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catharsis |
Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Wikipedia, Hutchinson | 0.12 sec. |
catharsisPurging or purification of emotions through art. The term is derived from the Greek katharsis (“purgation,” “cleansing”), a medical term used by Aristotle as a metaphor to describe the effects of dramatic tragedy on the spectator: by arousing vicarious pity and terror, tragedy directs the spectator's own anxieties outward and, through sympathetic identification with the tragic protagonist, purges them. |
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But who needs catharsis when there's so much eye-popping, foot-stomping enjoyment to absorb? Since most of us are caught up in the horrible cultural and political divisions in our country just now, as apparently Crutcher is as well, this is a satisfying catharsis. When Rosen contends that the Republic is "more an unsuccessful catharsis of the philosophical compulsion to rule than a satire on the excessive pursuit of justice," it is hard to resist the inference that, to his mind, Straussians are symptomatic of the failure of this catharsis. |
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catharsis
