A tragedy, then, is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in language with pleasurable accessories, each kind brought in separately in the parts of the work; in a dramatic, not in a narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions.

This sentence comes from Aristotle’s *Poetics*, written in the 4th century BCE as part of his broader inquiry into how arts and sciences can be analyzed by their causes, structures, and effects. In the treatise Aristotle examines Greek dramatic practice—especially Athenian tragedy as exemplified by playwrights such as Sophocles and Euripides—and proposes a technical definition of tragedy. The definition appears early in the work, where he distinguishes tragedy from epic (narrative) poetry and begins outlining tragedy’s essential components (plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle, song) and its characteristic emotional effect: the arousal and “catharsis” of pity and fear.

Aristotle defines tragedy not by subject matter alone but by form, structure, and audience impact. Tragedy is “imitation” (mimesis) of a serious, complete action of appropriate scale, presented dramatically rather than narrated, and shaped through elevated language and musical/ornamental elements distributed across the play’s parts. Crucially, the plot’s incidents should evoke pity and fear, leading to catharsis—an influential and debated term often taken to mean a purgation, clarification, or regulated emotional release. The definition implies that tragedy is an art with intelligible rules: coherence and magnitude in plot are not optional, because they enable the emotional and ethical experience that tragedy uniquely provides.