All human happiness or misery takes the form of action; the end for which we live is a certain kind of activity, not a quality. Character gives us qualities, but it is in our actions - what we do - that we are happy or the reverse. In a play accordingly they do not act in order to portray the Characters; they include the Characters for the sake of the action.I love these twists on conventional wisdom. Over 100 years ago, William James said something similar: “We don't laugh because we're happy – we're happy because we laugh.” This is a truth which we still do not fully grasp to this day, but as usual, Aristotle knew it 2400 years ago. In this context, he is giving advice to writers of plays: focus on the action, and the audience will interpret the character.
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