h is meant contingent action, is at the heart of poetic creation in dramatic form, as far as the experience of consuming the content of a play is concerned. Whatever else that involves, it also involves watching men in action, in the here and now, resolving (or not) by means of their actions the contingency of experience. Tragedy is a special mode of this action because the consequences are so important, the stakes so high. All of this goes into Aristotle's definition of tragedy as
the representation of an action that is worth serious attention, complete in itself, and of some amplitude; in language enriched by a variety of artistic devices appropriate to the several parts of the play; presented in the form of action, not narration; by means of pity and fear bringing about the purgation of such emotions (Aristotle 38-9).
Uncertainty or contingency of action during its formal presentation is balanced by the fact that actions certainly have consequences, for good or ill. Just how uncertain the audience for Greek tragedy would have been is debatable, given the generally familiar subject mat
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