the spectators fear him. As the plot continues, the viewer finds out of the old friendship between Christine and Raoul, and the friendship soon blossoms into love. This creates drama between Erik, who is in love with Christine and doesn’t want her to love anyone other than him. As the end draws near, Erik captures Christine to be his bride and hides her deep within the opera house, which is where he lives. When Raoul comes to rescue her, he is places into a torture chamber by Erik. In order to save his life, Christine promises to stay a live bride, instead of committing suicide after the wedding in the way she had been contemplating and tried to attempt before. Then, seeing her love for Raoul, Erik decides to let her choose who she wishes to be with. After she chooses Raoul, Erik asks to come back once he has died to bury him. Soon after Christine leaves, Erik dies, leaving his only friend to place the news of his death in the paper so Christine would see. When she goes to the funeral, she places his ring, which he gave to her as a constant reminder of him, on his grave and walks away. The Phantom of the Opera is in fact a tragic drama under Aristotle’s definition. It has a comprehensible plot that relates to human life and that has all of the six parts that makes up a tragedy. It invokes both pity and fear, and appeals to intellectual, emotional and moral responses.
To Aristotle, a well-rounded tragic drama must have a beginning, middle, and end that contain a fable, characters, drama, thought, spectacle, and melody. In addition, the content must have an unfolding of a coherent plot that holds significance for human life. Also, the tragedy must appeal to every human response. This includes not only emotional responses, but intellectual and moral reactions as well. If a tragic drama includes the necessities that Aristotle believes are needed, they can provide moral insight and foster emotional growth, which allows the goal of the drama, catharsis, to take place. A catharsis is an emotional purging, usually allowing fear and pity to take the place of other emotions. Tragic dramas use pity and fear to move viewers on an emotional level. Pity, which is defines as viewing something evil to someone or something that generally doesn’t deserve it, is used to put to viewers in the same situation as the character experiencing the situation. This lets viewers connect with the character on a personal level because their loved ones, or their self could be in the same situation one day. Fear is also used in tragic dramas to connect the spectator and character once again, but this time, fear causes one to be afraid of the evil, not just view it.
The Phantom of the Opera is a novel from the early 1900s that has been turned into a Broadway musical and several movies. But, can it be claimed as a tragic drama? The beginning contains the backstory of the main character Christine. It explains the situation she is in and what lead up to it, as well as the introduction of multiple characters. The backstory of Christine, the loss of her mother, makes many pity her because everyone has and will have someone who has passed on. The middle of the play shows the true emotions of the ‘Opera Phantom’, Erik who helped in the construction the opera house. His gruesome appearance, which he was born with, together with his explosive personality causes the characters to fear him, and in turn, the spectators fear him. As the plot continues, the viewer finds out of the old friendship between Christine and Raoul, and the friendship soon blossoms into love. This creates drama between Erik, who is in love with Christine and doesn’t want her to love anyone other than him. As the end draws near, Erik captures Christine to be his bride and hides her deep within the opera house, which is where he lives. When Raoul comes to rescue her, he is places into a torture chamber by Erik. In order to save his life, Christine promises to stay a live bride, instead of committing suicide after the wedding in the way she had been contemplating and tried to attempt before. Then, seeing her love for Raoul, Erik decides to let her choose who she wishes to be with. After she chooses Raoul, Erik asks to come back once he has died to bury him. Soon after Christine leaves, Erik dies, leaving his only friend to place the news of his death in the paper so Christine would see. When she goes to the funeral, she places his ring, which he gave to her as a constant reminder of him, on his grave and walks away. The Phantom of the Opera is in fact a tragic drama under Aristotle’s definition. It has a comprehensible plot that relates to human life and that has all of the six parts that makes up a tragedy. It invokes both pity and fear, and appeals to intellectual, emotional and moral responses.