Theatre of the Oppressed—Augusto Boal
© 1974 © 1979 English Translation
Translation by Charles A. & Maria-Odilia Leal McBride
Section 1: Aristotle’s Coercive System of Tragedy
The first section Augusto Boal presents in Theatre of the Oppressed describes how early philosophers considered the connection between theatre and politics. He mentions that some regarded the arts and specifically theatre as an act of pure contemplation. Others felt that theatre was a vision of society in transformation and thus is political because it can demonstrate the implementation of change or how change can be delayed. Boal continues by mentioning Plato’s position that poets should be banished from society because “poetry only makes sense when it exalts the figures and deeds that should serve as examples” (as quoted by Boal, p. xii). He further describes how Plato views theater as an imitation of things in the world and the world is just an imitation of ideas, thus theater is just an imitation of an imitation.
Boal then asserts that Aristotle held the same position as Plato. He states that Aristotle favored the study of poetry and politics as separate endeavors due to the nature of them having their own laws and different purposes and aims. However, Boal maintains that Aristotle actually creates a powerful poetic-political system for the intimidation of the spectator in order for that person to eliminate negative or illegal tendencies. Theater is a catharsis.
Art Imitates Nature
Aristotle felt that art imitates nature, not in the sense that it mimics things in the world, but that it “re-cerates” nature. In this sense, art utilizes the creative principal of created things. Artistic items are not exact reproductions, but contain much of the same tenets as the original so as to impart knowledge and understanding about that item. Boal describes ideas of the thinkers of Aristotle’s time and how Aristotle may have developed this point of view. Boal concludes this sub-section of section one with the idea of knowledge and how it is presented. He suggests that through dialectics and the debate of ideas knowledge ascends.
What is the Meaning of “Imitation”?
Boal further depicts how Aristotle may have reconciled his position on the arts and society with that of his contemporaries. He introduced new concepts in the perception that substance is the enduring unity of matter and form. In tragedy (Aristotle’s characterization for theater), matter made up of words and form is the sum of the meaning and purpose of those words. Ideas (form) are the dynamic principle of matter. According to Boal, for Aristotle, matter is pure potential and form is pure act and to imitate is to recreate the “internal movement of things toward their perfection” (p. 8). Boal goes on to point out that the actor must portray men as they should be, not as they are.
What, then, is the Purpose of Art and Science?
Nature cultivates perfection, but does not always achieve it. In art and science, the re-creation of ideas allows for the correction of nature where it has failed. For example men know illness and war which is not the perfection nature seeks. However, these can be re-created through theater and corrected, using the suggestions of nature itself.
Major Arts and Minor Arts
Boal states that the arts and sciences do not exist in isolation and are actually interrelated according to their characteristics. These entities hold a hierarchy based on the magnitude of functions. Thus there are major arts and minor arts that co-exist. There is the interrelated disposition of a painting (a major art) to manufacturing paints and paint brushes (minor arts). The major arts are contained in a larger forum, a sovereign art, which Boal maintains possess laws which rule over the relations of men, and therefore is politics.
What does Tragedy Imitate?
Tragedy imitates not simply human activities but human acts. Aristotle considered imitation as man’s actions determined by his rational soul. This rational soul can be divided into three areas: faculties, passions, and habits. Faculties are those things a man is able to do, even though he may not do those things. Those that are realized are passions, with passions being concrete acts. When passions are constant in a man, they become habits. Aristotle believed that the actions in which man engages are for the purpose of good and that the supreme good of man is happiness.
What is Happiness? And What is Virtue?
Aristotle illustrates three types of happiness—material possessions, glory, and virtue. The first description of items and enjoyment of them are what contribute to the happiness of the average person. He said that material happiness is not deserving of being studied through tragedy. On a second level, happiness is found through glory. The behaviors of a man which define glory are not the cause of the happiness, but the recognition from others on the behaviors of man is what creates happiness. Lastly, on what Aristotle felt was the superior level of happiness, man will act purely on what is right and does not require the approval of others. Thus, when tragedy imitates actions of the rational soul, he says that man’s search for happiness is to search for virtuous behavior.
Aristotle provides several examples, but asserts that somewhere in the middle of extreme behaviors is where virtue can be found. Virtue is not a natural behavior for man; it must be learned as man can cultivate habits which will allow for the development of virtuous behaviors. The promotion of these habits should begin in childhood and learned from elders who have also been instructed in virtuous behaviors.
Necessary Characteristics of Virtue
Boal continues his stance on the Aristotelian structure of virtue by detailing the four conditions of human action which must be in place for someone to be considered virtuous. The first condition is willfulness. Willfulness must not be accidental but a voluntary act initiated by the person. Freedom is the second condition of virtue, where someone will act without external coercion. Virtue is a free behavior. The third condition is knowledge. The person who acts has available to him or her choices whose terms are known. Finally, the fourth condition is constancy. Since virtue (and vice) is based in habits and not just passions, virtuous behavior must be consistent.
In this section, Boal offers instances of the behaviors of characters from literature. For example, Shakespeare’s Othello does not know the truth of his wife Desdemona’s behavior. He has been wrongly informed that she was unfaithful to him, and, in a jealous rage, he kills her. It is not the act of killing her that is his tragic flaw, but his pride and knowledge that murder is an unacceptable behavior that is Othello’s tragedy. Habitual behaviors cause the tragedy of the characters, not the result of their behaviors.
What is Justice?
Aristotle proposes that what is just is that which is equal and what is unequal is unjust. However, he sees these positions in the reality of what already exists and simply accepts them. Boal points out that Aristotle does not contemplate any possibility of transforming already existing inequalities and thus allow for man to act virtuously. From these inequalities, Boal proposes that justice is not about equality, but rather about proportionality. The criteria that determines proportionality is based on the system in which if functions. The conclusion Boal conveys regarding Aristotle and tragedy at this point is:
Tragedy imitates the actions of man’s rational soul, his passions turned into
habit, in his search for happiness, which consists in virtuous behavior, remote from the extremes, whose supreme good is justice and whose maximum expression is the Constitution (p. 23-24).
Boal states that works for those who make the laws, but what about those who do not create them? They rebel, not accepting the inequality presented to them within the given reality.
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