Catharsis as a Dramatic Act
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Abstract
Because the term “catharsis” in Aristotle’s definition of tragedy in the Poetics is too subjective for a formal definition, and because the interpretations of purging or purifying pity and fear vary widely, the author recommends discovering a type of catharsis that is independent of the feelings of audience members. Rather than purging pity and terror from the spectators, catharsis could be a way of delivering a tragedy’s protagonists from their terror and suffering. The author read 32 tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides and found that, in some plays, a god enters (the deus ex machina) and saves the characters; in a few plays, a human hero steps in to stop the villains; but the majority of plays have a fully tragic ending. A definition of catharsis as deliverance is also offered.
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