Aristotle in his Poetics , when dealing with the plot – which is called mythos in greek – and for him the most important of the six elements of tragedy, makes the following comment: ‘But when the tragic incident occurs between those who are near or dear too one another – if, for example, a brother kills, or intends to kill, a brother, a son his father, a mother her son, a son his mother, or any other deed of the kind is done – these are the situations to be looked for by the poet’. The greek philosopher is arguing how terror and pity – the emotions that should be caused by a tragic play – can be achieved by a playwright, in the understanding that Drama differs from the other two literary genres because it needs to maintain the spectator's interest uninterruptedly throughout the time of the theatrical show. Our Seminar intends to examine how three modern playwrights, writing in different space-time contexts – Henrik Ibsen (Ghosts, Hedda Gabler), Arthur Schnitzler (The Round, The lonely Way) and Jorge Andrade (The Moratorium) – follow this Aristotelian axiom in their plays’ constellations building the main conflicts among parents and their children or husbands and their wives, not only trying to keep the spectator’s attention but also to affect them in an emotional cathartic way and enunciate their points of view from the formal elements of a play.
KEY-WORDS: Character, Constellation, Conflict, Modern Drama, Aristotle, Point-of-view.
REFERENCES:
ARISTOTLE. On Poetics. Transl. By Seth Bernadete and Michael Davis. South Bend: St. Augustine Press, 2002. 144p.
PAVIS, Patrice. Dictionary of the Theatre: Terms, Concepts and Analysis. Transl. by Christine Shantz. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1998. 469 p.
ANDRADE, J. A moratória. In: ANDRADE, J. Marta, a árveyore e o relógio. São Paulo: Perspectiva, 1970. p. 117-189
IBSEN, H. Ghosts and Other Plays. London: Penguin Books, 1964b. 368 p.
---. Hedda Gabler and Other Plays. London: Penguin Books, 1950. 368 p.
SCHNITZLER, A. The Round-Reigen: English-German Dual-Language Edition. Transl. by Maria Mannes. Berkeley: Omo Press, 2016. 162 p.
SCHNITZLER, A. The lonely way; Intermezzo; Countess Mizzi – three plays. Transl. by Edwin Björkman. New York: M. Kennerley, 1915.
SCHNITZLER, A. Gesammelte Werke. Die dramatischen Werke. 2 Bde. Frankfurt am Main: S Fischer Verlag, 1962.
Paulo Ricardo Berton is an Associate Professor II at UFSC (Santa Catarina Federal University/Brazil), teaching at the Performing Arts course, (Theory of Theatre, Theatre Directing, Dramatic Literature and Dramatic Writing) and at the graduate program in Literature (PPGLit). He is also a theatre director and playwright. His last directing credits include The Man of Mode, or Sir Fopling Flutter (G.Etherege, 2016) and ART (Y.Reza, 2018). As an actor he has appeared in The Man of Mode, or Sir Fopling Flutter (G.Etherege, 2016) and Heart’s Desire (C.Churchill, 2018).