Editing Character (arts) (section)

==Classical analysis==
{{further|Poetics (Aristotle)}}

In the earliest surviving work of [[dramatic theory]], ''[[Poetics (Aristotle)|Poetics]]'' ({{circa|335 BCE}}), the [[Greek philosophy|Classical Greek philosopher]] [[Aristotle]] states that character (''[[ethos]]'') is one of six qualitative parts of [[Classical Athens|Athenian]] tragedy and one of the three objects that it [[Mimesis|represents]] (1450a12).<ref>Janko (1987, 8). Aristotle defines the six qualitative elements of tragedy as "plot, character, diction, reasoning, spectacle and song" (1450a10); the three objects are plot (''[[Mythos (Aristotle)|mythos]]''), character (''[[ethos]]''), and reasoning (''[[dianoia]]'').</ref> He understands character not to denote a fictional person, but the quality of the person acting in the story and reacting to its situations (1450a5).<ref name=j984>Janko (1987, 9, 84).</ref> He defines character as "that which reveals [[Decision making|decision]], of whatever sort" (1450b8).<ref name=j984/> It is possible, therefore, to have stories that do not contain "characters" in Aristotle's sense of the word, since character necessarily involves making the [[Ethics|ethical]] dispositions of those performing the action clear.<ref>Aristotle writes: "Again, without action, a tragedy cannot exist, but without characters, it may. For the tragedies of most recent [poets] lack character, and in general, there are many such poets" (1450a24-25); see Janko (1987, 9, 86).</ref> If, in speeches, the speaker "decides or avoids nothing at all", then those speeches "do not have character" (1450b9—11).<ref>Janko (1987, 9).</ref> Aristotle argues for the primacy of [[Plot (narrative)|plot]] (''[[Mythos (Aristotle)|mythos]]'') over character (''ethos'').<ref>Aston and Savona (1991, 34) and Janko (1987, 8).</ref> He writes:
{{blockquote|But the most important of these is the structure of the incidents. For (i) [[tragedy]] is a representation not of human beings but of action and life. Happiness and unhappiness lie in action, and the end [of life] is a sort of action, not a quality; people are of a certain sort according to their characters, but happy or the opposite according to their actions. So [the actors] do not act in order to represent the characters, but they include the characters for the sake of their actions" (1450a15-23).<ref>Janko (1987, 8).</ref>}}
Aristotle suggests that works were distinguished in the first instance according to the nature of the person who created them: "the grander people represented fine actions, i.e. those of fine persons" by producing "hymns and praise-poems", while "ordinary people represented those of inferior ones" by "composing invectives" (1448b20—1449a5).<ref>Janko (1987, 5). This distinction, Aristotle argues, arises from two causes that are natural and common to all humans—the delight taken in experiencing representations and the way in which we learn through imitation (1448b4—19); see Janko (1987, 4—5).</ref> On this basis, a distinction between the individuals represented in tragedy and in comedy arose: tragedy, along with [[epic poetry]], is "a representation of serious people" (1449b9—10), while [[Comedy (drama)|comedy]] is "a representation of people who are rather inferior" (1449a32—33).<ref>Janko (1987, 6—7). Aristotle specifies that comedy does not represent all kinds of ugliness and vice, but only that which is laughable (1449a32—1449a37).</ref>

In the ''[[Tractatus coislinianus]]'' (which may or may not be by Aristotle), [[Ancient Greek comedy]] is defined as involving three types of characters: the [[buffoon]] (''{{Lang|grc-latn|[[bômolochus]]}}''), the [[Irony|ironist]] (''{{Lang|grc-latn|[[Eiron|eirōn]]}}''), and the [[imposter]] or boaster ({{Lang|grc-latn|[[Alazon|alazṓn]]}}).<ref>Carlson (1993, 23) and Janko (1987, 45, 170).</ref> All three are central to [[Aristophanes]]' [[old comedy|Old Comedy]].<ref>Janko (1987, 170).</ref>

By the time the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] comic playwright [[Plautus]] wrote his plays two centuries later, the use of characters to define dramatic [[genre]]s was well established.<ref>Carlson (1993, 22).</ref> His ''[[Amphitryon (Plautus play)|Amphitryon]]'' begins with a [[prologue]] in which [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]] claims that since the play contains kings and gods, it cannot be a comedy and must be a [[tragicomedy]].<ref>''Amphritruo'', line 59.</ref>