Manju P
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MIMESIS
INRODUCTION
Mimesis
is derived from the Ancient Greek word “mimos” which is a noun that designates both
‘a person who imitates’ and ‘a specific genre of performance based on the
imitation of stereotypical traits’. It is one of the oldest terms found in
literary and artistic theory. It describes one’s way of thinking about art,
literature and representation and describes the relationship between artistic
images and reality. It implies that art is a copy of the real. We generally
rely upon this concept even if we have not heard of it or even if do not know
about its history. Mimesis calls forth many meanings, attitudes, metaphors to
show its overriding significance to western thought. Without any knowledge of
mimesis one can never understand western theories of artistic representation.
Mimesis
is often used to describe art works as well as actions such as imitating
another person. It can be said to be imitating a spectrum of real things such
as nature, truth, beauty, mannerisms, actions, situations, examples, ideas. The
term has been used to express the imitative relationship between art and life,
a master and a disciple, an art work and its audience, and the material world
and rational order of ideas.
Mimesis
is always double i.e., it is good and bad, natural and unnatural, necessary and
dispensable. Mimesis has been a recurrent, even obsessive, concern for artists
and philosophers for thousands of years. Not every art is mimetic, but the idea
of art is inconceivable without the theory of mimesis atleast for western
culture. The Ancient Greek Philosopher Plato introduced the term “Mimesis” into
his literary theory over two thousand years ago in his dialogue the Republic. He said that art ‘merely’
imitates something real. It is an illusion, and thus needs to be distinguished
from truth and nature. This definition of mimesis was a topic of discussion for
many philosophers throughout the history of literary theory. As the famous
twentieth century French philosopher Jacques Derrida writes “the whole history
of the interpretation of the arts of letters has moved and been
transformed within the diverse logical
possibilities opened up the concept of
mimesis.”
Mimesis
has at all time been more than a theory of art and images. From its very origin
in Greek thought, mimesis linked ideas about artistic representation to more
general claims about human social behavior, and to the ways in which we know
and interact with others and with our environment. The term mimesis originally
referred to the physical act of miming or mimicking something. An essential
part to be human, is to have the ability to create and moved by the works of
art, suggests Plato and Aristotle.
We
gain pleasure from artistic representations of even the most disgusting and
foul things. Imitation takes us from the particular to the universal, which
helps us experience learning. It is an elucidation of the particular
representation which uncover us universal laws of nature. Art is a a source of
penetration into life.
As
the classics scholar Stephen Halliwell has noted, Western thought has
historically been divided between two fundamental ideas about art that come
from the combined approaches of Plato and Aristotle. Art reflects the world as
it is, that is it copies a material reality outside the work, then art can be
defined as a self-contained heterocosm’
that simulates a familiar world, and in effect copies our ways of knowing and
understanding things. The concept
mimesis is often asserted but is very difficult to demonstrate, particularly
for literary works, which cannot literally ‘mirror’ anything. Plato attacks
mimesis on the basis of its corruptive influence on man who should be governed
by reason and not passion. On the other hand his disciple Aristotle attacks
mimesis on the ground of many of the same anthropological and psychological
standard that Plato used to ignore it.
PLATO’S
OBSERVATION
The
Ancient Greek philosopher Plato provided the first and unquestionably the most
influencial account of mimesis. Plato does not just remark upon the existing
notion of mimesis but redefines art as basically mimetic, as a representation
of something else. This notion is so fundamental on the basis we understand art
that it is no exaggeration to claim that art is a Platonic invention, as a
distinct human product.
Plato’s
concept of mimesis appears in both of his works Ion and Republic. Mimesis never
just meant imitation from the earlier stage itself it described many forms of
similarity or comparability, from visual resemblance to behavioural emulation
and the metaphysical correspondence between real and ideal worlds. Before the
introduction of theory of mimesis, the Greek culture regarded archaic images
and statues of Gods as real objects. But the concept of imitation or mimesis
devalued all these believes of this culture.
Plato
not only treats poetry and art as mimetic but also the social phenomena and the
behaviours like miming, emulation, pictures, mirrors, shadows, echoes, dreams,
reflections and even footprints. Thus he considers art or poetry neither as a
creation nor as a craft, it is only an imitation of something else. Plato
associates the human nature and political life to various aspects of society
like political organization, education, the ideal of justice and the nature of
philosophical knowledge. Mimesis is never considered simply as an aesthetic
category but as a potential threat to the ideals of justice and reason. In Republic
it is through Socrates that Plato reveals everything. The ‘human soul’ he says,
must be governed by its best part- reason, like the morally just city is
governed by the wisest citizens- the philosophers. Therefore according to him
anything that cause restriction to the functioning of the best part of human
soul must be banned.
Plato separates mimesis
from the real, rational and essential and equates it with pleasure and emotion
rather than truth, reality and necessities of life. Therefore he says that any
piece of art cannot show truth to the people as it is twice removed from
Reality. And he considers poets as responsible for taking away human beings far
from reality. He believes that it is philosophy that will lead them to truth
and reality.
ARISTOTLE’S
OBSERVATION
Aristotle,
disciple of Plato holds an entirely different perception on mimesis. He gave a
new dimension to the term. He invests imitation with positive significance. Aristotle
was an academic, a man of letters, a naturalist , and ‘a perfect crtic’
according to Eliot. For Aristotle poetic imitation is an imitation of inner
human action. According to Aristotle artist is a creator and his creations are
imitations of human action, character and emotions.
According to
Aristotle it is
the mimetic nature
that distinguishes poetry
from other kinds
of discourse . Aristotle’s Poetics
is the single most influential work
of literary criticism in the Western tradition and, along with Plato’s Republic,
is a foundational text for the understanding of mimesis. It has long
shaped critical accounts of ancient drama, and was treated by playwrights as a
prescriptive guidebook for hundreds of years after its rediscovery and
translation into Latin by scholars in the early Renaissance.
Infact
Aristotle’s
account of mimesis in the Poetics is often considered as a critical
response to Plato’s exile of the poets in the Republic. Aristotle
groups all the arts under the title of mimesis like Plato did. And again like
Plato, he contrasts the representational arts with other forms of human
inquiry, such as science and history, that are conventionally associated with
truth and reality. His defence of mimesis also turns on a fundamentally
Platonic concern: reason. Mimesis is a real thing for Aristotle that is worthy
of critical analysis on the framework set up by Plato.
Aristotle
revises the theory of mimesis introduced
by Plato . Unlike Plato, for whom mimesis is a mirror of something else and
therefore potentially deceptive, Aristotle presents mimesis as a craft with its
own internal laws and aims. According to Plato, poetry and
painting, epic and tragedy are essentially the same in their imitation of the
real and Aristotle, by contrast, differentiates the arts by the materials they
employ. In the Republic by Plato, Socrates
treats the manner of imitation as a moral choice: the speaker who imitates
another person ‘hides’ from the audience and by contrast, Aristotle regards the manner of
imitation as an artistic choice.
Aristotle indicates two causes of poetry, which by extension are the causes of mimesis in general. The first is the man’s universal instinct
to engage in mimetic activity, the second
is man’s inclination to take
pleasure in the products of mimesis. Both
of these are rooted in man’s rational nature. Aristotle believes that imitation is natural
to human beings from childhood and there is a natural pleasure in imitation. As
per Aristotle’s response on mimetic theory imitation is needed to
complete this incomplete physical world where human beings live in.
PLOTINUS ON
MIMESIS
Plotinus was one
of the major philosophers of ancient world. Many scholars refer to him as the
founder of Neo-Platonism, and the most profound single influence on Christian
thought. His system of theories consists of three principles:the One , the
Intellect, the Soul. He was the disciple
of Ammonius Saccas and belonged to Platonic tradition. His metaphysical writings have inspired
centuries of Pagan, Christian, Jewish, Islamic and Gnostic metaphysicians and mystics.
According
to Plotinus art is imitation but it is a creative work. He doesn’t have the view that art is
twice removed from reality. He believes that artists borrow raw materials from
the nature which is complete and through his creativity he adds the missing
parts, if any, and presents it by reshaping it. Artist has no rational mind but
has a spontaneous force with the help of which he innovates a work of art and
thus art is given higher status in his system.
HORACE ON MIMESIS
Horace is one of the
greatest Roman poet-critic who lived at a peaceful time conducive to discussion
about art. His concept of imitation is different from that of Plato and
Aristotle. He displaces the object of imitation from nature to the ancient
Greek tragedians. He gives importance to ancient Greeks and bothered less about
his contemporary writers. His concept of imitation meant a recreation. He
encourages aspiring poets to practice imitation by which he meant emulating and
following in the footsteps of great models. In his Ars Poetica he reduced the concept of mimesis to a technical
process of either following the tradition or making one’s own invention on
literary principles.
LONGINUS ON MIMESIS
Longinus is the third
member of the Classical Triumvirate of Criticism. Longinus treats imitation in
a spiritual level rather than technical level. His concept of imitation can be
found in the theory of sublimity and also as a spiritual interaction with the
ancient great minds which involves the subjectivity of the writer himself. He
divides this process into three stages. First is a passive process where one is
exposed to the spiritual influence of earlier masters. Second is the
internalization of what has transported to the writer under the influence of
great writers. Third is the active creation of sublimity of one’s own.
The perception of
literary imitation of Longinus is closely connected with the theory of
sublimity. Sublimity is that transcendent element that transforms a work into
more than a sum of its parts. For Longinus, sublimity is an inspiring outburst
of revelatory illumination.
JOHN DRYDEN ON MIMESIS
John Dryden was an
important and influential personality who belonged to the seventeenth century.
He was a great poet, dramatist, translator and critic. He was a greatest
playwright after William Shakespeare and Ben Johnson. There is no peer for him
as a prose writer, especially literary criticism and as a translator. In one of
his relevant work An Essay of Dramatic
Poesy he has given an explicit account on art. Dryden strongly agrees with
the Aristotlian view that poetry is an imitation of life and reflects nature
distinctly. His basic faith in mimetic form of art and Horatian function of
literature is unshakeable. Dryden’s ultimate belief in literature being a mimetic art is most clearly expressed in his
famous definition of the play: ‘A just and lively image of human nature,
representing its passions and humours, and the changes of fortune to which it
is subject; for the delight and instruction of mankind.’
OSCAR WILDE ON MIMESIS
Oscar
Wilde was an Irish Writer and poet. After
writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most
popular playwrights in the early 1890s. Oscar Wilde believes that art does not
copy life and nature but rather it forms its own world of reality. and thus
this reality is independent and thus art becomes not a copy of nature but a
creative force of humanity. His view regarding poetry can be seen through his
claim that “Art never expresses anything but itself”. Art does not express any
imitating materials from life and nature but has its own substance form and
mode of expression.
CONCLUSION
The conception of Aesthetics in the earlier
centuries considers mimesis as bound to the imitation of nature which is
empirical and idealized. Aesthetic theory stressed the connection of mimesis to
artistic expression and began to include interior, emotive, and subjective images and representations. Comparing with many other
literary theories and ideologies mimesis lacks a dramatic history of changing
meanings and radical redefinitions.
According
to Derrida mimesis resists theory and constructs a world of semblance,
appearances, aesthetics, and images in which existing worlds are appropriated,
changed, and re-interpreted. Philosophers and writers like
Aristotle, Plato, Shakespeare, Racine, Moliere, Rousseau and Diderot have
applied the mimetic theory of literary criticism in their work and lives; and modern
thinkers such as Benjamin, Derrida, and Girard have reworked and reapplied
their thoughts and ideas.
Mimesis is the unavoidable
conceptual medium of Western thinking about art, artists and audiences, and
about their relationship to broader currents in human psychology and collective
life. Physical life is ruled by genes, tiny molecules that instruct the body to
create specific proteins; intellectual and social life, Dawkins suggests, is
ruled by units of imitation he calls ‘memes’. A meme, he writes is ‘an entity
which is capable of being transmitted from one brain to another’. Memes can be
anything that lasts through imitation, from ideas to songs to ritual practices.
The
mimetic theory is the universal foundation of literature and of schools of
literary criticism. The concern for the moral effects of art is often drawn
from mimetic theory. The expressive school deals with the link between poet and
his piece of work, and the objective school emphasizes the integrity of the
work itself without considering the audience, poet or external reality.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Potolsky,
Matthew. Mimesis. New York.
Routledge, 2006
Nagarajan,
M S. English Literary Criticism and
Theory: An Introductory History. Hyderabad.
Orient Black Swan Private Limited, 2006
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