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In the context of tragedy, katharsis is the purgation or purification of the emotions of pity and fear. According to Aristotle, this is the effect of tragedy, although he does not definitively state whether it is the purpose of tragedy for which all poets should aim. Aristotle does discuss the importance of pity and fear at some length, but he only mentions katharsis once, in Chapter 6 of Poetics. The psychological purpose of tragedy, it seems, is to arouse deep emotion but then to provide it with a release. That way, the audience will be made to feel more aware and alive without having the trauma of what they have experienced stay with them and potentially inhibit a healthy social life.
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Aristotle’s Concept of Mimesis
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Aristotle’s Rejection of Plato’s Theory of Forms
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