ASSIGNMENT
ON
MIMESIS
SUBMITTED BY SUBMITTED
TO
Yasir
Siddeequee AC SHALINI
LCL051525 DEPT. OF ENGLISH
Central University of Kerala Central university of Kerala
INTRODUCTION
It
is one of the basic behaviors of human being to imitate others. As a child he begins to observe the world
around him and tries to follow the world around him. It is a natural capacity
of man got by birth. Human beings begin to learn everything by imitating and
observing the surroundings. Acquisition of particular culture in child is
amazingly quickly that within years he acquires mother tongue and starts to
speak. The culture, Language, and custom exists only when there are people to
imitate or follow that. His habit to follow and imitate the world around him
improves along with him and gets new dimensions in all the sphere of life. The
birth of literature and art is the can
be traced back to the effort of man to represent the world around him.
The
discussion about the connection of literature and imitation has been started in
the ancient Greek. The concept of
imitation has been the topic of debate since the ancient times. Plato,
Aristotle and many other great writes inaugurated the debate upon this
particular topic Mimesis. It is one of the oldest terms in literary and
artistic theory. Ancient Greek thought
had the view that poetry, drama, epic, tragedy and other form of the art were
imitations of the real world. Mimesis
describes the relation between reality and the artistic images. For centuries
Mimesis has been a recurrent word used by philosophers and critics. It is the Plato who introduced the term into
literary theory in his work Republic. Since
then the entire history of literary theory has revolves around this word.
Mimesis has a wide reach of importance outside the area of art and literature .
Psychology, Anthropology, Feminism, Post-colonial studies and many other fields
has different aspects of mimesis as their area of study. The word mimesis can
be traced to fifth century BCE. Derives from the root mimos ,refers to a person who imitates or a specific genre of
performance based on the imitation of stereo typical character traits.
Plato’s concept of imitation of the
ideal world
The most celebrated
ancient Greek philosopher Plato introduced the concept of mimesis into literary
theory. He deeply discusses about the
topic in his most famous work Republic. It
is a work of political, ethical and literary theory that was probably written
around 380 BCE. In this work Plato describes Socrates’ dialogue with his
disciples. He defines art as a representation of something else. The history of literary theory and criticism
begins with his concept of Mimesis. No discussion about the art and
representation will be completed without the Plato’s account on mimesis.
The discussion about mimesis was not based on
literary work or criticism. But as a broader topics such as political
organization, ideal of a state, and philosophical knowledge. It was not treated
as an aesthetic category. He was
speaking about people fit to his imaginary ‘Republic’. He imagines a city where each individual
performs one task according to their nature.
Mimesis is described as a unhealthy and secondary. Mimesis is more
related with pleasure and emotion than truth and rationality. It corrupts the
mind.
Plato discuss about
mimesis in two contexts in the Republic: in book two and three, and then in
book ten. The concept of mimesis is
given two meanings in his work: A broadly philosophical one which argues world
of sense perceptions as just the imitation of higher ‘Ideal world’; and other
concerning literary techniques, pure imitative form where personae of poet
speaks instead of himself.
Plato divides world
into two domains: The world of Ideal and material world of sense perceptions.
The former is eternal and changeless; while later is changing and becoming new
in each second. Absolute reality is the ideas or forms .The world of appearance
we perceive through the senses is just a copy of real Ideal world. The
perceptions are unreliable and can deceive us. He mentions the example of “bed”
and “carpenter”. The “bed” made by carpenter is a derivative copy of abstract
idea of bed, and the painter who draws the picture of “bed” is mere copying the
copy. This is an imitation of an imitation, which is twice removed by
reality. The second idea where poet has
his personae speaks for him. It is a type of authorial detachment. This concept
of imitation is the technical one.
Though Socrates and
Plato opposes the poetry, they advocates the use of stories to educate. He argues that guardians of the city can be
shaped ethically by the stories. He suggest mothers and nurses to tell the
stories to young children because tales can shape their souls same way they
shape their bodies by massaging it.
Plato wants to control
the subject of tales. Children and guardians should be prevented from hearing
false stories about God and noble men. He Prohibits stories about the torments
of the world, Cruelty and battles of the Gods, immoral desires for money, fame
and sex.
it
mustn’t be said that gods make war on gods, and plot against them, and have
battles with them . . . provided that those who are going to guard the city for
us must consider it most shameful to be easily angry with one another. (Plato,
1991: 56)
Plato then divides
narration to three types: simple,
mimetic and mixed. Poet tells the stories in his own voice without taking any
role of the character. Historical narratives are narrated in this way. In mimetic narration, the narrator imitates
the character in voice and gestures as he was someone else. In mixed narration
poet narrates and he mimics the sound of character. He has focus in performance
rather than written literary style.
Plato’s prohibition of
poetry was based on four reasons . First for him mimetic narrator is a liar.
Second mimetic narrator violates principle of specialization, which means by imitating he does the others
work. The same men are not able to do both works. Third is the impersonation effect where
imitator cannot avoid certain contamination of the object of imitation. So he
insists the imitation of only the good and courageous man. Fourth he prohibits the imitation on the
ground that character of the imitated inevitably reflects upon the imitator. Indiscriminate imitation corrupts the
personality and those imitators are unsuited for Plato’s republic and he argues that mimetic poets should exiled from
the republic.
Plato divides human
soul into three parts: The Rational, the spirited, and the emotional or
impulsive. Rational is highest and impulsive is the lowest part of the soul. According
to Plato, poetry appeals to pure emotional and instinctive part of human soul
which is lowest one. Poetry has a power of “harming even the good”
...therefore
we shall be right in refusing to admit him(the poet) into a well-ordered State,
because he awakens and nourished and strengthens the feelings and impairs the
reason. As in a city when the evil is permitted to have authority and the good
are put out of the way, so in the soul of man, ..., the imitative poet implants
an evil constitution, for he indulges the irrational nature which has no
discernment of greater and less.... (Plato, 2006, p.35)
In the chapter ten
Plato justifies the banishing of mimetic poets from the republic. The best republic and the best individual are both
governed by reason, but mimesis corrupts the individual by appealing to basic
instincts and emotions. He suggests that artistic images are only the shadows
of things they imitate, not their rational truth. So the images are corrupting
the truths for the philosopher.
Plato mocks the idea
that art requires special skills and talent using the analogy of mirror.
if
you are willing to take a mirror and carry it around everywhere; quickly you
will make the sun and the things in the heaven; quickly the earth; and quickly
yourself and the other animals and implements and plants and everything else
that was just now mentioned. (Plato, 1991: 279)
Craftsman does not
create anything, but only passively reflects what already exists automatically
without any skills required. The artistic images have no essence of their own.
Plato then turns to
then to threat that Imitation causes to the knowledge. The ability to craft
anything has deceived the people. The knowledge that gets through imitation is
illusionary. . Plato points out that Homer often depicts battles but couldn’t
have any real knowledge about warfare or governance. Imitator lacks the
knowledge.
that
if a man were able to make both, the thing to be imitated and the phantom, he
would permit himself to be serious about the crafting of phantoms and set this
at the head of his own life as the best thing he has?
(Plato,
1991: 282)
Mimesis is not a serious thing, it is a mere
play than true knowledge. Imitation does not act as a source of knowledge, but
is dishonest and potentially corrupting, and appealing to worst level of
soul.It brings confusion and corrupt the power of reason and logic.
Plato uses the image of
a stick placed into a pool of water to explain this effect. Though the stick is
straight it looks bent in water . so senses are fooled by the image and leads
to false conclusion that the stick has bent. . The imitators appeal to the
confusion of the senses. They builds shadows over truth: ‘imitation keeps
company with the part in us that is far from prudence’ (Plato, 1991: 286).
Since mimesis appeals
to emotions than reason it produces sympathetic imitations in the viewer. So
tragedy and other art forms teaches us to enjoy the expression of emotion in
other contexts as well, and thus weakens the hold reason have over our souls.
Audience becomes less ashamed of expressing emotions in daily life. ‘the
pitying part [of the soul], fed on these examples, is not easily held down in
one’s own sufferings’ (Plato, 1991: 290). So rather than ruled by reasons,
audience will attach to the emotions.
All the arguments of
plato about the mimesis was grounded on the political sphere. Imitator is not
only a bad craftsman but also cause danger to the health of republic. They
exploit the mind of people and corrupts the Individuality.
Plato’s concept about
the mimesis seems strange to the modern world. His view about art as a deceiving
and corrupting the peoples mind does not suit to the present scenario. His idea
on ideal state and moral people contrasts to the modern world where art itself
is used as a powerful tool to change the society and create a ideal and
peaceful world. But his comments on mimesis is most valuable document in the
history of western criticism and lead foundation to the modern artistic and
literary criticism.
Aristotle’s view on mimesis as a way
to attain truth
Aristotle (384-322
B.C.E) is also the most celebrated ancient
greek philosopher who inaugurated the
systematic discipline of literary criticism and theory with his famous work
“Poetics.” He is the most famous disciple of Plato, but his views on various literary and theoretical concepts
are different from his master.
Aristotle rejects the
Plato’s doctrine of ideas about mimesis. When Plato says imitation is mere
copying and is insignificant, it is creative and dynamic for Aristotle. He argues
that poetry offers philosophical insights into human actions. Mimesis was real
thing for Aristotle and creative way of representing things.
Unlike
Plato, for whom mimesis is a mirror of something else and potentially deceptive, Aristotle defines
mimesis as a craft with its own aims and laws. He opens poetics by stating:
I
propose to treat of poetry in itself and of its various kinds, noting the
essential quality of each; to inquire into the structure of the plot as
requisite to a good poem; into the number and nature of the parts of which a
poem is composed; and similarly into whatever else falls within the same
inquiry. Following, then, the order of nature, let us begin with the principles
which come first.
(Aristotle,
1951: 7)
The poem for Aristotle
is a natural subject, is a subject for philosophical inquiry. He uses the metaphors
which emphasize to the natural similarity. He compares the plot to that of a organic
body. Good plots ‘resemble a living organism in all its unity, and produce the
pleasure proper to it’ (Aristotle, 1951: 89)
Aristotle mentions
about the tools employed by different art forms. For Plato,
poetry and painting, epic and tragedy imitates the reality in same way. But Aristotle
differentiates the arts by the materials they employ. Each literary genre presents
man in different ways. Tragedy and Epic present people as better and noble than
they are in real life, whereas comedy
presents them as worse.
His
famous definition of Tragedy is the finest example of his views on mimesis or
imitation. Tragedy is defined as ,
“an imitation of an action that is serious
,complete and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of
artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play;
in the form of action not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the
proper purgation of these emotions”
According to Aristotle
imitation is not just mere copying but it is dynamic and creative. It is not
that twice removed reality but it recreates the human conscious and source of
knowledge. We derive pleasure from artistic creation. Imitation is the
innermost natural action of human behavior.
Aristotle argues the
mimesis is natural by pointing out the children’s imitations. children’s
imitations confirm the naturalness of mimesis. Mimesis is natural capacity of
human being ‘implanted in man from childhood’, which distinguishes us from
animals (Aristotle, 1951: 15)
.
Aristotle believes that imitation is in-born
instinct in men and there is a natural pleasure in it. The "natural"
human inclination to imitate is described as
"inherent in man from his earliest days;
he differs from other animals in that he is the most imitative of all
creatures, and he learns his earliest lessons by imitation. Also inborn in all of us is the instinct to
enjoy works of imitation" (Durix, Jean-Pierre. Mimesis, Genres and
Post-Colonial Discourse: 45)
Aristotle speaks about fictional
distance which is created by the imitation. Mimesis provides fictional distance from
things, so that the sufferings of tragic characters on stage can be pleasurable
rather than painful, as they would be if they befell actual people. This
fictional distance allows us to learn from representations, whereas we might
respond emotionally to the actual experience. So mimesis provides insights into
human action and character that we might not otherwise have.
Tragedy has great power
of imitation since it tries to evoke the twin emotions through the
representation of human minds deep emotions. Aristotle says that “without
action a tragedy cannot exist, but without characters it may.” Action is the
tool which is required in order to give mimesis a creative dimension. It is
through action that mimesis gets played in drama. Action, with the help of
ornament of spectacle, song and diction give completion to tragedy. Aristotle
points six essential parts of tragedy. They are plot, characters, diction, reasoning,
spectacle and song. Plot which is the soul of tragedy controls and shapes all
other elements that are under to it. It is the shaping principle that gives
unity to a work.
Aristotle divides plots into two kinds – the simple and the complex.
Simple plots are one and continuous, whereas complex plots are marked by a
reversal and recognition.
Aristotle places poetry above the history and philosophy. He argues that
poets concern themselves with universal principles of action and character and
not with mere fact. More than simply imitating what is or has been, poets
relate ‘what may happen’ according to probability and necessity, or what is
broadly and characteristically true of a given type of situation (1951: 35).
Poetry has higher pursuit than history. Historians are limited to what has
happened. The historian expresses the particular, and tied to facts. The poet expresses the
universal by way of particular characters or actions: ‘how a person of a
certain type will on occasion speak or act, according to the law of probability
and necessity’ (Aristotle, 1951: 35). Thus poetry is more
philosophical than history .
Aristotle’s view is
that human beings have the tendency to derive pleasure from imitation. That is
why we are always eager to enjoy poetry and fine arts. Imitation leads
us from the
particular to the
universal, which is
how the experience in
learning takes place.
The art has the
capacity to arouse several emotions. Aristotle explains two essential tragic
emotions: fear (phobos) and pity (eleos). Pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune,
and fear by ‘the misfortune of a man like ourselves’ (Aristotle, 1951: 45).We compare
ourselves with the character we see in stage and imaginatively put ourselves in
their situation. He also explains about
the much discussed concept ‘cathrsis’. It is the purification of emotions
suggests that by washing away our trivial emotions by purifying emotions
themselves.
Longinus
Concept of Mimesis.
The ancient Roman philosopher
(BCE 1) gives new dimension to the concept of mimesis. He elevates the concept to spiritual level.
His work ‘On Sublimity’ exists as as
one of the foundation stones Aesthetic criticism.
According to him literatures
which echoes the noble souls. A true work of art can uplift human soul to new levels
that otherwise he can’t even imagine. Readers or viewers can enjoy the work of
art with great ecstasy. His On Sublimity
explains the sublimity in literary creation. elevates Human soul. It
satisfies the needs needs of human soul. Literature is a vision
Longinus argues
that an author is inevitably influenced to the past when he produces a work of
literature. No way he can overcome from the imitation. So imitation occurs in
every field of art. He places imitation as the end of a literary work along
with the sublimity. In his discussion
about images he argues that “imagination is
applied to every
idea of the
mind, in whatever
form it presents
itself, which gives
birth to speech”(longinus,2006,page.103). So in
this way the work of an art becomes sublime.
Horace’s
love to Tradition
Unlike Plato and
Aristotle Roman critics focus more on the technical issues such as rhetoric and
composition. Horace’s ideas on literary imitations also are no expectation.
They expressed a type of adhesion to the ancient Greeks such as Homer and other
Great tragedians. In his Magnum opus Art of Poetry Horace
expresses the great love towards the ancient Greek literature and instruct his contemporaries.
Either
follow tradition or else make what you invent consistent.... It is hard to
treat a commonly known subject in an original way.... In publicly known
matters, you will be able to achieve originality if you do not translate word
for word, nor jump into a narrow imitative groove, from which both fear and the
rules followed in the given work prevent your escape. (Horace, 2006, pp.80-81)
Horace does not give
importance to the originality. Instead he emphasis the adherence to the
literary tradition of ancient great writers. Emphasizing art over genius he was
concerned with emphasis of technical aspects of writing and craftsmanship.
Conclusion
The
ability of imitation is one of the innate capacities of human being through
which he learns the world around him. Debate over connection of literature and
Imitation has been started since the ages of Plato and Aristotle. Plato’s Republic and Aristotle’s Poetics offers a detailed discussion
about the Mimesis in art and literature. Those discussions about the mimesis
exist as the foundation to the modern literary criticism. The history of
literary criticism begins with the concept of Mimesis. Plato banishes the imitative
poets arguing that they are imitating the Ideal world and they are deceiving
the readers. But his disciple Aristotle justifies the mimesis as a way to creatively
represent things and source of knowledge. Longinus elevates the topic of
mimesis to the spiritual level and Horace expresses his strong adhesion to
ancient tradition and technical aspects. The
discussion and researches about mimesis is continuing in different branches of
knowledge.
Bibliography
Aristotle. Aristotle’s
Theory of Poetry and Fine Art, trans. S. H. Butcher, New York: Dover, 1951.
Abrams, Meyer Howard,
and Geoffrey Harpham. A glossary of literary terms, New York
Cengage Learning, 2011.
CHEN Wei[a]; XIONG Wangmei. The Concept of Mimesis: Evolution From Plato to Longinus.wuhan, China.2014
Plato. Republic,
trans. A. Bloom, New York: Basic Books, 1991.
Potolsky, Matthew. Mimesis,
New Delhi: Routledge, 2006.
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