Catharsis

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Catharsis
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Etymology of Catharsis

• derived from the infinitive Ancient Greek
  ?a?a??e?? transliterated as kathairein "to
  purify, purge," and adjective Ancient Greek
  ?a?a??? katharos "pure or clean.
• In medical terms, it means literally to purge the
  body of menstrual fluid or other reproductive
  material

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Defined

• Catharsis in drama refers to a sudden emotional
  climax that evokes overwhelming feelings of great
  sorrow, pity, laughter or any other extreme
  change in emotion, resulting in restoration,
  renewal and revitalization in members of the
  audience.

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Purpose of Catharsis

• To purge extreme emotions. "It is the human soul
  that is purged of its excessive passions.
  -Aristotle, Poetics
• In dramatic theory, catharsis provided a means
  for people to live vicariously through the actors
  on the stage they were the hero conquering the
  villain, or the mother losing her son.

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Purpose of Catharsis

• Catharsis extends to all genres of art
• The best protagonists in literature are those
  that we most closely identify with, and most
  profoundly feel for.

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Five Primary Types of Catharsis

• Happiness
• Sorrow
• Hate or anger
• Fear
• Disgust
• Based upon the five primary emotions as discussed
  by Paul Ekman

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Happiness

• Happiness is achieved through the attainment of a
  goal its physical manifestation is laughter
• Since the primary goal of humanity is to
  procreate, love is a theme central to happiness

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Love

• Platonic -the love felt between close friends
• Paternal -the love felt between a parent and
  child
• Romantic -Romeo and Juliet
• Erotic -purely physical love lust

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Sorrow

• Usually inspired by a profound loss
• Often connected with love
• Inspires fear it is the potential for sorrow
  that makes us afraid

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Hate or Anger

• Hate or anger can arise from many sources
• Sense of injustice
• Perception of bias
• Jealousy
• Infliction of injury
• Being hated
• Pity is the result of empathic anger

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Fear

• Fear is inspired by sorrow when the potential
  for sorrow exists, we are afraid
• Fear is caused by uncertainty we are comfortable
  in the world we know, but are afraid when the
  potential exists for that world to be lost
• How do we overcome fear?
• Pity may result from empathic fear.

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Disgust

• All people have an innate understanding of how
  they and others should be treated this defines
  humanity
• Reaction to inhumanity
• Effective tool of satire (i.e. A Modest
  Proposal)
• Disgust is the physical manifestation of pity it
  often creates a feeling of nausea.

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Describing Catharsis

• Catharsis is essentially what the text makes
  people feel
• The emotions of the self (reader)
• The emotions of others (characters
  representations of society)
• The relationships, both literal and expressed,
  between the two