CriticaLink | Aristotle: Poetics | Terms

complex plot

A complex plot, in contrast to a simple plot, includes a reversal of the dramatic situation (peripeteia) and/or recognition (anagnorisis). Complex plots unfold through an internal logic and causality; they are not simply strings of episodes.

• Aeschylus
• Aristophanes
• Euripides
• Sophocles

• anagnorisis
• catharsis
• character
• comedy
• complex plot
• complication
• denouement
• diction
• Dionysus
• dithyrambic poetry
• drama
• deus ex machina
• epic
• fear
• genre
• hamartia
• hexameter
• iambic
• medium
• mimesis
• mode
• narrative
• nomic poetry
• object
• pathos
• peripeteia
• phallic songs
• pity
• plot
• poetry
• simple plot
• song
• spectacle
• telos
• thought
• tragedy
• trope
• unities