MIMESIS
Mimesis is a critical term came from the Greek word mimos mean ‘to imitate’ .The word
carries a variety of meaning in diverse realm which include
imitation,
representation,
mimicry,imitatio,receptivity,theatricality,verisimilitude,doubling, corres-
pondence, nonsensuous similarity, the act of resembling, the
act of expression and the
presentation of the self .Mimesis has a great significance in
the realm of criticism .The word
depicts the relation between art and life . Mimesis is a
theory of art, so at the early age it is
associated with idea of artistic representation.
The idea of mimesis has been put forward by a number of
thinkers, not only the ancient critics
but the renaissance and modern also .The idea of mimesis is
put forward by Plato in relation
with his view about art especially with poetry. Plato believed mimesis is an obstacle to
philosophical knowledge not a distinct means of knowing the
world and other. Plato argued
that idea is the original ,the things we see in nature is the
copy of original and the art which is a
copy of nature or an imitation of natural things .Plato used mimesis in the sense of imitation
.Aristotle, disciple of Plato also treat mimesis in the sense
of imitation but it has a slight
difference from Plato’s view .Aristotle in his treaty
‘Poetics’ define poetry as an imitation of
action, that means the human action. By ‘imitation’ he means
‘representation’. Imitation was a
central theme in discussing the nature of poetry of both
seventeenth and eighteenth century
.Aristotle also defines mimesis as the perfection and
imitation of nature .Aristotle
express his views on imitation in his treaty entitled as
‘Poetics’. He argued that poetry is not
only an imitation of nature but also a creative of an artist
that means the poet. Aristotle define
tragedy is an imitation of action, not only an imitation but
it can purify the emotions of its
spectators. Both Plato and his disciple Aristotle contrasts mimesis with diegesis.
Greek author Dionysius creates an influential literary method
of imitation known as Dionysian
imatatio in the 1st century BCE.
This method portrays imitation as a technique of rhetoric –
imitating, adjusting, reworking and enriching a source text
by an author. His view on mimesis is
significantly differing from Aristotle’s views on mimesis.
Dionysius gives emphasis on imitation
of authors in contrary to Aristotle’s focus on imitation of nature.
Imagery and involvement of the theatre consist of another
essential element in the theory of
mimesis. Theatre is not identical with mimesis .But theatre
and theatricality is central to the
theory of mimesis, because since ancient times it is
impossible to separate the two ideas.
Theatrical mimesis aroused from a particular kind of action
and awareness, from the liability of
actor and audience rather than being of the spectacle.
Augustine tries to define theatrical –
mimesis in terms of
the interaction of spectator and spectacle. Theatrical
mimesis depends on
social convention while
imitatio depends on conscious use of convention.
Realism give emphasize to reproduce the world as it is, rather
than that mimesis matches our
conventional ways of knowing the world. Realism occurs in the interaction of work and
witness
and not of work and world .This notion of realism is known as verisimilitude. The term was
coined at the age of Renaissance. Verisimilitude defines the
work as true to life rather than
the replica of life. Artistic realism is not only the most
familiar, but one of the most
controversial elements in the thematic complex of mimesis.
Plato concern the weird power of art to mirror the material world,
that the realistic artists
Intents. Plato also critcizes mimesis to its inability to go
beyond this mirroring, it appeals only to
the wits not to reason, that is the most important criteria
of realism-the accurate reproduction of material reality.
Matthew Potolsky in his work Mimesis suggests “mimesis has always been at once a theory of
art and an explicit or implicit theory of human nature.”
“With
the emergence in the early nineteenth century of an expressive criticism, imitation
tended
to be displaced from its central position in literary theory”(Abraham p172).
Modern
theorist such as Lacan, Derrida & Freud observe mimesis in a different way
from its
ancient
theorist. Matthew Potolsky in his
work Mimesis
states that many of the social
theorists
of
nineteenth century define imitation as a foundational human behavior.
Karl
Marx and Friedrich Nietzsche, philosophers of nineteenth century believed that
our lives are
governed
by conventional imitations that pass for facts of nature. “The theory of mimesis in
twentieth
century implies that what look like autonomous actions and choices are really
forms of
imitation”
(Potolsky, p .117).
Gabriel
Tarde, an important psychological theorist of mimesis in late nineteenth
century defines
mimesis
in his book entitled ‘The Laws of
Imitation’ that imitation as a fundamental life force
,one of the three great forms of ‘universal
repetition’ that organize psychological, biological and
social life .
French
psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan introduce the term ‘mirror stage’ to elaborate the
concept of
‘identification’
,introduced by Freud .Freud regards identification as an emotional tie between
two
people where as Lacan treats it as a mimetic relationship between still
undeveloped ego and
its
mirror stage .Before the child identifies with its parents, it identifies with
an image of itself
.This
is what he called ‘mirror stage’ ,a primordial identification .
.
CLASSIC VIEW ON MIMESIS
Mimesis
is an inevitable term in the theories of -
Criticism,
so there are number of theories put forward on mimesis. Even though mimesis is
a
fifth
century term ,it had got a fine position since the time of Plato . Plato was
the first , who
put
forward the theory of art in general terms . He had strong influence on
Socrates, Plato’s
teacher
. He used dialogue as a format to convey
his view in his treaty Republic . Plato
begins
his
view on poetry in Book three. There is
no place for emotion in his ideal world . Plato put
across
his view on imitation in his treaty entitled as ‘Republic’ written around 380
BCE . His
allegory
of cave can be considered as an
introduction to his idea of mimesis and blame against
poet
. Plato believe what artisan make is the imitation of ideal form . The prisoner sees the
statue’s
shadow and believed that it is real .The prisoners they never saw actual reality, so they
believed
that the image they sees are the real one. Prisoner, who come outside the cave
sees the
actual
reality ,the actual truth He never comments on the existing notion of mimesis,
he only
redefine
art as an essentially mimetic or imitation of nature .Plato express his view on
imitation
with
his view on poetry . His comments on poetry is found in his two treaties –Ion and Republic
.His Republic had
inspired several defenses of poetry like Sidney’s defense on poetry . There
was
an ancient quarrel between philosophy and poetry ,which Plato revealed in his
premise of
Republic
. Plato through his work Republic approaches mimesis in two contexts, first in
Book
two
and three and then in ten .The earlier notion of mimesis is associated with the
art but Plato
linked
it with human nature and political life .Mimesis is a luxury not an essential
one . So, Plato
separate
mimesis from rational and essential, instead he equate it with pleasure and
passion
rather
than reason and truth. Plato starts to
discuss about artistic imitation in the second book of
his
work, Republic . In book two of Republic
Socrates, master of Plato expresses that there
is a
relation
between artistic imitation and behavioral imitation .That means artistic
imitation produce
behavioral
imitation .When we telling a story, an artistic imitation to younger
generations there is
a
lot of possibilities to imitate the bad or good action represented in story to
the younger
generation
. Socrates argued that “mimesis is not serious; it is mere play rather than
true
knowledge.
Artists such as Homer ‘don’t lay hold of the truth’ but only mime the appearance
of
wisdom”
(Plato,1991: 283).
Plato’s discussion on
art is revealed in the book ten of his ‘Republic’. Plato believed that idea
is the original and
what we sense is only a copy of the original idea.
This
is known as ‘doctrine of ideas’ .Plato assumed that art is an imitation or a copy
of an idea.
So
art twice removed from reality. Plato explain his doctrine of idea by using an
image of a bed
.He
states that actual bed is the one made by the god .A carpenter, who create a
bed is only a
copy
of gods actual bed .Then a poet create
a bed ,
such bed is a copy of the bed made by the
carpenter
. That is poet’s bed is twice removed from the actual bed made by the god .It
shows that art is twice removed from reality . Jean-Pierre Vernent, French
classical
scholar explains that Plato’s concept of mimesis find a new hope in the history
of
Greek’s
view on art. In Book ten of his Republic Plato banishes poet from his ideal
state due to
nature
of art, far removed from reality. Plato needs all arts to be directed by moral values.
.Imitative
art does not possess this moral value but has a corrupting influence on man. He
stood
against artistic imitation because that deviates from the realm of reason
.Plato condemn the
poetic
imitation because it “fed and watered the passion instead of drying them up
,and let them
rule
instead of ruling them as they ought to be ruled ,with a view to the happiness
and virtue of
mankind”
(37) .Plato support the narrative form than imitative because he believed that the later
one
directly represents evil .In Book 5 of
Republic ,he favors the art that contribute in the
spiritual
growth of people .Imitative art which
has a role in the spiritual growth of a people
,has
a
key site in his view . Not the pleasure but truth is an end of such imitation.
Both the term
‘mimesis
and ‘diegesis’ were first appeared in Plato’s Republic .Diegesis means
narration .Plato
Favours digesis than mimesis.
Aristotle, most celebrated disciple of Plato put a
view on
Mimesis
in his celebrated treatise entitled as Poetics
written in between 360 and 320 BCE
.Aristotle
challenges Plato’s claim about the nature and effect of mimesis. But both have
a
common
view that art is an imitation. Aristotle in his treaty argued that all the
various forms of
music
and poetry are imitations and he also divided the imitations in three ways : in
the means
used
, in the kinds of object used in it and in the mode of representation .Aristotle
regard as the
essential
characteristic of poet is an imitation ,which he expressed in his book one
of Poetics
.
In
contrast to Plato’s view on poet as a
divinely possessed and standing distant from his fellow
creature
of human and he creating an irrational emotions ,Aristotle argued that poet
is rationally
developing
basic quality and he share it with other fellows .That is he is an integral
part of
human
society . Aristotle argued that imitation of men involved in action is the one
common to
all
arts ,that is the object of artistic imitation which differ artistic imitation
from others . He
added
that the actions imitated must be either a noble or base one. The noble one we
seen in
tragedy
and the base in epic also . But Plato believed that art must produce noble one
only
otherwise
it destruct people’s morality . Aristotle provide two manners for presentation
of an art
–
one is a narration ,here poet speak
either in his own person or through speech and the second
one
dramatic presentation, in which story is acted as in drama .In later part of Poetics,
Aristotle
distinguish poetry and history .He argue that poetry yields general truth
whereas
history
produce a particular facts only .Poetry is serious and more philosophical than
history
,because
the first one express what is universal and the other concern with individuals
.In his
Poetics Aristotle
define poetry in two way –one lay emphasis on probability and universality and
the
other is a wide-ranging one pleasing to morality and convention .
Unlike
Plato, who consider imitation as a mirror of something else and it mislead human,
Aristotle
consider it as a creativeness of an artist’s or poet’s .Aristotle broadened the concept of
poetic
imitation that poet must imitate one of the three – the things were ,the things that we think
or
say and the thing which ought to be . Aristotle believed that poetic imitation
can appeal the
conventions
, it can appeal men’s opinion . For example if a poet may not represent the gods
truthfully
he can present them in accordance with the prevailing myth and view about the
god .
Differ
from Plato’s metaphor ,which highlight
artificiality Aristotle’s metaphors for
poetry
emphasize
the naturalness of mimesis .That is his metaphors show similarity to natural
objects
.For example in his Poetics he compare the unity of plot to that of a body .
Another
important idea Aristotle deals in his Poetics
is tragedy .Aristotle define tragedy is
“ an imitation of action that is
serious, complete and of a certain magnitude –by means of
language enriched with all kinds of
ornament ,each used separately in the different parts of the
play : it represents men in action
and does not use narrative, and through pity and fear it effects
relief to these and similar
emotions” (Poetics,vi.2-3) .By action, Aristotle
does not mean a
particular
action but a way of action done by the protagonist and what happen to him .Aristotle
consider
that a tragedy must have six essential elements ,that are spectacle,
song, diction, plot
,characters
and reasoning .Plot is the primary element of tragedy not a character .Then he deals
with
three unities of a tragedy. That is unity of action, unity of time and unity of
place. A tragedy
is
not only an imitation of action but a combination of the three elements also .Aristotle
argued
that
tragedy is an imitation of whole or complete action ,by this he mean the action
must has a
beginning
,middle and an end .
RECREATION OF HOMER
The
greatest Roman poet and critic of Augustus
age, Horace
wrote
a work in literary criticism entitled as Ars
Poetica or Art of Poetry .It is a
kind of guide to
the
literary work of art . The work has a
threefold structure - content of poetry, mode of poetry
and
an argument about a poet .Differ from Aristotle ,Horace is more practical .He
always quote
example
from Greek poet’s . Because he believed that they follow the true poetic model .
Horace
considers that poetic decorum is the primary one and it is also a mean to judge
all works.
He regards verisimilitude as a poetic norm
.Horace opt medias res as the mode of
narration. He
The Odyssey is
a classical work written by Horace, in which he use the medias res as the mode
of
narration. Then he explains about the
poetic form . Horace argued that excessive violent
incidents
does not present in it because it effects the people morally . For Horace poets are born
as
well as made .By imitation he means to emulating
and following the way of great models.
The
ultimate aim for poetry Horace believed is to instruct and afford pleasure .
His concept of
imitation
means recreation not as a copying . Renaissance critic such as Sidney depends
on
Horace
to interpret Aristotle .Ben Jonson was a translator of Horace’s Ars
Poetica .
IMITATION AS AN INFLUENCE
On the Sublime is
a critical document written by Longinus , a
Greek philosopher. Here he defines what sublimity
is and how it can achieve. The work written
in
epistolary form in 100 CE . It was a response on monograph on sublimity of Caecilius ,a
Greek philosopher. Sublimity on literature means
the elevated and lofty style of writing . That
means it is beyond ordinary ordinary writing .
Longinus define sublimity as the
“source of the distinction of the very greatest poet and
prose writers the
means by which they have given life
to their own fame” .
Later
Longinus explain the way to attain this sublimity .Natural genius, imitation
and
imagination
are the three sources of sublimity. One
of the way Longinus reveal to attain
sublimity
is the way of imitation of great poet and historian of the past . Plato who
initiate this
way
in his treaty , he capture from Homer .He regard that as the
priestess of Apollo is inspired
by
the god’s divine power the poet can also inspired by innate genius of old
writers . Longinus
believed
that borrowing from other writers as Plato borrow from Homer is not a theft but
as gain
an
impression from fine character . In an essay
Tradition and Individual Talent , Eliot
considers
knowing
the past writers will make an influence on a writer’s writings , that leads his
work
beyond
an ordinary that means sublimity .
MIMESIS: A NEW CREATION
Sir
Philip Sidney in his celebrated work Apologie for
Poetrie expressed his views on poetry .He agreed with
Aristotle’s view that poetry is an
imitation
. By imitation he does not means mere a copy of nature . Sidney believed that
major
function
of poetry as an imitation is to teach and delight .By imitation he does not
mean mere a
copy
of nature or facts but representing real and sometime creating something
entirely new .
Then
he widen his view on imitation by adopting basics from both Aristotle and
Horace .Sidney
says
that poetry “is an art of imitation ,for
so Aristotle termeth it in his word ‘mimesis’ ,that is to
say
,a representing ,counterfeiting ,or figuring forth: to speak metaphorically, a
speaking picture :
with
this end ,to teach and delight” (223) .Sidney explain three kinds of poetic imitation
in his
treaty
. First consists of poetry, as in the poetic portion of the Old Testaments the
poetry ‘imitate
the
inconceivable excellencies of God’ ,that is a religious poetry. The second kind
of imitation
found
in a poetry, the scope of the subject in such poetry are philosophical,
historical or
scientific-a
philosophical poetry .Third kind of imitation , that make poetry free from the
Aristotelian
constrains . That is poetry as an imaginative treatment of life and nature .
MIMESIS
IN AESTHETICISM
Oscar
wild an Irish writer and poet viewed art does
not
copy life and nature but constitute its own world of reality .Art became
independent not a
copy
of nature or real world, but a creative power of humanity .He is a proponent of
aestheticism
that
give emphasis to art for art’s sake . For aestheticians art is only for
enjoyment not a
mirroring
or representation .Wild and Baudelaire ,anti realists argued that true aim of art is
beauty
not the reproduction of world or reality . Wild argued that art never bound to
reproduce
the
world as it is, instead it wants a power
to transform and improve the world ,it
distinguish art
from
life .
VER ISIMILITUDE IN REALISM
Realism is a notion
which focus on the
portraying of world as
we sense it is .Realist consider art as a medium to show the world as it is
.Plato concern the
mysterious power of art to world and he also criticizes mimesis to this kind of
mirroring , because he
believed mirroring appeal not for reason but for senses only .Accurate
reproduction of
material reality is the major criteria of realism which we can see in arts like
photography and perspectival
painting. These arts represent the material world to its viewers.
Plato’s reflection
theory on realism means realism is the reflection of the material world as it
is
.But Aristotle consider
the realism of work is intellectual than material .So he give emphasis to
organizing plot
according to necessity and probability, the convention .This is known as
Aristotle’s theory of
convention on realism . Mimesis laid on the conventional ways of knowing
the world rather than reproducing
the world , like atrical mimesis the realism occur in the
interaction of work and
spectator. That means a work is true to life than the replica of life .This
realistic idea is known
as verisimilitude.
Film,
one of the contemporary medium to portrays realism. Here camera is a
mirror to reflects the
world and convention is also used in it to signal the truthfulness of the work
Realist consider that
literature as mirror of nature in addition to it realists redefine mirror as
metaphor for the
truthfulness of their work . George
Lucas and Erich Auerbach believe realism
offer most truthfull
picture of the world as it is by using
the conventional method proposed by
Aristotle .
IMITATION
AS A HUMAN NATURE
Human beings are the
most advanced organism in the world .They are trying to adapt with the
world around them .When
an infant was born, he had no knowledge about the world around him.
Slowly he starts to
observe things and tries to identify them. He starts to observe his parents
especially their
behavior then he starts to imitate them. A child responds to the world by
imitating their parents
.At the early stage child does not acquisite language. Lacan, the French
Freud call this stage an
‘imaginary’ and the stage after the acquisition of language is called as
symbolic
. Lacan argued that there is a stage called
mirror stage in between these two. In this
stage child starts to
imitate his parents .Child starts to speak by imitating his parent’s sounds and
gestures .He imitate
the habits of their parents also . At this stage the infant learn to identify
with
his image in a mirror
and begins to develop a sense of a separate self and an understanding of
oneself . Lacan
developed his idea of mirror stage from the concept of ‘identification’ put
forward by Sigmund
Freud ,Viennese psychologist .Both Lacan and Freud consider mimesis as a
primary aspect of human
life . Both memory and habit are forms
of imitation also ,first one
recall the psychic
image and the next one repeat the action .Imitation begins in family .
Freud believed that our
deliberate action and procedures are directed by our unconscious desires
and memories . Freud
has influenced by Aristotle, his therapeutic method is known as cathartic
method because it can
purify the painful memories of patients through hypnosis. Freud
concern the theory of
mimesis through his notion of identification. By notion of identification,
Freud means the self
arises from an unconscious imitation of others. Identification is the key
concept of
psychoanalysis .Freud define identification as
“the
earliest expression of an emotional tie with another person” (1953-74:xviii,
105 ) .
Identification is an
unconscious activity .So it differ from consciously bounded activities such as
empathy, influence and
it also made identity .
Gabriel
Trade , a French psychologist and he had
an influence on ideas of Freud .Trade
define
mimesis
in his work ‘The Laws of Imitation’ as a “fundamental life force, one of the
three
greatest
forms of universal repetition that
organize physical ,biological and social life : imitation
played
a role in societies analogous that of heredity in organic life or to that of
vibration among
inorganic
bodies” (Trade, 1962: 11) .
MODERN
FACE OF MIMESIS
Differ
from Aristotelian classic view on mimesis twentieth century theorists
such as Jacques
Derrida, Walter Benjamin, Adorno and Girard approach mimesis in a diverse
way. Derrida uses the
idea of mimesis in relation to texts. He argued that mimesis resists
theory and construct a
world of illusion, aesthetic and images in which existing world are
changed and
re-interpreted .Freud identifies his concept of identification with the early
stage of
human development and
he also claim that what we call personality is nothing more than the
history of our
identification .
French literary critics
Rene Girard viewed mimesis as a primordial tendency in human life,
which Plato intensely
misinterprets .Girard argued that mimesis as vibrant social force that lies at
the origins of religion
and culture. Girard came across the evidence of ‘mimetic desire’ in history
of novel .Romantic myth regards desire as spontaneous,
original and unique to each individual
,Girard never support
the view and he used the history to questioning this notion of desire .Girard
pointed that mimetic
desire never reduced into Plato’s paradigm .Eventhough it is imitated
,desire does not
divided into original and copy
.Originality is the result of desire not its reality
.Girard identify two
categories of meditation –external and internal .Both the external and
internal meditation
reveal that desire is produced by mimesis not need .
ROUSSEAU’S VIEW ON
MIMESIS
Mimesis
is not only an imitation of nature but a way to understand
human
socio cultural life. There is a twist in the Aristotelian notion of mimesis, an
imitation of
nature,
through the writings of Rousseau and Lessing. They consider mimesis in
associate with
the
individual creativity. Rousseau in his theory of acting argued that a mimesis
has a basic role
in
human social life. Like Plato Rousseau
also viewed imitation as both deceptive and cause of
dangerous
and unreasonable emotions. Rousseau argued “ the foundation of imitation among
us
comes
from the desires always to be transported out of ourselves” (Rousseau
,1979;104) .
Rousseau’s
view on mimesis give emphasis to conscious act of mimesis in social life
whereas
other
nineteenth century theorists hold up Freud’s
unconscious forms of mimesis in
culture .
CONCLUSION
Mimesis
is a term of censure, it had a Greek
origin
.The term has a relation with both arts and life. That’s why work of most
writers are
occupied
by this term . Both Plato’s and
Aristotle’s classical view illustrate that mimesis is an
imitation
. Horace believed that imitation is not copying but recreating something that
already
exist
.Longinus regards imitation is an influence of past writers on the present. He
viewed
mimesis
as a way to achieve sublimity . Sidney, a Renaissance critic express his idea
in his
Apologie for Poetrie
mimesis is not only an imitation but a creation of something new . He
divided
poetic imitation into three . Realists
called this imitation as a
verisimilitude . Psycho
analytical
theorist also give an important place to mimesis .Freud called imitation as an
identification
.Lacan also developed his view on imitation from Freud’s view .
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Potolsky Matthew ,Mimesis, London: Routledge ,2006 .
Abrahams, M. H .The Mirror and the Lamp , London: Oxford
,
·
Aristotle Aristotle’s Theory of Poetry and Fine Art, trans. S. H. Butcher, New York: Dover1951 .
Trade, Gabriel: The Laws of Imitaton ,1962 .
·
Freud, Sigmund (1953-74) :The
Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Work of
Sigmund
Freud, trans, j ,Strachey, London: Hogarth Press .
·
Nagarajan M S . English Literary Criticism and Theory Hyderabad: Orient Blackswan,
2006 .
·
Habib, M. A. R A History of Literary Criticism From Plato to the Present, USA:
Blackwell Publishing , 2005 .
·
Abraham M.H A
Glossary of Literary Terms, Newyork: Cengage Learning, 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment