The Plot Must Be Unified

Unity of plot does not, as some persons think, consist in the Unity of the hero. For infinitely various are the incidents in one man's life which cannot be reduced to unity; and so, too, there are many actions of one man out of which we cannot make one action. Hence, the error, as it appears, of all poets who have composed a Heracleid, a Theseid, or other poems of the kind. They imagine that as Heracles was one man, the story of Heracles must also be a unity. But Homer, as in all else he is of surpassing merit, here too—whether from art or natural genius—seems to have happily discerned the truth. In composing the Odyssey he did not include all the adventures of Odysseus—such as his wound on Parnassus, or his feigned madness at the mustering of the host—incidents between which there was no necessary or probable connection: but he made the Odyssey, and likewise the Iliad, to centre round an action that in our sense of the word is one. As therefore, in the other imitative arts, the imitation is one when the object imitated is one, so the plot, being an imitation of an action, must imitate one action and that a whole, the structural union of the parts being such that, if any one of them is displaced or removed, the whole will be disjointed and disturbed. For a thing whose presence or absence makes no visible difference, is not an organic part of the whole.

Some people think that a plot is unified simply because it has one hero. But one man’s life contains countless events that cannot be made into a unified whole. Likewise, one man performs many actions that cannot be made into a single action. This seems to be the mistake of all poets who have composed a Heracleid, a Theseid, or similar poems. They imagine that because Heracles was one man, the story of Heracles must also be unified. But Homer, who surpasses others in all things, seems to have recognized the truth here too. Whether through skill or natural genius, he got it right. In composing the Odyssey, he did not include all the adventures of Odysseus. He left out, for example, his wound on Parnassus and his pretended madness when the army was gathering. There was no necessary or probable connection between these incidents. Instead, he centered the Odyssey, like the Iliad, on an action that is one in our sense of the word. In the other imitative arts, an imitation is unified when the thing it imitates is unified. Likewise, a plot is an imitation of an action. So a plot must imitate one complete action. Its parts must be joined so that, if any one is moved or removed, the whole is thrown into disorder. For if a thing makes no visible difference whether present or absent, it is not an integral part of the whole.