See Also: catharsis(medicine)
Catharsis(health)
catharsis(dictionary)
catharsis(encyclopedia)
catharsis(dictionary)

catharsis (sh)




Purging 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.