The concept of imitation or representation is the very foundation ofAristotle's theory of art. Though originally propounded by Plateo, his master, Aristotle gave it an entirely new meaning. According to Plato ideas are the ultimate reality. Things are conceived as ideas before they take shape as things. Atree is thus a concrete embodiment of its image in idea. The idea of everything, therefore, is its originl, and the thing itself is its copy. As the copy ever falls short of the original, it is once removed -from reality. Now art reproduces things.
SO it copies a copy; it is twice removed from reality. According to Plate, art takes man away from reality rather than towrds it. So the production or art helped neither to mould character not to promote the well being of the state the two things by which Plato judged all human activities. Plato admitted that arthad special charm of its ownand could attract people very powerfully. According to him this made art all the more dangerous to society.
Unfortunately he was not aware of its potentialities for good, for inspiring people to do noble things to civilize and instruct individuals in their millions. But, according to Aristotle, imitation is neither mechanical nor degrading. It is a creative process owing to the use of imagination. In fact art is n imaginative recreation of life with all objects, beings, actions, thoughts and feelings within its purview. Plato's view of poetry is part of his moral perceptions. But Aritotle views poetry as an independent form of mental activity. I has the purely aesthetic function resulting in the creation of beauty. According to him a work of art is a thing of beauty and it affords pleasure. To be beautiful is part of the essence of a work of art. When we say that a poem is good we say that it is beautiful. Order, proportion.and organic unity all go into the making of the beautiful.
The moral goodness or evil does not disturb Aristotle much even though he has the well being of society at heart. The process of imitation is such that it brings into existence a new artifact which never existed earlier. All fine arts remain distinguished from other human activities owing to the composite application of experience, imagination, ideals and values with a bearing upon life in general unlike routine acts of every day life. According to Aristotle, the media or means of imitation are rhythm, harmony and language with varying degrees of importance according to the kind of work involved in the creation of art. The object of imitatioq are men in action.
Divine or semivivine personages and even animals are included. Men in action would mean men in mentaland physicalaction within theircharacteristics, passions and experiences. Poetic imitation is an imitation of inner human action, symbolozed by anger, gentleness, courage etc. The manner or style of imitation varies as the objects are portrayed as better than they are, or worse, or as they really are..In tragedy the representation is as better and in comedy it is as worse. The serious poets generally irritated noble actions while the more trivial wrote about the meaner sort of people. While one type wrote hymns and panegyrics othets wrote satirical pieces. The subdivisions of the three manners or styles mentioned above are such that they speak often as they ought to be or as they are thought to be or as they are said to be. In some cases poetry offers images ofthe ideal, better than that of nature, thus excelling nature. Things or persons as they ought to be need be taken more inan aesthetic sense than in the moral one. The origins of imitation are many. For one thing, the instinct for imitation is inherent in humaq nature. It is man's inalienable right as it were. Secondly the process of imitaion brings man a lot happiness. Thirdly, it satisfies the human craving for finding likenesses or similarities.
Aristotle's theory of mimesis treats of the perceptive, intuitive imaginative faculty of man. Thus imitation is ofthe essence of man. The act of imitation is beautiful, and it results in beauty. It deals with and deals in beauty. It gives pleasure to people at large. Being persuasive and convincing it q presents as idealised treafinent oflife, takes us nearer to an ideal vision of life. Though it deals with individuals, it aims at universal truth. Since it appeals to our emotions, its appeal is strong. I Imitation, which meant for Plato removal from reality or? distortion of reality, is manipulated by Aristotle to mearr' something apparently better than reality.
While imitating natural art gives a boost to nature in seeking her goal. Every art ort educational discipline aims at filling "rr.;;;; ,;,r"i r""""..[ undone. Art finishes the job where and when nature fails, or. supplies the missing parts. Art, in having aims, and working by a1 plan or idea, parallels the work of nature. When nature makes a)* horse, an artist makes a poem, an artisan makes a chair, each one,; complementing and supplementing the others. l Aristotle's theory is based not on unrealized ideal but upon the models before him Homer's epics, the dramas ofAeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. Though he has written only about Greek literature his ideas are of immense signilicance to modern students of riterature.
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