Clarification Theory Essay

Aristotles statement about the final end of catastrophe Purgation or Catharsishas been so endlessly misunderstood, so uncritically assumed to be straightforward. Discuss. purging or Catharsis is a sacred scripture of Greek origin. In the Greek language it has three meaningsPurgation, Purification, Clarification. Aristotle uses this word in the Poetics only once. While dealing with the function of tragedy, Aristotle says only this much ...through gentleness and worship feating the beseeming Katharsis or purgation of these emotions.But he himself does not give any meaning of the term Catharsis. These be the by and by critics who have interpreted this word in various ways. And this has given alliance to various theories. Let us, therefore, discuss some major theories of Catharsis.1. The Pathological or Purgation Theory fit to some Renaissance critics and later on critics resembling Twining and Barney, Catharsis is a health check metaphor, it denotes purgation, a pathologi cal fix on the soul similar to the effect of medicine on the body. on the nose as the purgatives purge the body of the dirt and dross, similarly tragedy purges the judgement of the unpleasant emotions of pardon and fear by first exciting them and because providing them an excited outlet. The result is a pleasurable suspension. Milton also had explained this conjecture of Katharsis in his preface to Samson Agonistes. In the neo-classical era, Catharsis was taken to be an alopathic treatment with the unlike curing unlike.The arousing of pity and fear was supposed to consume about the purgation or evacuation of other emotions like anger, pride, and so forth The spectacle of suffering arouses our pity and fear and we are purged of the emotions that cause the suffering. If the suffering is caused by emotions like anger, hatred, or impiety towards the gods, we are purged of such undesirable emotions, because we realise their dark consequences. We learn from the terrible fates of evil men to avoid the vices they manifest. Thomas Taylor in his introduction to the Poetics (1818) holds this view.Psychological InterpretationF.L. Lucas rejects the idea that Katharsis as used by Aristotle is a medical metaphor, and says theatre is not a hospital. both Lucas and Herbert Read regard it as a form of safety valve. clemency and fear are aroused, we give bounteous play to these emotions as we cannot do in real sustenance, and this safe and free outlet of these emotions is followed by emotional relief. In real life they are repressed, and in the theatre the free indulgence in these emotions, aroused by the suffering of the hero, is safe and brings relief to our pent up souls. LA. Richards also approaches this issue from a mental angle. misgiving is the impulse to withdraw and pity is the impulse to approach. Both these impulses are harmonised and blended in tragedy, and this balance brings relief and repose.Ethical InterpretationThe good interpretation is that the sad process is a kind of elevation of the soul, an knowledgeable illumination resulting in a more than equilibrate attitude to life and its suffering. tragedy makes us realise that the divine law operates in the universe, geological formation everything for the best.Purification TheoryHumphrey House rejects the idea of purgation in the medical sense of the term, and is the most forceful advocate of the purification theory, which involves the idea of righteous instruction and moral learning. It is a kind of moral conditioning which the spectators undergo. So to Humphrey House purgation centre cleansing. This cleansing whitethorn be a quantitative evacuation or a qualitative compound in the body brought about by a restoration of proper equilibrium and a state of health depends on the maintenance of this equilibrium. Tragedy by arousing pity and fear, instead of suppressing them, trains them, and brings back the soul to a balanced state. So Humphrey House regards Katharsis as an educative, and controlling process. Thus jibe to the purification theory, Katharsis implies that our emotions are purified of excess and defect. Butcher, too, grees with the advocates of the purification theory1, when he writes, the sad Katharsis involves not only the idea of emotional relief, but the gain idea of purifying the emotions so relieved.Inadequacy of in a higher place Theories Clarification til now neither the purgation theory nor purification theory explains the whole thing. The prefatory defect of these theories is that they are too much occupied with the psychology of the audience, with guesswork regarding the effect of tragedy on those who come to the theatre. It is forgotten that Aristotle was composition a treatise, not on psychology, but on the art of poetry. He is more concerned with the technique, the way in which an ideal tragedy can be written, and its nature, than with its psychological effects. For this reason, eminent modern critics like Leon Golden, O.B. Hardison and G.E. Else advocate the clarification theory. According to O.B. Hardison, Aristotle meant joyfulness by Katharsis. In his opinion, tragic events are pitiable and fearful. They aver pleasure in the spectator. Hence Catharsis refers to the tragic variety of pleasure. In order to create a tragic pleasure, a tragic poet may begin by selecting a series of incidents that are per se pitiable and fearful. From history or legend, he may borrow bodily or invent events.He then presents them in such a way as to bring out the probable or requirement principles that unite them in a single action and determine their analogy to this action Thus purgation means clarification of the essential and cosmopolitan significance of the incidents depicted, leading to an enhanced understanding of the universal law which governs gentlemans gentleman life and destiny. Catharsis is a process of learning, and therefore, pleasurable. The Clarification theory has, in this way, var ious good points in it. (1) It interprets the Catharsis clause as a reference to the technique of the tragedy, and not to the psychology of the audience, and thus recognises the true nature of the Poetics as a technique treatise. (2) It truly interprets Aristotles view, contained in his Poetics. (3) It relates catharsis both to the theory of imitation and to the discussion of probability. (4) It is in correct accordance with current aesthetic theories.ConclusionPurgation and Purification theories are merely incidental. They do not remain authentic and authoritative for long, because the elementary tragic emotions are pity and fear. If tragedy is to give pleasurepleasure that comes from learningthe pity and fear, or atleast the painful element, in them, must be removed. Though there may be purgation in the feelings of pity and fear, but it is merely incidental, and secondary. (O.B. Hardison). Thus Aristotles view of Catharsis is in the first place intellectual. It is neither dida ctic nor theological. It is not a moral doctrine requiring the tragic poet to show that bad men come to bed ends, nor is it a kind of theological relief arising from the discovery that Gods laws operate invisibly to make all things work out for the best.POINTS TO REMEMBER1. Catharsis means purgation, purification, or clarification. 2. Though Aristotle uses the term catharsis only once that it has given currency to a number of theories. 3. The main theories of Catharsis arethe purgation, the psychological, the ethical, the purification and the clarification. 4. The purgation or pathological theory treats catharsis as something having a pathological effecton the soul similar to the effect of medicine on the body. Tragedy purges the mind of the unpleasant emotions of pity and fear. 5. The psychological interpretation offered by Lucas, Read and Richards says that tragedy by arousing pity and fear provides emotional outlet to the audience. 6. The ethical interpretation says that the tra gic process is a kind of elevation to soul. 7. The Purification Theory presented by Humphrey House says that catharsis means cleansing or purification of emotions of excess and defect. 8. All the above theories are inadequate. Hence the necessity of Clarification Theory by Golden, Hardison and Else. Aristotle was writing about art and poetry. Hence by Catharsis he meant aesthetic pleasure.