Classical Unities
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The classical unities, Aristotelian unities, or three unities represent a prescriptive theory of dramatic
tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...
that was introduced in Italy in the 16th century and was influential for three centuries. The three unities are: #''unity of action'': a tragedy should have one principal action. #''unity of time'': the action in a tragedy should occur over a period of no more than 24 hours. #''unity of place'': a tragedy should exist in a single physical location.


History


Italy

In 1514, author and critic
Gian Giorgio Trissino Gian Giorgio Trissino (8 July 1478 – 8 December 1550), also called Giovan Giorgio Trissino and self-styled as Giovan Giωrgio Trissino, was a Venetian Renaissance humanist, poet, dramatist, diplomat, grammarian, linguist, and philosopher. ...
(1478 – 1550) introduced the concept of the unities in his blank-verse tragedy, ''Sofonisba''. Trissino claimed he was following Aristotle. However, Trissino had no access to Aristotle's most significant work on the tragic form, ''Poetics''. Trissino expanded with his own ideas on what he was able to glean from Aristotle's book, ''Rhetoric''. In ''Rhetoric'' Aristotle considers the dramatic elements of action and time, while focusing on audience reception. Poor translations at the time resulted in some misreadings by Trissino. Trissino's play ''Sofonisba'' followed classical Greek style by adhering to the unities, by omitting the usual act division, and even introducing a chorus. The many Italian playwrights that came after Trissino in the 16th Century, also wrote in accordance to the unities. However, according to ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'', the imitation of classical forms and modes had a deadening effect on Italian drama, which became "rhetorical and inert". None of the 16th century tragedies that were influenced by the rediscovery of ancient literature have survived except as historic examples. One of the best is
Pietro Aretino Pietro Aretino (, ; 19 or 20 April 1492 – 21 October 1556) was an Italian author, playwright, poet, satirist and blackmailer, who wielded influence on contemporary art and politics. He was one of the most influential writers of his time and a ...
's ''Orazia'' (1546), which nevertheless is found to be stiff, distant and lacking in feeling. In 1570 the unities were codified and given new definition by
Lodovico Castelvetro Lodovico Castelvetro (ca. 1505–1571) was an important figure in the development of neo-classicism, especially in drama. It was his reading of Aristotle that led to a widespread adoption of a tight version of the Three Unities, as a dramatic ...
(ca. 1505–1571) in his influential translation and interpretation of Aristotle’s ''Poetics'', ''Poetica d'Aristotele vulgarizzata e sposta'' ("The Poetics of Aristotle translated in the Vulgar Language and commented on"). Though Castelvetro’s translations are considered crude and inaccurate, and though he at times altered Aristotle's meanings to make his own points, his translations were influential and inspired the vast number of scholarly debates and discussions that followed all through Europe.


France

One hundred and twenty years after ''Sofonisba'' introduced the theory to Italy, it then introduced the concept once again, this time in France with a translation by
Jean Mairet Jean (de) Mairet (10 May 160431 January 1686) was a classical french dramatist who wrote both tragedies and comedies. Life He was born at Besançon, and went to Paris to study at the Collège des Grassins about 1625. In that year he produced ...
. Voltaire said that the ''Sophonisba'' of Mairet had "a merit which was then entirely new in France, — that of being in accordance with the rules of the theatre. The three unities of action, time, and place are there strictly observed, and the author was regarded as the father of the French stage." The new rules caught on very quickly in France. Corneille became an ardent supporter of them, and in his plays from ''
Le Cid ''Le Cid'' is a five-act French tragicomedy written by Pierre Corneille, first performed in December 1636 at the Théâtre du Marais in Paris and published the same year. It is based on Guillén de Castro's play ''Las Mocedades del Cid''. Castro' ...
'' (1636) to '' Suréna'' (1674) he attempted to keep within the limits of time and place. In 1655 he published his ''Trois Discours'', which includes his arguments for the unities. Corneille's principles drew the support of
Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditio ...
and Voltaire, and for French playwrights they became hard rules, and a heresy to disobey them. Voltaire said: However in France opposition soon began to grow in the form of a Romantic movement, that wanted freedom from the strictures of the classical unities. It turned into a fierce literary conflict. The opposition included Victor Hugo,
Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer ...
, and others. Victor Hugo, in the preface to his play, ''Cromwell'', criticizes the unities, saying in part, Hugo ridicules the unities of place and time, but not the unity of action, which he considers "true and well founded". The conflict came to a climax with the production of Victor Hugo's play '' Hernani'' at the Theatre Francais, on the 21st of February 1830. It was reported that the two sides, the "Classicists" and "Romanticists", both full of passion, met as on a field of battle. There was a lot of clamor in the theatre at each performance, even some fist fights. The newer Romantic movement carried the day, and French playwrights no longer had to confine their plays to one location, and have all of the action packed into one day.


England

The Classical Unities seem to have had less impact in England. It had adherents in
Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...
and
John Dryden '' John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...
. Examples of plays that followed the theory include: Thomas Otway's ''
Venice Preserv'd ''Venice Preserv'd'' is an English Restoration play written by Thomas Otway, and the most significant tragedy of the English stage in the 1680s. It was first staged in 1682, with Thomas Betterton as Jaffeir and Elizabeth Barry as Belvidera. The ...
'' (1682), Joseph Addison's '' Cato,'' and Samuel Johnson's ''
Irene Irene is a name derived from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), the Greek for "peace". Irene, and related names, may refer to: * Irene (given name) Places * Irene, Gauteng, South Africa * Irene, South Dakota, United States * Irene, Texas, United Stat ...
'' (1749). Shakespeare's '' The Tempest'' (1610) takes place almost entirely on an island, during the course of four hours, and with one major action — that of Prospero reclaiming his role as the Duke of Milan. It is suggested that Prospero's way of regularly checking the time of day during the play might be satirizing the concept of the unities. In ''
An Apology for Poetry ''An Apology for Poetry'' (or ''The Defence of Poesy'') is a work of literary criticism by Elizabethan poet Philip Sidney. It was written in approximately 1580 and first published in 1595, after his death. It is generally believed that he was ...
'' (1595),
Philip Sidney Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek language, Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philip ...
advocates for the unities, and complains that English plays are ignoring them. In Shakespeare's ''
The Winter's Tale ''The Winter's Tale'' is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some criti ...
'' the chorus notes that the story makes a jump of 16 years:
John Dryden '' John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...
discusses the unity of time in this passage criticizing Shakespeare's history plays:
... they are rather so many Chronicles of Kings, or the business many times of thirty or forty years, crampt into a representation of two hours and a half, which is not to imitate or paint Nature, but rather to draw her in miniature, to take her in little; to look upon her through the wrong end of a Perspective, and receive her Images not onely much less, but infinitely more imperfect then the life: this instead of making a Play delightful, renders it ridiculous.
Samuel Johnson in the preface to his edition of Shakespeare in 1773 rejects the previous dogma of the classical unities and argues that drama should be faithful to life: After Johnson's critique interest seemed to turn away from the theory. John Pitcher, in the
Arden Shakespeare The Arden Shakespeare is a long-running series of scholarly editions of the works of William Shakespeare. It presents fully edited modern-spelling editions of the plays and poems, with lengthy introductions and full commentaries. There have been t ...
Third Series edition of ''
The Winter's Tale ''The Winter's Tale'' is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some criti ...
'' (2010), suggests that Shakespeare was familiar with the unities due to an English translation of ''Poetics'' that became popular around 1608.


Excerpts of Aristotle's ''Poetics''

Aristotle's ''Poetics'' may not have been available to Trissino, when he formulated the unities, and the term "Aristotelian unities" is considered a misnomer, but in spite of this, Aristotle's name became attached to the theory from the beginning. As translations became available, theorists have looked to the ''Poetics'' retrospectively for support of the concept. In these passages from the ''Poetics'', Aristotle considers action:
Tragedy, then is a process of imitating an action which has serious implications, is complete, and possesses magnitude. … A poetic imitation, then, ought to be unified in the same way as a single imitation in any other mimetic field, by having a single object: since the plot is an imitation of an action, the latter ought to be both unified and complete, and the component events ought to be so firmly compacted that if any one of them is shifted to another place, or removed, the whole is loosened up and dislocated; for an element whose addition or subtraction makes no perceptible extra difference is not really a part of the whole.
Aristotle considers length or time in a distinction between the epic and
tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...
:
Well then, epic poetry followed in the wake of tragedy up to the point of being a (1) good-sized (2) imitation (3) in verse (4) of people who are to be taken seriously; but in its having its verse unmixed with any other and being narrative in character, there they differ. Further, so far as its length is concerned tragedy tries as hard as it can to exist during a single daylight period, or to vary but little, while the epic is not limited in its time and so differs in that respect.Aristotle. Else, Gerald F. ''Aristotle Poetics''. University of Michigan Press (1967). p. 24.


See also

*
History of theatre The history of theatre charts the development of theatre over the past 2,500 years. While performative elements are present in every society, it is customary to acknowledge a distinction between theatre as an art form and entertainment and ''the ...
*
Theatre technique {{unreferenced, date=October 2008 Theatre techniques are procedures that facilitate a successful presentation of a play. They also include any practices that advance and enhance the understanding the audience brings to the action and the acting by t ...


Notes


References

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External links

* * {{Aristotelianism Drama Theatre History of theatre Ancient Greek theatre Style (fiction)