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Quote :Poetics
But most important of all is the structure of the incidents. For Tragedy is an imitation, not of men, but of an action and of life, and life consists in action, and its end is a mode of action, not a quality. Now character determines men's qualities, but it is by their actions that they are happy or the reverse. Dramatic action, therefore, is not with a view to the representation of character: character comes in as subsidiary to the actions. Hence the incidents and the plot are the end of a tragedy; and the end is the chief thing of all.
Aristotle emphasizes that narrative is about movement: by its very nature, narrative involves some sort of progression in time from point A to B to C. Aristotle recognizes that there are other parts of the text that we should also consider, like character and spectacle, but there's no doubting that his number one priority is the narrative.
Aristotle may be talking about Greek tragedy, but we could apply this same outlook to other, modern texts, too. Take movies, for instance: glitzy FX, costumes, and camerawork may add to the experience, but if there isn't a basic script to provide the foundation for all this extra stuff, then the movie's probably gonna seem kind of hollow. Aristotle uses character as another example: folks may be happy or sad, but it's the narrative that clues us in on why they're happy or sad.
According to Aristotle, narratives are about life, and life involves action. This means that we can turn our attention to character—but always in relation to the narrative itself. Aristotle sees this as the hallmark of tragedy, arguing that the most successful works are those that put narrative first. In works of this type, the narrative is made up of a sequence of events, and it's this particular sequence that shapes our verdict as to whether the tragedy lives up to its name.