A STUDY OF CATHARSIS IN SHAKESPEARE’S MAJOR TRAGEDIES

ABSTRACT

Catharsis is the purification and purgation of emotions—particularly pity and fear—through art or any extreme change in emotion that results in renewal and restoration. It is a metaphor originally used by Aristotle in the Poetics, comparing the effects of tragedy on the mind of a spectator to the effect of a cathartic on the body. The word ‘Catharsis’ has led to numerous discussions and theories which are interesting to those, as R.A. Scott James puts it “concerned with the pathology of arts”. Critics talk of catharsis as the purification of the passion. The present paper investigates the meaning and function of catharsis especially with reference to the major tragedies of Shakespeare. Catharsis implies that our emotions are purified of excess and defects are reduced to intermediate state, trained and directed towards the right objects at the right time. Catharsis in this way is a kind of a moral conditioning where the spectator learns the proper use of pity, fear and similar emotions.

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