Video+ClipExplicationCat

media type="youtube" key="XVL7feVtei0" height="344" width="425"

media type="youtube" key="VwsL4vf4ay8" height="344" width="425"

Patrick Mes, Maria Lucia Rojas Mr. Brunson World literature .2 February 24, 2009  Katharsis is the purging of emotions through different kinds of arts. To end a tragedy one needs to have a catharsis, and Barbara F. McManus states that “ //Katharsis // is another Aristotelian term that has generated considerable debate [and] the word means ´purging´ and Aristotle seems to be employing a medical metaphor” (McManus). This quote says how purging is a medical metaphor because it is implying that one is getting rid of one’s emotions. The main emotions that tragedy wanted the audience to get rid of were, pity and fear. The intention of the poet is to make the audience feel emotions, such as pity or fear. For example Aristotle states that “actions capable of this effect must happen between persons who are either friends or enemies or indifferent to one another [for instance] if an enemy kills an enemy, there is nothing to excite pity either in the act or the intention- except so far as the suffering in itself is pitiful…, but when the tragic incident occurs between those who are near or dear to one another…, these are the situations to be looked for by the poet” (Aristotle). This quote is saying that if an enemy would try to kill another enemy the audience would feel no pity, since they have been enemies all along, but if a father, or a son would try to kill another family member, the audience would feel pity. Just as seen in the video where a father accidentally killed his son, the audience feels pity since these are two human beings who care for one another. The audience does not feel pity for the enemies since these are two people who do not care for each other at all. The poet also tries to look for events where the hero makes mistakes. For the audience to learn from it, one has to be afraid it might also happen to her. For instance, “the action may be done consciously and with knowledge of the persons, in the manner of the older poets. It is thus too that Euripides makes Medea slay her children” (Aristotle). When this occurs, the audience feels frightened that some day that which they are seeing, might happen to them. Just as in the video how the models get arrested, the audience looks up to them. Therefore, one thinks that if it happens to the models (who are more "beautiful" then the average person), it might also happen to them. Since they admire these models, they learn from it, and as a result, it will not happen to them because they know what not to imitate in the models. Since the models were disrupting the streets and got arrested, it is probable that the c  atharsis comes about through the law of probability to show a cause and effect such as the video of the model.  This brought out the fear in people because then they knew that if they did something wrong there would be a consequence. As known, the intention of the poet is to make the audience feel emotions. The best way of creating a catharsis would be in the inner part of the play, which is necessary for the audience to learn from the mistakes of the characters, and for them not to make the same mistake.   Works Cited

 “Outline of Aristotle’s Theory of Tragedy in the //Poetics.”// __The College of Rochelle__. November 1999. 19 February 2009 < http://www2.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/poetics.html >. “Poetics.” __The Classics Archive__. 1994. 19 February 2009 < http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/poetics.1.1.html#234 >.