obvious--hence there is no room for Character in a speech on a purely
indifferent subject. Thought, on the other hand, is shown in all they
say when proving or disproving some particular point, or enunciating
some universal proposition. Fourth among the literary elements is the
Diction of the personages, i.e. as before explained, the expression of
their thoughts in words, which is practically the same thing with
verse as with prose. As for the two remaining parts, the Melody is the
greatest of the pleasurable accessories of Tragedy. The Spectacle,
though an attraction, is the least artistic of all the parts, and has
least to do with the art of poetry. The tragi.e.fect is quite
possible without a public performance and actors; and besides, the
getting-up of the Spectacle is more a matter for the costumier than
the poet.




7


Having thus distinguished the parts, let us now consider the proper
construction of the Fable or Plot, as that is at once the first and
the most important thing in Tragedy. We have laid it down that a
tragedy is an imitation of an action that is complete in itself, as a
whole of some magnitude; for a whole may be of no magnitude to speak
of. Now a whole is that which has beginning, middle, and end. A
beginning is that which is not itself necessarily after anything else,
and which has naturally something else after it; an end is that which
is naturally after something itself, either as its necessary or usual
consequent, and with nothing else after it; and a middle, that which