3. What is mimesis :
“Mimesis is a term used in philosophy and
Literary criticism . It discribes the process of imitation or
mimicry through which artists portray and interpret the
world . Mimesis is not a Literary divice or technique , but
rather a way of thinking about a work of art”.
● 'Mimesis’ is a derived from the Ancient Greek word
meaning 'imitation’ or ‘representation’.
4. Mimesis in Literature
● Where does the word 'mimesis’ come from?
● The term mimesis was used by the philosopher
Aristotle in his Poetic , his Greek word identified
process of imitation of mimicry with wide range of
applications .
● The evolution of thinking on mimesis suggest that
copying and imitation play a powerful role in poetry &
Literature .
6. Vocal Mimesis:
● Authors and playwright use vocal Mimesis by endowing a
character with the accent , inflection and other speech
patterns of someone of a certain region or socioeconomic
level .
● The classic play , ‘Desire under the Elms’ by Eugene O’Naill.
● In this play O’Naill wrote the dialogue using the speech
pattern found in rural new England. With phonetics,spellings
and abruptly abbreviated words and phrases , O’Naill
captures the unique vocal quality of this region and brings it
to the listener’s era .
7. Behavioral Mimesis :
● Employed by creating character who mirror
actual human response to various scenarios.
● In the Dicken’s classic, A Christmas Carol, the
character Ebenezer Scrooge is a perfect
behavioral representation of a curmudgeonly old
miser .
● Behavioral Mimesis is one of the author’s best
tools from creating believable characters.
8. Plato's view on Mimesis :
● Plato wrote about poetry and Mimesis in
multiple text and was generally this
disporaging toward the art form .
● He sow poetry along with the mimetic form
such as theatrical , as a representation of
nature that how inherently inferior to the
original .
● In Republic, he represent a dilogue between
Socrates and his pupils, where the
philosopher argue that an artist’s copy of an
object and only ever capture a small part of
the as it really is .
● The example of bed.
● Platonic view .
9. Aristotle's view on Mimesis :
● Aristotle's Poetic partly salvaged the reputation
of mimetic art .
● In the book, the philosopher argues that it is a
natural human impulse to make art that imitates
the people place and events around them .
● The Aristotelian concept of Mimesis involved
the poet adds symbolism and structure that lets
their audience draw meaning from the work.
● Aristotle agrees with Plato in calling the poet
and imitetor and creative art, imitation.
● He imitate on of the three objects - things as
they were/are, things as they are said/thought to
be or things as they aught to be.
10. Difference between Mimesis &Diegesis
● The contrasted Mimesis with another term 'Diegesis’.
● Diegesis refers to a narrator that explain the action indirectly
and described the characters mindsets from outside.
● Mimesis, shows rather than explains the action.
● When poet spoke thair own voice, therefore it usually wouldn't
be mimetic,it would be simple Diegesis.
● But when poet assumed a character and spoke in a voice that
was not their , it would be Mimesis .
● The reflecting on the poetic forms of the time, Plato classified
tragedy and comedy as a mimetic, a style of hymn called the
dithyrambas a diegetic, and epicpoetry as a mixture of both.
