Greek conceptions of human experience in general and Greek society in particular evolved.
Particularly in his discussion of reversal, or a dramatic change of conditions to their opposite, and recogni tion/discovery, which is a transformation for the characters from a state of ignorance to a state of knowledge, Aristotle takes his text from Oedipus, a primary text of the golden age. "The most effective form of discovery is that which is accompanied by reversals, like the one in Oedipus" (Aristotle 46). Indeed, reversal and recognition occur at the same moment, thus also inciting pity, fear, and catastrophe at the same moment, specifically, when the king discovers the source of the plague (himself), that he had killed his father after all, that he has taken his mother as a wife. In his determination to answer one main question of the play--what caused the plague--he answers another main question--who am I--principally because of his dogged and imperious determination to "start afresh and make dark things clear" (Sophocles 35). Once made clear, of course, they darken immediately.
What is important about Aristotle's judgment of Oedipus as a work of art is the "vivid" emotional and psychological impact of its integration of narrative design and idea. Aristotle's view that tragedy is the highest of the arts derives from its ability to accomplish, whether in written form or in performance, a convincing, serious, and powerful imitation of men in action within a "shorter compass" than (say) the longer poetic form of epic, e.g., the Iliad. Because the representation of action is achieved through a consistency and concentration of character and incident, and because the subject matter has weight, there is an interdependence of craft and aesthetic conception, as well as a confidence that the reader/spectator of the play is engaged by the issues and characters at stake. Aristotle's positing of the vicarious nature of man implies the view that...