ThePoeticsOfCARNIval .

A critical analysis between Aristotle’s “Poetics” and St. Mary’s Theater Arts production of “CARNIval”

“Trembling at curious words that seemed to keep, / some secret, monstrous if one only knew…” – CARNIval

“Those who employ spectacular means to create a sense not of the terrible but only of the monstrous are strangers to the purpose of tragedy.” – Poetics

Definition and Analysis

Tragedy, as defined by Aristotle in the Poetics is a “mimesis”, or imitation, of action that is extant, serious, and of a certain complexity.

Aristotle’s definition of tragedy includes “language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament” through which of CARNIval explores many elements. Metaphor, simile, repetition, and many other literary devices are used within dialogue. “Have you never heard the fable of the ant and grasshopper?” – Al, CARNIval continues to tell a metaphoric story showing their current situation. As the play progressed, the idea of simile comes into place, explaining the beginning of the end with “But war now… then it was more like a video game.” – Caroline, CARNIval. Repetition is shown in many situations throughout the play, often involving Doc, through lines such as, “Things can always get worse. You gotta remember that.” – Caroline/Doc, CARNIval, and “Off with her head!” – Doc, CARNIval. Repetition also shown through lines such as “Danger, Stranger” – Doc, CARNIval often used to show the characters personality herself.

Though literary devices or “embellished language” may be used through dialogue, Aristotle continues to mention that said embellished language is primarily “in the form of action, not of narrative;” – Poetics. The musical aspect incorporated into CARNIval compliments the progression of the play in terms of revealing information or reflecting upon recent events. Agreeing with the incorporation of song, Aristotle states that “language into which rhythm, 'harmony' and song enter” – Poetics is the language best embellished.

“…through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions”. Finalizing Aristotle’s definition of tragedy, the idea of expressing emotion is explored. Focusing primarily on the evocation of pity, “sympathetic or kindly sorrow evoked by the suffering, distress, or misfortune of another” – Random House Dictionary, and fear, “a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, or pain, whether the treat is real or imagined” – Dictionary.com, many situations that arise throughout the course of the play that interact with said feelings. In CARNIval, as the death card is revealed, a rush of emotions is suggested to the audience with both of mixture of fear and shock, followed by pity for Caroline as she is left hanging, waiting to die.

Plot: Basic Concepts

The progression of the storyline in CARNIval fallows the layout that Aristotle expressed in the Poetics almost to an exact. “A beginning is that which does not itself follow anything by causal necessity, but after which something naturally is or comes to be.” – Poetics. In the beginning of CARNIval, the youth in the library are continuing on with what has now become their everyday life, that “casual necessity” that Aristotle had mentioned. The progression of everyday life to the arrival of Caroline is a mirrored image to that of Aristotle’s teaching.

“An end, on the contrary, is that which itself naturally follows some other thing, either by necessity, or as a rule, but has nothing following it.” – Poetics. The ending of CARNIval, though dialogue was scarce, still attends to the Poetics. The progression of the trial of Caroline was lead on by earlier events. CARNIval as a play portrays the literal significance of “the end”. It represents the end of humanity and existence with nothing left to follow it, exactly as mentioned in the Poetics. Having the last words in CARNIval being “That's the way the moon wanes”- That’s The Way, Tom Waits, supports the idea of nothing following it signifying the end.

The length of CARNIval shows significance within the Poetics from the perspective of beauty. “The greater the length, the more beautiful will the piece be by reason of its size” – Poetics. The underlying messages in CARNIval are so powerful and thought-provoking that there is astonishing beauty that lies within the text and movement of characters that is often portrayed as horror. “The greater the length, the more beautiful will the piece be by reason of its size” – Poetics. If CARNIval were to become any shorter, it would’ve taken away from the power and beauty within the play. If it were to be longer in magnitude, it would almost be too much for the spectator to watch, “as the eye cannot take it all in at once” – Poetics. CARNIval corresponds with the Poetics in the category of magnitude simply by corresponding with the fact that the play is “a magnitude which may be easily embraced in one view” – Poetics.

“It is not the function of the poet to relate what has happened, but what may happen - what is possible according to the law of probability or necessity.” – Poetics. As mentioned in the Poetics, tragedy is a reflection of what may occur rather than what has already happened. The production of CARNIval reflects that idea indefinitely. The element of setting in CARNIval is one that has not occurred yet in this world’s time, though it is a possibility which allows audiences to become tied into the story. “…before nuclear winter stole the sun from the sky and the heat from the earth.”- Caroline, CARNIval. Though the story takes place indoors, the implication of “the end” allows the audience to believe the nuclear winter that has brought on the depletion of humanity, which within itself is a fear many people collectively share. The setting containing such an extreme though possible event allowed the audience to become captivated as a result of CARNIval’s tendency “to express the universal” – Poetics.

Plot: Species and Components

As said by Aristotle, tragedy “is best produced when events come on us by surprise.” – Poetics. This idea inspired many occurrences throughout CARNIval, such as the death of Ma, the eating of human flesh, the arresting of Caroline, as well as the final stasimon beginning after the death card was thrown. The element of surprise and astonishment plays a large role in the evocation of emotional involvement through evoking the previously stated emotions of pity and fear. In CARNIval, the element of surprise focuses on fear superior to pity as a result of the gruesome nature of the events taking place. Though Aristotle claims the nature of the surprise is greater if it arrives upon them or by accident, CARNIval does not run parallel to that idea. Each surprise or astonishing occurrence arrives as a surprise to the audience though, with exception to the killing series, comes off as an everyday occurrence to the youth in the library that were also considered the chorus, acting only as a surprise to Caroline.

Though “coincidences are most striking when they have an air of design,” – Poetics, coincidences are not included greatly within the text of CARNIval. Though iron is shown on many occasions throughout the play, coincidence is not a major element when considering the astonishment within a tragedy.

When analyzing the complexity of a tragic plot, one must take into the account two factors: Reversal, “a change in which action veers round to its opposite” – Poetics, as well as recognition, which Aristotle continued to define as, “a change from ignorance to knowledge.” – Poetics. Both of these factors must arrive from preexisting conflicts and reasoning of the interior plot, therefore allowing the “probably result of the preceding action – Poetics. In CARNIval, both reversal and recognition are displayed, signifying the high complexity of the plot of CARNIval. During the both acts of the play, reversal is demonstrated. Within the first act of CARNIval, Caroline is accepted as “a part of the us” – Ma, CARNIval, which is recognized as an extremely positive addition to their survival group. After a quick change of events AFTER the uttering of the name “Mary”, Caroline transitions to being viewed as an evil and negative addition from the chorus’ perspective. There is also an evident reveal in the midst of act two, through the slaughtering of Caroline. The reversal occurs near the end of the play within the final stasimon when in opposition to Caroline dying, the chorus collectively died, leaving Caroline the only one to survive.

Recognition on the other hand is seen less in CARNIval when adhering to complexity, though it is still a strongly significant contender in the aid of advancing the plot. The main element of recognition in CARNIval is the realization of the consumption of human flesh, and more so the realization of the consumption of Mary. “Oh my God, my God. Mary? Is it Mary? Mary!” – Caroline, CARNIval. As Caroline realizes what the meal consists of, we see a change of mood from somber to chaotic and dark. In this we can see a relation to the Poetics since it is “upon such situation that the issues of good or bad fortune will depend.” – Poetics. In context, this realization is one of the principle aspects of the plot, allowing the storyline to continue on through to the trial.

The aspect of suffering is displayed within the play primarily in the final stasimon of CARNIval which in fact corresponds to the Poetics perspective on the nature of a scene of suffering. “Suffering is a destructive or painful action, such as death on the stage, bodily agony, wounds, and the like.” – Poetics. The final scene involving the release of the death card would be considered a scene of suffering according to Aristotle. After thirteen deaths in under a minute comprising of broken necks, stabbings, head trauma, and slit throats, the emotions of fear and pity are strongly expressed as a result of the wounds, destruction, bodily agony, and the like. “Things that would make you look twice.” – Caroline, CARNIval. The sights of suffering continue right on through to the end of the play while seeing Caroline hanging on the hook, unable to get down. In the sense of suffering in modern day, Mary’s illness and offstage death would qualify, though according to Aristotle’s Poetics, a death must be onstage to be considered suffering. Though “many will end unhappily, (…) it is the right ending.” – Poetic.

The Best Kinds of Tragic Plot

When determining the nature of the main character for CARNIval, the consideration of how the downfall of this character would be shaped was a must. “Nor, again, should the downfall of the utter villain be exhibited.” – Poetics. Adhering to Aristotle’s perspective of the hero, Caroline was chosen for the fact that she possessed many of the collective qualities of the human race, allowing her to become personable. “Pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune, fear by the misfortune of a man like ourselves.” – Poetics. Aristotle’s approach on tragedy is very much the same as the approach taken in the formation of Caroline: creating a character much like ourselves to increase relativity within the play. The Poetics veers away from the structure of CARNIval when the opinion of wealth is brought up. “He must be one who is highly renowned and prosperous.” – Poetics. Because of the setting in the play, the controversy of “necessary and probable” – Poetics arises. It would not be probable or practical for Caroline, or any character in that matter, to be highly renowned or prosperous as the world is ending and the human race is nearly extinct. The world becomes a matter of survival rather than a world of success, allowing Caroline to be a stranger bearing nothing but a simple can of beans. “A likely impossibility is always preferable to an unconvincing possibility.” – Aristotle

In agreement with the Poetics, a plot must be “single in its issue.” – Poetics. CARNIval focuses on consumption in particular. The primary issue expressed within the play is the rate of consumption within the terms of survival. As Aristotle had stated, “the change of fortune should be (…) from good to bad.” – Poetics. In this case, the change of fortune should be characterized from “bad to worse”, in the sense that the fortune placed upon the group at the beginning of the play was bad from the start. CARNIval agrees with the concept of the change of fortune though it tends to divert from the idea of good fortune at the beginning. The change does occur according to the Poetics in terms of coming about as result “of some great error” – Poetics; the error in fact being the uttering of the name of one who has passed.

Aristotle also expands upon the idea that “the best tragedies are founded on the story of a few houses (…), on the fortunes of those others who have done or suffered something terrible.” – Poetics. Though Caroline is not one of the greats who are mentioned from ancient Greece, CARNIval adheres to the concept within the idea of being founded on the story of one who has suffered something terrible, in which Caroline has through the nuclear warfare. As mentioned in her opening monologue and again in stasimon 2 within the conversation with Mary and her story telling to the library kids, Caroline has suffered great tragedy in her life.

Other Aspects of Tragedy

In respect of character, Aristotle believes that there are four primary focuses: goodness, propriety, true to life, and consistency. Goodness, defined as “moral excellence; virtue” – dictionary.com, applies to Caroline in the sense that she is not a villain in the play. Complying with the CARNIval’s main character being female, Aristotle agrees that “even a woman may be good (…) though the woman may be said to be an inferior being.” – Poetics. In terms of propriety, Aristotle claims that “valor in a woman (…) is inappropriate.” – Poetics. When speaking of valor, the determination in facing great danger, Caroline’s character shows relation to, though not as strong as could be. As seen in the third stasimon, Caroline stands up for the chance of eating paper rather than nothing, but at greater times of danger, such as in the trial, she does not seem to fight back as much as one with great valor would. True to life and consistency both apply to Caroline as well, making her an almost perfect character in the eyes of Aristotle.

Out of six types of recognition identified by Aristotle, only two are applicable to CARNIval. Recognition through memory as well as through the process of reasoning may both connect back to the realization of the consumption of human flesh. Both memory and reasoning play a part simply because of the two revelations she had came upon in such a short time: the realization of the human flesh, and the realization of the flesh being Mary. Caroline stumbles upon the realization of human flesh through recalling the term ‘longpig’ from a movie she had seen in the past. After realizing the meat she had been consuming was human flesh she uses reasoning and deduction to come to the conclusion that Mary was in fact that very flesh.

When speaking of the chorus, Aristotle claims that “The chorus too should be regarded as one of the actors; it should be an integral part of the whole, and share in the action.” – Poetics. In the context of CARNIval, the chorus is an integral part of the whole and shares in the action, but rather than as one of the actors, they serve as individual characters. During the stasimons of CARNIval, each character has a name and an individual voice and personality, only coming together for the duration of each choral ode, further separating again at the beginning of each stasimon.

“Philosophy is the science which considers truth”. – Aristotle