Seminar activity 2: Creative synopsis

In teams, you'll be asked to focus on one of the following figures:

• Salvador Allende (politician, 1908-1973)
• Indira Gandhi (politician, 1917-1984)
• Mikhail Gorbachev (politician, 1931-2022)
• George Best (footballer, 1946-2005)
• Whitney Houston (singer, 1963-2012)

Think about how a tragedy based on this figure’s career could be made to comply with Aristotle’s principles. This may well involve selecting and/or distorting the historical facts! Write brief notes or bullet points under each of the following headings:

1. Mythos: you can’t tell the whole life story of your protagonist. So, where would you choose to begin and end the action?
2. Ethos: what kind of a person is your protagonist? (This means their fundamental, permanent character traits – not temporary phases that they go through)
3. Dianoia: how does your protagonist respond to situations, challenges, etc.?
4. Peripeteia: is there a surprising reversal in your protagonist’s situation? A reversal of this kind can’t come out of thin air – it has to be logically connected with the rest of the plot. How could this connection be made?
5. Anagnorisis (‘recognition’): does your protagonist gain knowledge in a way that affects their downfall, e.g. realizing that they've done something that they wouldn’t have done if they'd been in full possession of the facts?
6. Hamartia (‘error’): what crucial error(s) does your protagonist make, and how do these cause their fortune to change?