consistently inconsistent?

[Wind&Sand]

In "Poetics", Aristotle thinks that "in respect of character, there are four things to be aimed at...the fourth point is consistency: for though the subject of imitation, who suggested the type,be inconsistency, still he must be consistently inconsistent."What on earth does the sentence mean? Would you please tell me?

[Mark F.]

In order for us to bleieve in a character he must obey a certain form of logic. So even a character who's crazy needs to respect a certain form of rationality, even though he's irrational. I haven't read "Poetics" so I'm just telling you how I understand it, as there's no context I can't really say for sure.

[PeterL]

It appears to mean that if a character is characterized as inconsistent, then the character must consistently be inconsistent, rather than being consistent only sometimes.

Like Mark F. I have not read Poetics, and the complete context is not there, so I am interpreting only what you typed. It is possible that the translation was flawed.

[mtpspur]

Taking the sentence as a whole (I too have not the read original) it's (to me) reenforcing that characters remain true to their natures. Easy example: The Joker from current Batman comics--a maniac who every action is unpredictable and not consistent with rational behavior. But this behavior is what defines them. Hope this helps.