Classical unities

The three units are Aristotelian principles for the construction of dramas, which are named after the Greek philosopher Aristotle, because they are based on remarks in his Poetics. The talk of the " three unities " However, there is only since the Renaissance. For the first time they are mentioned at Lodovico Castelvetro (La poetica di Aristotele vulgarizzata, 1570).

Term

According to the requirement of compliance with the three units of time, space and action of a play should remain uniform. This means that the time jumps, changes of location and subplots are excluded. One calls this form since Gustav Freytag also closed Drama.

During the Renaissance and the Baroque ( 16th and 17th centuries ), the " units " were much more restrictive than in the examples cited by Aristotle in his Poetics. This was especially keep from the drama of the French Classical ( see Rule drama). This led to a temporary contempt of Shakespeare's plays that do not follow any of the units.

In the German-speaking world it was in the early 18th century, especially Johann Christoph Gottsched, who joined units in the context of a reform of the German theater for a return to the three so-called Aristotelian, because this was considered to be nobler than the performances of touring companies.

Aristotle

Aristotle wanted to differentiate the drama from the epic, which must be at least not adhere to the unity of time. For the " unity of time " he writes, " the tragedy is trying to keep as far as possible within a single solar orbit or to go out very little about " ( Poetics, 5). For the unity of action, he explains: " The tragedy is an imitation of a good and self-contained action of a certain size " ( Poetics, 6). And clearly further below: " you have the fables [ of the poem ] together like in the tragedies so that they are dramatic and to a single, whole and self-contained story with a beginning, middle and end relate " ( Poetics, 23 ).

A " unity of place " called Aristotle explicitly. Strictly speaking, there are only two Aristotelian units. Many of the classic tragedies that have all emerged before Aristotle, do not adhere to such rules (in particular the early dramas of Aeschylus ).

" Unity of place "

The added invented " unity of place " is occupied for the first time in Castelvetro and does not go directly back to Aristotle, but on Julius Caesar Scaliger. The French theorist Jean Chapelain and François Hedelin took Scaliger's views. This additional unit had to do with the stage backdrop of the Baroque Theatre, which was bordered by a proscenium, festoon lamps and retractable backdrops, which no quick decorating changes allowed. If the location of the plot changed, so this meant a significant stage technical difficulties.

Pierre Corneille declared in his treatise Discours sur les trois unités (1660 ) that he had in Aristotle and Horace found no prescriptions of a unity of place, they nevertheless consider it necessary. Two different locations are only possible if they are in different files and no different decorations required.