Catharsis

There is a certain formula that most tragic stories follow. The hero or heroine is usually in a position of comfort and ease that gives them a false sense of security - that bad things only happen to other people. However, it is this assurance, or arrogant mindset, that leads them to think that they are above tragedy’s reach. In thinking so, they inevitably make wrong decisions that lead to their own downfall. Each handle their life crisis in their own unique way naturally. In a similar…

When concerning Medea, with Jason as the tragic hero, reader’s come to the conclusion that Jason is the cause of this cause and effect situation of death that durates the story. In Euripides’ Medea readers sympathize with Medea and her mental deterioration initiated and accelerated by Jason’s greed, acts of misogyny, and dehumanization towards Medea which, in turn, spreads tragedy and brings suffering to the community. One can either find Medea or Jason to be the tragic hero of this tale.…

too young and she could have done so much more with her life if she had lived longer. She thinks that she is the last person who will stand up for what they think is right. And that nobody else will do what she did for her brother. Antigone shows catharsis by letting out all her emotions that she had kept in for most of her life. She’s about to die and is starting to get the feeling that she is not ready for it…

often miss the small subtleties that vary between performances, be it a dropped line, an interesting recovery, or a prop malfunction. You also tend to miss the small modifications brought on stage by the director. In addition, there is a loss of catharsis between the actors and the audience in a movie musical. Finally, there is a lack of excitement that overcomes a viewer when seeing a live…

Catharsis is the possible feeling of pity and fear felt by the audience, for the inevitable downfall for the protagonist. Certainly, sympathy for the downfall of Macbeth may exist for specific audience members. However, for the vast majority, the downfall…

Oedipus was a boastful and prideful character, who would even go as far as using his position in authority to bully his subjects into submission. The irony behind all of this is, is that Oedipus himself at the end of the play becomes humble. The catharsis being specifically being at the point in which Oedipus ask for forgiveness not just for himself, but mainly for his children and puts them above himself in order to gain empathy from his subjects.…

Bob Kiley was a boy who went off to war and did not come back. He became Rat Kiley, a man who would shoot through his own foot to escape the war (223). “They were kids; they just didn’t know. A nature hike, they thought, not even a war…” (69) Only nineteen years old, and Kiley loses his best friend to a rigged 105 round. Before that point, he and Curt Lemon saw it as an adventure, playing around with smoke grenades, laughing, telling jokes. Then Lemon dies, out of nowhere, and Kiley is forced to…

heroes are a constant and reliable source of heartache and frustration, their stories having been passed down for centuries! Who is a tragic hero? Usually, by Aristotle’s definition, they are noble, not completely good or bad, the audience feels catharsis (the purging of emotions through literature), their fall is usually thanks to a fatal flaw they possess and in the end they accept the blame. The candidates for the tragic hero starring play Antigone, by Sophocles, are the charming Antigone…

“Over 20 years, more than 58,000 Americans were killed in Vietnam and more than 150,000 wounded, not to mention the emotional toll the war took on American culture.” (Blake 1 ) In Tim O’Brien’s novel “The Things They Carried” death was a daily occurrence, on both the American and the Vietnamese side. O’Brien writes about the function of memory, traditions of war literature and the difference between Tim as a soldier and Tim as a writer. Tim O 'Brien 's novel “The Things They Carried” is…

the three characters faces but also delves deeper into the the agony of the pinochet dictatorship. Consequently, the play’s tone is harsh, dramatic and dark where much of the play unfolds in literal darkness thus extending suspense and building catharsis. In addition there is a symbolic darkness that permeates the play as well which effectively highlights the terrorising and frightening…