The Unities of Aristotle

Instructions On a piece of notebook paper, set up a Cornell Notes page. List the unity in the left column Record information about the unity in the right column.

Developed from Aristotle’s writings Unities Developed from Aristotle’s writings

Unities Unity of Action Unity of Time Unity of Place

Unities Unity of Time A Greek play occurs in “real time.” Scenes progress in continuous time beginning in the morning and ending later that day. The action of the play should take place over no more than 24 hours. All events in Oedipus Rex take place in a single day.

The entire play is unified around a single storyline. Unities Unity of Action Unlike modern plays and novels, a Greek play has only one plotline – no or few subplots The entire play is unified around a single storyline.

Unities Unity of Place All the action of the play takes place in a single location. The stage does not represent more than one place. Messengers are used to report events occurring elsewhere.

Unities Summary: In the summary section, explain how Oedipus follows the three unities, based on what we’ve learned in the Prologue. [see next slide]

Unities Time – what can we expect about the time frame of Oedipus’ downfall? Place – where will all the action of the play take place? Action – what will be the single storyline of the play?