Important to bear in mind that, having established in Chapter 6 the component parts of Tragedy (plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle and song, as a painter would list color, line, form, depth, etc.), here in Chapter 7 Aristotle’s focus is to examine the structure of the incidents in the plot, which he also said in Chapter 6 is the most important of all. In the first paragraph, discussed last week, he outlines beginning, middle and end, and dictates the necessity of incidents to proceed in cause and effect relationship to each other. In this paragraph, he is treating the striving for beauty as a given -- everything we’re saying here is about manifesting beauty in the creation of Tragedy. He is then saying that in order to manifest beauty, the structure of the piece (an orderly arrangement of parts) is actually not enough. You must also have proper magnitude. A better translation of “beauty depends on magnitude and order” would be “beauty depends on magnitude in addition to order” (“order” being synonymous with “structure”). He then embarks on a rather strained analogy to minute and gargantuan animal organisms to illustrate his point that extreme or inappropriate size will undermine an object’s beauty. But I think what he’s really getting at is perception. Just as our visual capacity cannot fully focus on a very small animal organism (like a flea), nor take in the entirety of some kind of mythic miles-long serpent, so, too, our capacity for memory is limited when confronted with a drama that goes on for an inordinate length of time or that goes by so fast we can’t take it in. Obviously, the current popularity of serial television drama, delivered in multiple seasons spread out over several years, sometimes feeling like some kind of mythic miles-long serpent, puts this analogy in doubt. Come to think of it, Vine and Instagram videos, quickly disappearing like a flea, do the same. At least in matters of perception. As to whether serial TV or Vine videos are art, that’s another question . . . Nonetheless, there is a caution here worth heeding. Simply put, the length of a Tragedy needs to be in proportion to the subject matter, in the same way that some jokes are one-liners and others when drawn out to an extreme only get funnier and funnier (to use a strained analogy).

The emphasis on beauty in this section reminded me of John Gardner's advice in The Art of Fiction, that fiction must create a "vivid, continuous dream that engages us heart and soul. . ." (and that seems to address the idea of work needing a certain magnitude, as well). And what you said about balance reminded me of this fascinating post by Shaula Evans on "The Fractal Nature of Screenplays" http://theblackboard.blcklst.com/forums/topic/the-fractal-nature-of-screenplays/ Also, a bit of a non sequitur, I guess, but when Aristotle speaks of organisms being too tiny or too vast to be beautiful, I couldn't help but think, what a shame he didn't have access to all of the instruments available to us, from microscopes to telescopes - if only he had been able to see what we can see now, perhaps he might have had some different ideas about the magnitude of beauty once the splendor of the universe opened itself up to him.

>>>the current popularity of serial television drama...puts this analogy in doubt. True. Because we don't have to take it all in one sitting on benches made of rock like they did in Aristotle's day. We have so many more commodious venues. And we can record it and watch at our convenience, dole a one hour episode out in 10-15 minute increments, if we are so disposed. >>>I think we could easily land on a word I mentioned above: Balance.. Balance and proportion were certainly central to Aristotle's aesthetics and ethics. In Nicomachean Ethics, he formulated a definition of moral virtue as a 'golden mean' between too much goodness of character and action and too little. What, there can be too much of a good thing? Aristotle thought so in terms of virtue. Does his notion of balance apply to elements of drama? Can there be too much bang-and-boom in an action film? Too much emoting in a romantic film? Too much gore in a horror film? Too much eye-candy in a sci-fi or fantasy film? In any event, we will encounter Aristotle's notion of balance again in his discussion of character and what constitutes the "flaw".

BTW: 'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.' -- Ode on a Grecian Urn (John Keats)