CriticaLink | Aristotle: Poetics | Terms

simple plot

A simple plot, in contrast to a complex plot, does not include a reversal of the dramatic situation (peripeteia) or recognition (anagnorisis). In a drama, simple plots are made up of a series of episodes; they can be coherent and logical, but they do not serve to effect the pity and fear that is expected from a successful tragic plot.

• Aeschylus
• Aristophanes
• Euripides
• Sophocles

• anagnorisis
• catharsis
• character
• comedy
• complex plot
• complication
• denouement
• deus ex machina
• diction
• Dionysus
• dithyrambic poetry
• drama
• epic
• fear
• genre
• hamartia
• hexameter
• iambic
• medium
• mimesis
• mode
• narrative
• nomic poetry
• object
• pathos
• peripeteia
• phallic songs
• pity
• plot
• poetry
• simple plot
• song
• spectacle
• telos
• thought
• tragedy
• trope
• unities