Studying Aristotle’s “Poetics” — Part 10: Simple and Complex Plots

As I’ve been interviewing screenwriters, I typically ask what some of their influences are. One book title comes up over and over again: Aristotle’s “Poetics.” I confess I’ve never read the entire thing, only bits and pieces. So I thought, why not do a daily series to provide a structure to compel me to go through it. That way we’d all benefit from the process.

For background on Aristotle, you can go here to see an article on him in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

To download “Poetics,” you can go here.

Part 10: Simple and Complex Plots

Plots are either Simple or Complex, for the actions in real life,
of which the plots are an imitation, obviously show a similar distinction.
An action which is one and continuous in the sense above defined,
I call Simple, when the change of fortune takes place without Reversal
of the Situation and without Recognition

A Complex action is one in which the change is accompanied by such
Reversal, or by Recognition, or by both. These last should arise from
the internal structure of the plot, so that what follows should be
the necessary or probable result of the preceding action. It makes
all the difference whether any given event is a case of propter hoc
or post hoc.

Here Aristotle draws a distinction between two general types of plots: Simple and Complex. It’s interesting how he describes the former through what it is missing, namely Reversal and Recognition.

What a Simple plot actually consists of is rather amorphous based on what Aristotle presents here. The use of the phrase post hoc, literally “after this,” suggests that a Simple plot is comprised of a set of events that while continuous in nature lacks a sense of causality.

A Complex plot is propter hoc, literally “because of this,” which means there is a sense of causality in the emergence of events.

We will delve more fully into Reversal and Recognition in Part 11 next week, but for purposes of our discussion today, my initial take on these two concepts is this:

— Reversal: A dramatic change in plot circumstances to the point where it can be seen to come full circle.

— Recognition: An awareness of some key realities or truths on the part of characters within the story.

If that is anywhere close to Aristotle’s meaning, that intrigues me for two reasons in relation to screenwriting:

(1) A screenplay universe is comprised of two realms: External World, the domain of Action and Dialogue; Internal World, the domain of Intention and Subtext. The former is where we see and hear events played out. The latter is where we intuit and interpret the meaning of those events. In other words:

External World = Physical Journey

Internal World = Psychological Journey

Reversal would seem to slot most fully into the External World. Recognition would seem to be most connected to the Internal World. Thus it seems safe to infer that for Aristotle, a successful Complex plot must traffic in and service both the Physical journey and the Psychological journey.

(2) This connection of Reversal and Recognition brings to mind the cosmogonic cycle as represented in the Hero’s Journey:

You can see both Reversal and Recognition at work: The former in the way the Hero comes full circle in their journey, the latter with those key words revelation and especially transformation.

At its most basic, the Hero’s Journey is comprised of three movements: Separation, Initiation, Return, echoing Aristotle’s idea of narrative as having a Beginning, Middle and End. Joseph Campbell asserted that the whole point of the Journey is transformation — the Hero separates from the Old World, is initiated in the New World, the events and actions unfolding there impacting the Hero, then returns home a changed individual.

This linking of the Psychological World with the Physical World is another way of driving home the difference between a Simple and Complex plot: The interweaving connections between events in the plot and the change that occurs within a character’s psyche puts the story in propter hoc territory. Indeed from a screenwriting standpoint, it speaks to the narrative destiny of a Protagonist, reflected in the harmonic convergence of plot events and personal transformation.

Much more next time!

I welcome the input of the traveling feast of Aristotelians who have taken to gathering here for a weekly discourse. If you have just stumbled onto this series, you should really go back and read the comments in each post as the folks who have been participating have added incredible insight into this seminal work by Aristotle.

A reminder: I am looking at “Poetics” through the lens of screenwriting, what is its relevance to the craft in contemporary times. And I welcome the observations of any Aristotle experts to set me straight as I’m just trying to work my way through this content the best I can.

See you tomorrow for another installment of this series.

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For the entire series, go here.