Aristotle's Poetics Lesson Plan

Evaluate Aristotle's assertion that a tragedy should have only one story, rather than several plots woven together, especially with an eye to modern storytelling media and techniques,

Students are probably accustomed to media with subplots, where one is technically following several stories at once. Some may feel that this makes a story stronger, that subplots can illuminate themes in the main plot or allow you to look at an idea or character differently; others may believe that Aristotle is right, and that writers shouldn't detract from what their story is really about. Be sure that students understand that the mere existence of subplots doesn't conflict with Aristotle's...