And it is also natural for all to delight in works of imitation. The imitation of the action is the plot. Tragedy is not an imitation of men but of actions and life. We are left with the man whose place is between these extremes. Such is the man who on the one hand does not fall into misfortune through vice or depravity.
Fragments survive, some of which is printed below.
Note that the material relevant to comedy is closely linked to the observations made about tragedy. The objects the imitator represents are actions, with agents who are necessarily either good men or bad-the diversities of human character being nearly always derivative from this primary distinction, since the line between virtue and vice is one dividing the whole of mankind. Shakespeare inherited the traditions described above. A problem, for example, is the notion of a tragic flaw. I bid the learned maker look on life and manners and make those his book, thence draw forth true expression.