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Theatre of the Oppressed Augusto Boal THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED TRANSLATED BY CHARLES A. 8. MARIA-ODILIA LEAL McBRIDE THEATRE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP NEW YORK 1985 THEATER OF THE OPPRESSED 32 indeed de and weaknesses which do to numerous vices, errors, destroyed. serve to be be found among to be purged must undoubtedly The impurity the individual’s be something that threatens the latter. It must Something that is consequently that of society. equilibrium, and And since all the greatest virtue, justice. not virtue, that is not the tragic the laws, the impurity which that is unjust is forseen in directed is therefore something process is destined to destroy against the laws. better the will be able to understand If we go back a little, we imitates A Short Glossary of Simple Words definition was: “Tragedy workings of tragedy. Our last habits, his passions turned into actions of man’s rational soul, the consists in virtuous behavior his search for happiness, which in and whose maximum expres whose supreme good is justice sion is the Constitution.” and tends toward certain ends, We have also seen that nature science intervene to correct it. when nature fails, art and in his ac therefore, that when man fails Tragic hero. We can conclude, happiness behavior as he searches for — his virtuous in his Social History ofArt, in the tions in laws — As Arnold Hauser explains which is obedience to the the maximum virtue, How? beginning, the theater was the chorus, the mass, the people.’° through to correct that failure. art of tragedy intervenes ex They were the true protagonist. When Thespis in vented the pro the through purgation of the purificatiofl catharsis, tagonist, he immediately “aristocratized” the theater, which Through prevents the character from undesirable element which existed before in its popular forms of mass manifestations, traneous, element is contrary to the achieving his ends. This extraneous parades, feasts, etc. The protagonist-chorus dialogue was clearly political deficiency. it is a social fault, a scheme a reflection of the aristocrat-people (commoners) dialogue. The law; understand how the tragic We are finally ready to certain tragic hero, who later begins to carry on a dialogue not only with glossary may serve to simplify works. But first, a short assemble in the chorus but also with his peers (deuteragonist and tritagonist), elements we are going to words which represent the was always presented as an example which should be followed in system of tragedy. order to clarify the coercive certain characteristics but not in others. The tragic hero appears when the State begins to utilize the theater for the political pur pose of coercion of the people. It should not be forgotten that the State, directly or through certain wealthy patrons, paid for the theatrical productions. Ethos. The character acts and his performance presents two as pects: ethos and dianoia. The two together constitute the action developed by the character. They are inseparable. But for explan atory purposes we could say that ethos is the action itself, while dianoia is the justification of that action, the reasoning. Ethos 34 THEATER OF THE OPPRESSED Aristotle’s Coercive System of Tragedy 35 would be the act itself and dianoia the thought that determines the pure empathy. Empathy makes us feel act. But one should bear in mind that the reasoning is also action, experiencing as if we ourselves are what is actually happening and there can be no action, no matter how physical and limited it Empathy to others. is an emotional relationship may be, that does not suppose a reason. spectator. A between character and relationship which, as Aristotle We can define ethos as the whole of the faculties, passions, basically one suggests, can be of pity and fear, but which and habits. tions as can include other emo well: love, tenderness, desire In the ethos of the tragic protagonist all tendencies must be (in the case of many movie stars and their fan clubs), etc. good. Empathy takes place especially character in relation to what the does — that Except one. is, his ethos. But there is pathic relationship likewise an em dianoja (the character’s) All the passions, all the habits of the character must be good, Spectator’s), — reason (the which corresponds to with one exception. According to which criteria? According to stimulates ethos-emotion The ethos emotion; the dianoja stimulates constitutional criteria, which are those that systematize the laws; Clearly, the reason. fundamental empathic emotions that is, according to political criteria, since politics is the are evoked on of pity and fear the basis of an ethos which must bad — only one passion, one reveals good sovereign art. Only one trait be (hence pity for the character’s traits habit, will be against the law. This bad characteristic is called hamai-tja destruction) and one bad trait, (hence fear, because we also hamartia. Now possess it). we are ready to return to the scheme. functioning of the tragic Ilamartia. 11 V It is also knon as the tragic flaw. It is the only “impurity” that exists in the character. Hamartia is the only thing that can and must be destroyed, so that the whole of the character’s ethos may conform to the ethos of the society. In this confrontation of tendencies, of ethos, the hamartia causes the conflict: it is the only trait that is not in harmony with what society regards as desirable. Empathy. From the moment the performance begins, a relationship is established between the character, especially the protagonist, and the spectator. This relationship has well defined characteristics: the spectator assumes a passive attitude and delegates the power of action to the character. Since the character resembles us (as Aristotle indicates), we live vicariously all his stage experiences. Without acting, we feel that we are acting. We love and hate when the character loves and hates. Empathy does not take place only with tragic characters: it is enough to see children very excited, watching a “Western” on television, or the sentimental looks of the public when, on the screen, the hero and the heroine exchange kisses. It is a case of _>octs Aristotle’s Coercive System of Tragedy 39 THEATER op THE OPPRESSED 38 The words Amicus Plato, sed magis amicus veritas” (“I am ci) a) Plato’s friend, but Jam more ofafriend of truth!”) are attributed to Aristotle. In this we agree entirely with Aristotle: we are his friends, but we are much better friends of truth. He tells us that I )(uc2. , poetry, tragedy, theater have nothing to do with politics. But / reality tells us something else. His own Poetics tells us it is not so. We have to be better friends of reality: all of man’s activities — U) — politi U, including, of course, all the arts, especially theater are cal. And theater is the most perfect artistic form of coercion. (nc c’.J ci) ci) 0•;;- cciG) - caci) .4-, 1, UVU Co ED • b.I - Cu \/ 0. a) C.) W - C) Aristotle’s Coercive Syste,n of Tragedy 41 again the example of Oedipus. The perfect social ethos is pre sented through the Chorus or through Teiresias in his long speech. The collision is head-on. Even after Teiresias has declared that the criminal is Oedipus himself, the latter does not accept it and continues the investigation on his own. Oedipus — the perfect man, the obedient son, the loving husband, the model father, the statesman without equal, intelligent, handsome, and sensitive — has nevertheless a tragic flaw: his pride! Through it he climbs to the peak of his glory, and through it he is destroyed. The balance is re-established with the catastrophe, with the terrifying vision of DilTerent Types of Conflict: the protagonist’s hanged mother-wife and his eyes torn out. Ilamartia and Social Ethos Second Type: Harnartia Versus Hamartia Versus the Perfect Social Ethos. The tragedy presents two characters who meet, two tragic heroes, each one with his flaw, who destroy each other before an ethically perfect society. This is the typical case of Antigone-and Creon, both very fine persons in every way with the exception of requires: coercive system of tragedy their respective flaws. In these cases, the spectator must neces have seen, Aristotle’s ethos As we between the character’s sarily etnpathize with both characters, not only one, since the creation of a conflict not a) the he lives; something is tragic process must purify him of two hamartias. A spectator who ethos of the society in which and the empathizes only with Antigone can be led to think that Creon which right! relationship called empathy, possesses the truth, and vice versa. The spectator must purify the establishment of a character b) guided by the it takes — whether the spectator to be himself of the “excess,” whatever direction consists in allowing as if he himself is the spectator_fee excess of love of the State to the detriment of the Family, or through his experiences; misfortunes of the pleasures and suffers the excess of love of the Family to the detriment of the good of the — the acting enjoys thoughts. extreme of thinking his State. character, to the changes of a rigorous of character is perhaps not spectator experience three Often, when the anagnorisis the c) that the he suffers a blow anagnorisiS, and catharsis; enough to convince the spectator, the tragic author utilizes the nature: peripeteia recognizes the (the action of the play), direct reasoning of the Chorus, possessor of common sense, with regard to his fate antisocial and is purified of the moderation, and other qualities. error vicariously committed in himself. In this case also the catastrophe is necessary in order to characteristic which he sees In the coercive system of tragedy.
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